Me-Made-May 2014

Wow!  Long time no post!  Rest assured that despite slacking in the blogging department there has been sewing going on. Even some unselfish sewing! Actually school’s been keeping me pretty busy and so I’ve responsible and focused on that.  Plus it’s easier when you’re not trying to beat the timer and photograph yourself.

 

But yea!  Me-Made-May is just around the corner.  Like less than 24 hours for me and possibly even less so depending on where in the world you are.   I had a great time last year participating for the first time and seeing all the gorgeous garments everyone else created.  I was inspired by lots of people and discovered lots of new blogs.  In fact, Me-Made-May 2013 was the kick in the butt I needed to start my blog in the first place!  So I owe Zoe a few extra kudos for coming up with such a great international event.  So here I go with my pledge!

I, Erin of F is for Flamingo, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’14.  I endeavor to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2014.

In addition I’ve added a few extra personal challenges

• I’ll avoid wearing the exact same outfit twice.  If it’s a dress that means a minimum of switching up accessories & shoes.
• I’ll try to avoid defaulting to a Renfrew & jeans as much as possible.  I’ve already professed my love for Sewaholic’s Renfrew, but last year it was an easy fall back and I want to step up my game this year.
• Speaking of jeans, I’m hoping to finish the month with 2 pairs. This means getting around to finishing my 95% done Thurlows (Also Sewaholic) I’ve had laying around since January.  Plus cutting & sewing my first pair of Named Jamie jeans.  Naturally as me-mades they won’t count as a default.
• In addition I’d love to squeeze in a couple more projects this month.  I’ve got a few all traced out & ready to go with prewashed fabric and everything.

Oh yeah, as I mentioned at the top there has been sewing – both selfish & unselfish going on.  So here’s a few of those projects I’ll include so this post isn’t entirely photoless.

I can almost hear the sleigh bells ringing...

This is my first complete version of Kitschy Coo’s LadySkater dress. (I’ve never bothered to go back & adjust my true first version because seam ripping serger seams is not my idea of fun!)  I finished this in time to wear to a good friend’s bachelorette weekend at a snowy mountain resort.  I swear I had the best intentions of getting photos of it in the snow (can’t get more wintery than fairisle reindeer.) but between a forgotten battery charger & I-90 being closed for avalanche control due to a massive snow storm it was almost forgotten.  I do have a single iPhone photo but next to the blinding white snow it didn’t turn out that great.  Regardless I like the dress – this knit from GirlCharlee didn’t quite have the correct amount of stretch so I cut the bodice out a little bit bigger.

Check out that seam matching!

I’m super thrilled with my most recent version so I’ll chat more about this pattern later.  However on the website is a baby version of the pattern which turns out supercute & I highly recommend it for using up knit scraps for any baby girls in your life.  Probably a good thing I don’t have a little girl of my own because I suspect I might be inclined to make massive amounts of mommy & me outfits…  so a friend got it for her baby instead. 

 

I’m totally willing to admit she wore it better however I have superior “holding still for the camera” skills.  The only changes I made were to add the applique to the front (added bonus that it’s super easy to tell the front from the back!) and added a gathered skirt since it fit the print better.