Whose Chip Basket Can We Steal?

Good friends will ride a bus two hours from Philly just to wake up for early church, marvel over popovers, and act impressed with your baking skills even though you don't own half the kitchen tools you actually need while you send your husbands on a dude study date at the library.

Love you, Walkers.

Jolly Holiday Shorts

I've had scallops on the brain lately, I just couldn't decide where I wanted to put them.  On a skirt hem?  A waistband?  A neckline?  Finally, I found some inspiration in some denim fabric I've been hoarding for months now, and came up with these:

I adore them.  It was my first time ever trying something like a scalloped hem, and it wasn't as daunting as I thought it might be!  Since these aren't exactly work appropriate, I haven't worn them out and about just yet, but hopefully I'll have a first wear this weekend (and let you know what my final verdict is!).

Pattern:  McCall's 5391 (also used for these and these)

Scallop Tutorial

Fabric:  Denim from Fabric.com

Soundtrack:  Show tunes on Pandora; specifically "Jolly Holiday with Mary" from Mary Poppins!

Wow.

Thank God for making colors like this, and thank Him again for cameras that can capture even a fraction of the beauty.

The Everywhere Dress

I whipped this dress up on a Saturday night while Scott was studying at the library.  This grey doubleknit was just sitting in my fabric stash (leftover from my Tiny (No)Pocket Tank 2), waiting patiently to be used up, and I figure this was the perfect project!

I'm calling this one the Everywhere Dress, because I feel like I could wear it...everywhere!  And anywhere!  In fact, I wore it to work yesterday under a cardigan.  I feel like it could be just as fitting for a dinner out with heels, or with some flat sandals for a summer picnic.  I put in an elastic waist band (my favorite!), so it's extra super comfortable, and in fact, I didn't even take it off when I got home from work and wore it all the way until bedtime!  And probably would have had no problem sleeping in it.

The neckline gathers along the top...

 and the back has a little keyhole and ties in a bow.

And the final reason that I like it so much...it's of my own design!  No commercial pattern used for this one whatsoever, just my own idea, some measuring tape, the fabric, and some scissors.  I might make this one in every color of the rainbow.  And then sleep, eat, work, and play in them all the time.

A Walk in the Park

Fort Tryon Park is one of my favorite places in the city, though I think it is probably largely overlooked  due to it's bigger and more famous relative a few miles toward the center of Manhattan, Central Park.  Fort Tryon is just as beautiful, has gorgeous views, is more secluded, still has a castle, and is closer to our apartment...so it's a win for us!

  

Also the site of our family pictures and visited earlier in the year.

Another One Down: The End of Me-Made-June

Another month of a Me-Made challenge has come and gone!  For the entire month of June, I only wore clothes (not including underwear or swimsuits) that I either made or altered or used my sewing machine on in some way.  Here's the round-up, because collages are fun!

This is the third Me-Made challenge (started by Zoe) I've participated in.  During the first, Self-Stitched September, I only wore one thing a day that I had made; I got through the entire month without any repeats, meaning I had 30 me-made garments by the end!  The second was Me-Made-March; for this challenge I decided to wear only things I had made.  This proved much harder for me.  I planned out the whole month far in advance with spreadsheets and lists, wanting to make sure I even had enough clothing and clothing combinations to wear for 30 days.  I made it - just barely.

This time around, things were different mainly in that I didn't do any advance planning whatsoever.  I was simply able to get up in the morning and get dressed from my closet full of only things I had made (I moved everything else to a different closet so I wouldn't be tempted!).  To my surprise, I found that it wasn't even hard to do this time, and I also found that I forgot I was even participating in a "challenge" - it rarely crossed my mind that I was wearing clothes that I made, but rather just...clothes.

I guess the conclusion to all this is that I finally feel like I'm in a very good place regarding my handmade wardrobe and where I wanted it to be.  I love, love, love making my own clothes, and my goal a year and a half ago was to have a wardrobe that was mostly made up of handmade things.  Well, I don't want to declare my goal met by any means (this is an ongoing, rest-of-my-life kind of goal, after all!), but I can, at this point, look in my closet and feel extremely pleased with what I see!

Thanks for reading along during Me-Made-June!  Next up will be Self-Stitched September 2011 - and my one year anniversary of Me-Made challenges!

Pleasant Paisley Top + LAST DAY of Me-Made-June

Unfortunately, if I were to name this top after what I was watching while I made it, it would have to be The Secret Life of the American Teenager Top, and that's just embarrassing.  So instead, it will henceforth just be known as the Pleasant Paisley Top, because was both pleasant to make and pleasant to wear, and also...it's paisley.

It's made from the exact same (neverending) fabric as the Paisley Button-Up, but since that shirt is slightly too small and the buttons are slowly deconstructing themselves over time, that shirt is about to be retired.  I like the fabric because I think it's a little unexpected and borderline tacky, so I wanted to make a replacement.  This shirt was born!

Now Vanessa is pantsless!  Really, she's such a exhibitionist.

I wanted it to have an uneven hem, shorter in the front and longer in the back, and this honestly turned out a little bit more exaggerated that I wanted it to be, but I'll wear it anyway!

And I added a tiny pocket for carrying my tiny cell phone.

And I also wore this top on the last day of Me-Made-June Day 30!  The end is here.  30 whole days of me-mades accomplished!

The outfit:  Pleasant Paisley Top + Pink Pencil Skirt

The occasion:  work, a great hair day, and later, a walk in the park (but with shorts instead of the skirt)

A Me-Made-June wrap-up will be forthcoming!