Mental Illness Awareness Week

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Weekend Roundup #4, Days 23, 24, 25

The last weekend of September. Let's get right to the outfits:


September 23

Dress: Vogue 8553

Thoughts: I wore this dress for the first time back on Day 1, and it's a great one. We wandered around the Atlanta Home Show all afternoon, and it was perfect.

September 24

Top: Refashioned T-shirt

Shorts: peddle pushers from Talbots

Thoughts: Gorgeous, huh?! I don't think I even put any makeup on. I spent the majority of the day sorting through a new supply of vintage patterns that just arrived, and watching college football. For the record, Georgia won! Oh, the t-shirt? It was one of my son's and I inherited it, but the neck was always choke-y. I may have overcompensated with the new neckline, but it's great for home.

September 25

Dress: Vogue 8575

Thoughts: Great dress, I wear it a lot. 'Nuff said.

Weekday Roundup #3, Days 20, 21,22

September 20

:

Dress:Butterick 5450, blogged here.

Cardi and belt: Talbots

Shoes: Dk. Brown Naturalizers

Thoughts: I really like this dress. Comfy, fits well. Except I didn't wear it much because I hated the gapping in the front pleat. Here's a better pic of the pleat in a non-gappy state. It only stays in that non-gappy state when you aren't moving. I turned it inside out and did a line of handstitching, securing the bottom 2 layers of the pleat, and voila! Now I'm happy. Do dark brown shoes go with black accessories? I kinda think so.

September 21

Top: Vogue 8151

Thoughts: The eating and drinking challenge. Well, taking a picture of it. Eating and drinking is never really a challenge for me. Bad hair day. Lovely dinner of veggie burger, baked sweet potato fries and white wine. The cows in the background? Roland likes to collect folk art and this painting is a recent acquisition.

September 22

Top: Boden

Shorts: Kwik Sew 3614

Shoes: Mephisto

Thoughts: The longer I've worn this outfit today, the less I like it. The top is too big and has a tendency to slip forward, making the low neckline even lower. Ugh. I have a white cami underneath for modesty's sake. The shorts are fine, but do they even go with the top? Plus, I'm kinda cranky today.

Secret Sewing Revealed

I mentioned sometime earlier that I was doing some secret sewing, and now I can talk about it, since they were gifts for Laura, and her birthday has passed. I'll just show you one of the things today, though.


A little background story is in order, though. Last year (or 2 years ago maybe) when Laura was going through her possessions to prepare for a move, she brought me 2 shopping bags full of t-shirts, and asked if I could make her a t-shirt quilt. I agreed, because I'm sentimental about things like t-shirts (crazy, I know), even though at the same time I think that t-shirt quilts can look a bit too crafty. Not sure that makes sense, but anyway.


Then Patty made a gorgeous quilt, and said that her inspiration was the new modern quilt movement. I started browsing through blogs of modern quilters, bought this book:

and inspiration hit. (I was going to show you a picture of the exact inspiration quilt, but I can't find it online, AND I can't find my book. Arghhhh! It was a variation on the Chinese coin quilt if you're familiar with that.)


I dumped out all the t-shirts, and whoa! There were a lot! But they could be categorized, and I decided to make the first one from all her t-shirts from the University of Georgia and their Redcoat Marching Band that she was a part of.

 To consolidate the "journey" I've made a slideshow of the quilt coming together...

A final look:

The Front

The Back

Half a Crepe

Do you ever have the picture of something you want to make in your head or that you want to knock off? I just could not find the skirt pattern that I wanted to make for a simple A-line, and while I felt like I could just draft it myself, past efforts had been unsatisfactory. Sad, I know.


Then Patty, who seems to be my inspiration for many a project, made a wrap skirt from the skirt portion of her Colette Patterns crepe pattern. Why didn't I think of that? I had already done the fitting, and while I'm not crazy about the crepe dress I made, it's mostly because of the top. I love the skirt part.


Then comes dilemma #2. I have a piece of denim fabric that is only slightly longer than a yard. And I don't want to make a denim pencil skirt. I knew it wasn't big enough for the wrap, but I could use the front piece for the back as well. After playing around with the layout I had no other choice to cut it cross grain. Good news is that this particular denim has little to no stretch, so that's not a factor. So in the vein of "only her hairdresser knows", that's what I did.


I did shorten it considerably, both because I wanted it to be shorter, and that's all the fabric I had. I think I should have made it about an inch longer (which was possible), but I am still super happy with the results!!

Top: Vogue 8649, blogged here.

Skirt: half a crepe

Shoes: Via Uno (completely broken in, thank you very much)

The specs:

• I used topstitching thread for jeans in a double line down the front and the back, and around the waist
• wide bias tape for the waist facing, and no waistband
• the waist also has a nearly invisible row of dark blue top stitching to secure the bias tape
• a side invisible zipper
• coverstitched the hem, using the same thread as the waistband
• the hem is only 5/8" deep
• it's unlined, but I made a quick tricot half slip to wear when it's cold (and so tights won't stick to it)

When I want another simple a-line skirt, this will be my TNT.


How about a few more pictures?

The topstitching

Back view (I was worried about the denim being too stiff, but it looks like it's draping well.) P.S. I hate the way the back of this top looks, which is probably why I don't wear it that much.

Finally, Roland MADE a necklace, and bought me some new dichronic glass earrings on his recent boy's trip.) I don't know why I'm making such a goofy face.

Weekend Roundup #3, Days 16, 17, 18

September 16

Top: Colette Patterns Sencha

Jeans: Talbots

Shoes: Tsubo

Thoughts: I made this Sencha blouse last year from some vintage silk that came from my Mom's stash, but I hadn't ever worn it, and Friday seemed like the perfect day. The weather was a bit on the cooler side, so jeans were not too hot. Oh, I did have to self stitch a new hem on these jeans. The perils of being short.

September 17

Top: Butterick 5046, blogged here.

see Sept. 18 for the rest.

Thoughts: True confession... I took this pic today and sort of "recreated" Saturday's outfit. By sort of, I mean, I put on the top, but that's it. It was the only self stitched piece anyway. It started out as a cool day, so pretend you see this top over a brown Old Navy tee, and the jeans and shoes I wore on Friday. By noon I was broiling, and cast this off for the end of self stitched Saturday.

September 18

Top: Butterick 5495, blogged here.

Capris: The same old ones I always wear. Are you sick of them yet?

Shoes: Crocs

Thoughts: I didn't even leave the house today, so this was it. That explains the shoes.

Weekday Roundup #2, Days 12, 13, 14, 15

September 12

Dress: Butterick 5181, blogged here.

Shoes: Sofft

Thoughts: This sundress is comfortable enough, and fits pretty well, though the bodice is kind of weird. Not visually, looking at the picture, but more of a weird feeling when wearing. And it's really... flower-y. Maybe better suited to spring and early summer.


September 13

Top and belt: Talbots

Skirt: Simplicity 2211

Shoes: Sofft

Thoughts: I still need to write about the construction of this skirt, but it's really comfortable, fits well, and this is how I imagined wearing it. I think the belt really finishes the look, and I have a lot of black tops for fall and winter, so add tights and boots, and I have a year-round skirt.

September 14

Top: McCalls 5522, blogged here.

Shorts: Kwik Sew 3614, blogged here.

Thoughts: These are two pieces in my closet that have gotten lots of wear this summer. I find chambray to be a fabric that can go with so much, and the shorts are seersucker, the perfect summer fabric here in the south. It's water theme day over in the flickr group, and while I'd love to be at the beach, my journey with water today involved the washing machine and dishwasher. I turned on the sprinkler for the pic, and got a rainbow for a little decoration.


September 15

Top: Colette Patterns Violet

Skirt: Talbots

Thoughts: This is Violet's debut, hot off the sewing machine just yesterday. I'll do it's own post about some of the construction, but it's made of a quilting cotton that has a little green houndstooth pattern. Click on the pic to enlarge and see it.

But, a fitting question...

Do you see those diagonal wrinkles leading from the yoke to my armpits? I have a couple of ideas on how to fix them, but what do y'all think? Wider bottom piece with more gathering? Deeper armholes? The sleeves are a titch tight, and I'm wondering if that is contributing to the pull. Ignore the bad tucking in job, I've had this on all day, hence all the skirt wrinkles, too.