#sewingfordudes

I haven't been inspired by many women's apparel patterns lately (except for one that's taking forever to arrive by mail), but luckily for the main man in my life, Thread Theory just launched a refreshingly modern pattern line for dude clothes. We all know that the commercial patterns currently available for men are abysmal and laughable at best (check out all 8 of Butterick's studly options here), so I think Thread Theory jumped into the market at the perfect time. The young husband-wife duo (aww) behind Thread Theory create casual menswear with a slim, modern cut. So, no elastic-waist pajama pants or scrubs? Believe it.

The Jedediah Pants are chino-style trousers with front slash pockets, a back yoke and back patch pockets. I bought the pattern on the day of its release at the end of July and immediately prepared the PDF and made a muslin. I bought legit fabric for it last Sunday and have already made two pairs of shorts for Corey, who before now only had one pair of ugly (sorry) dusty green cut-offs. 

Knowing that Thread Theory was a new pattern company, I'll admit I was a little wary going into the process because I didn't know what to expect of the drafting, presentation and instruction style. But DANG, they're seriously good. All of it. Even Lisa G says so, and I always trust her eagle-eye analysis of whether a pattern is well-drafted or wonky. I thought the pattern was well-marked and sewed together beautifully, and the instructions were incredibly thorough and well-illustrated. I am nothing but chuffed with the final result. 

I was impressed with the attention to detail incorporated in the pattern instructions. They tell you how to sew flat-felled seams, how to French seam the pocket bags, how to apply bias binding to the seams of the shorts, and where to add bar tacks and other methods for seam durability. Sewing the zip fly was a cinch, and seemed faster than other fly-front methods I've used. For the pants version, they even show you how to steam and stretch some of the seams for a better fit around the curves of the legs. Not like I get it, but it sounds SMART. 

Naturally, being me, I just serged and top-stitched the seams instead of flat-felling. There's an option for rolling up the cuff but I simply sewed a 1" hem at the length he wanted. I also left off the back pocket stitching design. 

For the pocket lining of both pairs of shorts, I used a scrap of floral silk cotton from my stash. I think it's his favorite part. This man loves vintage floral prints, can you tell?

(Green Oxford shirt not made by me -- but ethically sourced and sold through Everlane, a great company that's working to bring more transparency to the fashion industry.)

The two pairs of shorts I made are slightly different sizes. Corey has long ostrich legs (sorry) and is super thin. His ideal store-bought trouser size is a 29" waist, but since you can't find that very often, he has typically worn a 30" waist and dealt with the slightly baggy fit. I decided to sew the size 30 in the Jedediah pattern-- the smallest size -- and then I took in the waistband a bit more. They fit snugly when he stands -- actually hitting at the "proper" (though rare) height for waistbands. They look good for this reason, but the fabric is a cotton twill with no give at all, so he says they strain and ride up uncomfortably when he sits down. I think it's fair to say that the Jedediah pants run a little smaller than RTW sizing for that reason. I also think it's fair to say that a muslin isn't worth much unless you actually try to move around and sit in it. My bad.

For the second version of the Jedediah, I used a tobacco-colored twill that has a slightly looser weave and an eensy bit more give. I still made the size 30, but cut the edges a bit more generously and sewed the side seams, inseams and "seat seam" (Thread Theory's less cringe-worthy term for crotch seam) with a 3/8" seam allowance instead of 5/8". That seemed to add more ease and he says they're more comfortable all around even if they look a little puffy.

I think I've made it clear that I highly recommend this pattern if you're looking to sew some bottoms for your favorite guy's bottom -- or your own! Fellas, are you out there? a/s/l? ;)

The pattern is only available as a PDF for now. Morgan, the designer and seamster behind Thread Theory, will be leading a sew-along of the shorts version of the Jedediah pattern on their blog beginning August 15th -- soon! Obviously I didn't have patience to wait for it, but I have a feeling it will be clear, thorough and well-photographed for those who'd like to follow along.

Alright, the end. I have to attend to the mosquito attack I endured when we first tried to take these photos outside in our gross overgrown background. Wanna know how many bites I got on my legs and arms in, like, a six minute span? FORTY FOUR. That's no joke. I think tomorrow I'm going to wake up as a mosquito myself, geez.

So who else has been #sewingfordudes lately?

sew bossy

The word "bossy" is funny to me. I haven't used it to describe anyone since elementary school, back when most kids didn't understand social graces and were total egocentric maniacs. Bossy girls were the worst girls (especially if they were bossy AND braggy). As a calm, quiet kid, I was often getting barked at by the bossy types.

But lemme just say the term has lessened in severity in my mind because I've actually had great bosses in my professional life. And when it comes to SEW BOSSY girls, they're totally the best girls. Bloggers Closet Case Files and Oonaballoona jump-started this idea when they swapped mystery packages of fabric and patterns and "bossed" each other into sewing them up for themselves. They have since invited other bloggers to play along in the Sew Bossy Initiative, which you can read more about on Heather's blog here. It's really just a way to bond with our beloved bloggers and challenge ourselves to sew something we wouldn't necessarily have chosen otherwise.

I've always enjoyed following the projects made by Sophie, the byootiful sewing ninja mama behind Cirque-du-Bebe, but I totally bubbled up with admiration and adoration for her during our Project Sewn adventures together. In the beginning I predicted she'd win the whole thing, and of course she did! She has such a keen eye for beautiful fabrics and prints, and her style is bold, sweet, fun, classic, sassy and refined all at the same time. So when she asked if I wanted to get a lil' bossy and swap projects with her, I knew I was in good hands. And yes, the woman delivered:

Sophie sent me the goods all the way from Brisbane, Australia. In a package covered with puffy alligator stickers! The fabric she sent is a floral print silk from the fabric store where she works (lucky ducky job). It honestly scared the sh*t out of me because I've never worked with silk before so I figured it would end in disaster. Turns out all you need is a sharp microtex needle, a rotary cutter and a LOT of fabric starch.

The pattern is the Pattern Runway Coffee Date Dress. Pattern Runway is also an Australian-based company that sells PDFs of their cute patterns via Etsy. If you've been paying attention to Pattern Runway's recent releases, then you probably recognize this pattern + fabric combo:

HEY, samesies! This is a first for me: sewing a dress in the same fabric as the sample dress on the pattern model. I mean, when do you ever get that opportunity? Turns out the Pattern Runway HQ is located just an hour away from Brisbane, so the designer and Sophie seem to shop the same sweet spots. The colors are obviously very different from each other in these photos; in real life, the fabric is much less pink and glowy than you see on the model, and a little brighter and less red than you see on me. 

You'll also notice I scooped out the neckline, which I find more flattering with my face shape and a little less puritan. Changing the neckline ended up being quite the ordeal because I'm really a pretty haphazard seamstress, but I'll gloss over that mess. I mostly followed the pattern but finished the neckline with bias tape instead of a facing. I also didn't blind-stitch the hem because this silk is so thin and delicate that my hand stitching on the wide hem quickly started looking like a hot bubbly mess.

Love these pockets.

I actually made a muslin of this dress first, because I wasn't going to blindly cut into the fancy silk that flew all the way across the open sea to reach me. I made a size 38 in the bodice and waist and graded out to a 42 in the hips. I was worried about the straight skirt but the whole thing actually fit pretty well from the get-go.

On my final version I did remove a sizable wedge of fabric from the center front bodice, because all that pleating otherwise formed a droopy sack of fabric in the middle of my bosom. Now that's how you score dates, ladies. 

I've never sewn or worn a skirt vent like this before, but I like that it doesn't flash any thigh when I walk. Have you ever walked behind a woman whose slip is sticking out of the vent of her skirt, or the back slit of her skirt is cut so high that it's a little scandalous? Anyway, no fear here with the clever fabric pyramid attached from within:

This is the color of the dress in more direct sunlight, and you can tell the fabric is pretty sheer. I will definitely wear a slip with this in public.

The dress actually has back shoulder darts! Hallelujah for us broader backed gals. Why is that so rare these days?

The waistband sits a little higher than I normally like (I think it was my fault due to my bodice alteration), and the skirt may be a weeeeee bit short for work, but otherwise I'm pretty pleased with how the dress turned out. I'm grateful to Sophie for sending me such a lovely package and bossing me into sewing florals and sewing silk for the first time. What a peach! 

And of course, thanks to Heather and Oona for hosting the Sew Bossy Initiative. I hope we made them proud.

In honor of my Pattern Runway dress, I had the newest episode of Project Runway playing on my living room TV while I was taking these photos. I kept getting distracted and watching the screen while my camera timer was going off. I caught my genuine reaction to one of the designs, in a series of eight continuous shots, so I had to post it as a GIF. I didn't realize I was so expressive when looking at crazy fashion:

The contestants would probably have the same reaction to the things I sew, too, ha.

Run, don't walk, over to Sophie's blog to see what I bossed her into sewing: HERE. SHE'S SO CUTE OMG

weddin' goin' dress

As a dressmaker (is that an up-to-date word for someone who doesn't do this professionally?), I am a firm believer that sewing a new dress is required any time I attend someone's wedding. No question. Mostly because a wedding is usually a reunion of sorts where I see all my friends and/or family at once, so I have to be ready to appease all the "Did you make that?" inquiries. And because it's one of the few formal occasions I get to attend all year, so I enjoy the excuse of working with shinier, silkier fabrics. And of course there's just that modern mentality that most women have regarding special occasions, which is that they don't want to be "seen" wearing something they have worn before.

My boyfriend's cousin got married in Baltimore last weekend (congrats Jordan!) so I had to make a new dress to wear. It was an obligation to myself. What you see here is actually my third attempt. As I mentioned in my previous post, I almost finished a Colette Chantilly dress and realized in the home stretch that it added 8 million pounds to my frame (tooooo many gathers at the chest and waist). Then I tried to recreate the silhouette I used for my pleated sundress for Project Sewn. Who knows what happened but the chest was too tight and my fabric too heavy. SO I cut into dress #3 and hoped it'd be wearable at the very least. 

This is a frankenpattern. It was a relatively informal garden wedding so I didn't want to get too fancy. I knew I wanted a wrap bodice but a non-wrap skirt, so I used the bodice front and back of Butterick See & Sew 5546 (my other version seen here) and the circley skirt of McCalls 6599 (version seen here). I used the sash from the Butterick pattern but instead of sewing it to the dress and weaving it through one of the sides, it's just a free belt that is tied in a bow and held up with thread loops. I used Suzanne's video tutorial for making the thread loops (found at the end of her post here). Speaking of Suzanne, where's she been lately anyways?! Not like I'm one to talk about bloggy silence.

I drafted some tulip sleeves using this tutorial. They look cute and hang flat on the dress as is, but the bottom layer tends to scrunch up on my arms while I'm wearing it. Not sure if I should have laid the sleeve parts differently, or just made them larger. Womp.

The fabric is a soft silky polyester something from JoAnn. That was a rare awesome shopping trip, because I stumbled across like four different cute geometric prints in apparel fabrics that I actually liked. I'm glad I wasn't wearing nice fabric (or nice shoes -- but I don't own nice shoes) the night of the wedding, because it started pouring rain in the middle of the outdoor dance party and we all got happily soaked and muddied up to the sweet tunes of J. Timberlake.

The thing I forgot about the stupid McCall's skirt was that it's supposed to sit on your lower waist, not your natural waist. So, thinking it was going to be knee-length otherwise, I immediately chopped off two generous inches from the hem before attaching the skirt to the waist of my bodice. ...Which meant that it hiked the skirt up an additional two or more inches. Ooof. If I could do this dress over, I'd definitely make it a bit longer, especially for a grandma-friendly festivity, but I decided to brave it because I had no other options. I did wear a camisole at the wedding, however. This low neckline is for the internet's eyes only. ;) ;) Here we be IRL, hot and frizzy and me without jewelry because I forgot to pack it:

Corey's wearing the floral shirt I made him. I lazily didn't make his collar buttons functional, thinking he wouldn't ever need them, so when he went to put on his tie he couldn't undo the buttons. Ha, sorry. But dudes aren't supposed to wear a short sleeved shirt and a tie anyways, right? Would you call him a Dwight Schrute or a fashion daredevil?

Do you tend to make a new dress to wear to every new wedding? I'm sure if there were enough weddings in one summer, I wouldn't. Well, who knows. I DO love making dresses...

ging'um up

Hey! I finally mustered up the energy to do this whole primp-iron-pose-edit-ramble-blog thing again. It seems I still can't tuck my shirt in like a proper lady, though.

Can I admit my deepest darkest secret to you, Internet friends I've never met? I've kinda... spent the past few weeks sucked into a self-inflicted... Dawson's Creek marathon session. Yes, Dawson's Creek, that teen soapy drippy TV rom-com (without the -com; those kiddos had cruel wit but were not funny) from the late 90s. I never watched DC when I should have as a thirteen year old, but I stumbled across it on Netflix recently and I lost self-control. What can I say? The writers are manipulative with my emotions, and all those 24-year-olds playing high schoolers are exceedingly attractive. Anyway, I finished it, thank God, so I can move back to my more reasonable addiction of making clothes, which we will all agree is a more appropriate hobby for a responsible and mature adult woman like myself. (Team Pacey!)

Moving on. Guess what I made with a sewing machine and my own two feeble hands? A Grainline Archer shirt and a Moss mini skirt. I mean, why ever stop, right? This is my fourth Archer but it's my favorite. As with my plain white one (here), I tapered in the side seams and brought in the shoulder seams for a sleeker silhouette. I've been dreaming about this exact shirt ever since I pinned this exact pin. I love gingham but I don't own anything else gingham, I don't think. It definitely conjures up images of plastic tablecloths and Dorothy costumes, but it's just such a classic pattern that will never (and should never) die. You really can't go wrong with gingham. 'Cuz literally, there's no wrong side or right side. It's ALL right. This fabric is 100% cotton from the "homespun" section of JoAnn's. Whose home you spinnin' in, girl?

Can't say much more about this shirt pattern. I can make it up in a hot minute (aka 4 hours?) and that's a great feeling, especially since I just spent a full week making a Colette Chantilly dress that is finished except for the hem but looks dreadful on me. The Archer pattern consoles me when other projects go wrong. It consoled me back when I tried the Colette Anise jacket pattern and ALSO had poor results. Do I sense a theme here...?

This red Moss mini skirt is my third but is actually too tight in the bum to wear in public comfortably (I'll spare you the photos), so it's clear I haven't mastered the fit of this pattern yet. As with my others, I lengthened it by four inches and left off the pockets. My black spotty one seemed too loose in the waist, so I guess I got overconfident with the serger this go-around. And all that Dawson-watching has led to a few more lbs. on the scale. Wah, wah. This fabric is red stretch cotton twill from fabric.com. Wrinkle town USA. Ever been there? 

So. When it comes to gingham, friends, are you more a fan or big checks or little checks? I'll say with confidence that I could and would definitely wear a bigger check than this check. And when it comes to fictional TV love triangles, who's your favorite unrealistic and overly self-aware teen couple? Be honest. I shalt not judge.

finished project update

Dears. Deers. So sorry about my unexpected hibernation. I'd be lying to your pretty little faces if I said I wasn't exhausted with sewing and blogging by the end of May, considering all those Project Sewn weekly sewing frenzies and the endless photo-taking and editing that accompanied Me-Made-May. I lost my sewing mojo (sewjo, if you will) and signed up for a Netflix account. It was tragic. I didn't even want to shop for fabric.

My desire to sew has returned somewhat, so I have completed a couple items lately. My desire to model my creations and write detailed blog posts about each individual item has NOT returned, however, but I figured I should alleviate my guilt and post a brief little wrap-up of some of my recent projects. I don't want my blog to start growing mold or gettin' crusty, after all. Um.

Above Left: Grainline Moss Mini skirt in black and white speckled cotton sateen from fabric.com (here). The red zipper was all I had. This is a quick little pattern but I still can't insert a fly zipper without instructions. One day...

Above Right: OK I actually made this forever ago as a pattern tester for Megan Nielsen's new Cascade Skirt (currently sold out while Megan takes a break, but still available through her stockists here). I never blogged it because Megan released her collection in the midst of crazy May bloggery and I am a bad person. Anyway, I made my test version in a teal/green poly crepe. I evened out the back hem and shortened the whole thing overall because I am a thick-calved girl who can't wear midi length skirts. This too is a quick pattern with a lot of punch.

Above Left: My second version of MN's Cascade Skirt, this time in a printed floral rayon and with a buttoned band instead of the tie band. I shortened the whole thing four inches more from the crepe version in an effort to make a casual and flirty summer skirt, but the front hem grew like crazy so it ended up being crooked and knee length. I do not recommend you wear this wrap skirt in windy outdoor situations. Again, sorry to the people of Philadelphia for what you've had to witness.

Above Right: Speaking of flowers, here's a floral men's shirt made from a lightweight vintage cotton found on Etsy. Awhile ago I traced my boyfriend's favorite and best-fitting shirt to make his perfect pattern. I've made him four shirts from it since. For this short-sleeved version, he wanted to be brave and hip and try a dainty little floral print. Aight, grandma. I ain't mad.

Above Left: omg more florals. And pastel florals at that. WHO AM I. I guess I was drawn to the slate gray background and the pixelated flowers that look like blown up pics from the internet. This knit fabric is really weird, though. It's reversible, but the prints have nothing in common and there was color bleeding and staining on one whole edge, so it was obviously a mistake on the fabric printer's part. That's why it ended up at Jomar, a junky discount fabric warehouse, and into my shopping cart and my sewing heart. The picture doesn't show the whole thing but trust that it's a dress. The dress pattern is Burdastyle Double Layer dress (bottom layer only) from 6/2013.

Above Right: Derp. Here's a lazy Instagram photo but I just wanted to share a life update that I was prescribed glasses this month. I was getting terrible eye strain and headaches by the end of every workday, so I knew it was time for an eye exam. Still trying to get used to seeing myself in specs, especially in photos other people take of me, but at least I can now focus on all the details of the lurvely clothes you post on your blogs. Pain free! #nerdsunite

My frames are from the Victory Collection, a brand established in 1941. The style I have ("Honey") show the above little photos of the original ads on the website. Those women are way more elegant than I am.

So, a bunch of quick and easy projects at an attempt to get myself back in the sewing room. Have you ever lost your sewjo and blog-jo (?) at the same time before? Rough, man. Hope you understand! 

me.made.may.the.end.

I achieved two sewing-related accomplishments in the past week: finishing and successfully fulfilling my first Me-Made-May pledge, and coming in second place in Season 1 of Project Sewn! Now, to come in second to the all-around talented, hilarious and stunning Sophie of Cirque du Bebe is no small feat, so I'm very proud of myself and incredibly grateful to those who voted me for throughout the series. Congrats on your win, Sophie! Totally deserved and totally impressive. And also congrats to Jess, the Sewing Rabbit, who made some stellar women's clothes, though that's not her usual focus. She did a great job and I loved everything she made. All my fellow contestants were superstars and I was so happy to get to know them better and sew alongside them. Great groupa gals.

So onto the final MMM round up. I decided to squeeze the remaining ten days into one post so I'd only bore you once instead of twice more. I think we're all a little relieved it's now June, whether you participated in Me-Made-May or just had to witness the madness on the blogosphere. And I'm happy to stop dismantling my living room all the time to photograph myself in front of this damn brick wall.

Days Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three

Wednesday - Black buttonless Beignet skirt (never blogged) with an H&M blouse. I had a meeting with a funder today so tried to look half-professional, which to me means wear a basic black skirt. This blouse is the last new off-the-rack made-in-China item of clothing I've bought. I bought it in August 2012 when I first moved to Philly and needed something to wear to the first day of my new job. I still wear it quite a bit even though it feels like polyester hell and gives me guilty heebie geebies.

Thursday - Blue OWOP dress (blogged here). It fits all wonky in the shoulders/bodice. I rarely wear this. 

Days Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five

Friday - ikat skirt from the black & white challenge of Project Sewn (blogged here), with a secondhand jacket. Guys, I just wrote ikat as "iKat," as though it were an iPod or iPhone. ~*~* Apple's taking over our iLives~*~*~ 

Saturday - gray knit dress (unblogged). Another dreary day, another dreary outfit. I was hungover and had to sit my ass at my sewing machine all day, so I wore this dress which is basically a belted nightgown (I have worn it to bed a few times, too, let's be real). I never blogged about it because it didn't seem worth it. I used an 80s pattern but I changed the button placket to a deep V-neck, and gathered the sleeves vertically.

Days Twenty-Six and Twenty-Seven

Sunday - striped chambray dress (blogged here). Today I finished and took photos of my Signature Style dress and wore it to the park where Corey and I chilled along the river reading books on a blanket. 

Monday - Blue denim Moss mini skirt (blogged here) with F21 tee and cardigan. Today was a holiday -- holler -- and I wore this to our friend's cookout. I love this skirt, but as with all straight fitted skirts, when you're sitting down you have to cross your legs or otherwise hold a pillow or your purse in your lap to hide that peek-a-boo gap thing. To avoid any indecent moments, I had to stand up and hover awkwardly around the fire pit all evening like a chump.

Days Twenty-Eight and Twenty-Nine

Tuesday - striped chambray dress again. I wanted to wear my new dress to work, but it turned kinda cold AGAIN so I had to put on tights and my granny shoes.

Wednesday - blue rayon feather dress (new, unblogged). I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I made this dress with the intention of it being my Signature Style entry. I wasn't sure about the print and how the whole thing would turn out, but I followed through with it until it was finished on Saturday morning. It didn't feel right -- too busy and bright, maybe -- so I vetoed it and ended up pre-washing, cutting and sewing the real Signature Style dress on Saturday night to be photographed on Sunday and submitted on Monday. I'm glad I made the switch and finished the new dress in time because I'm much happier with it. Anyway, the feather dress was made using McCalls 6503 (my first version blogged here) with a circley instead of pleated skirt.

Days Thirty and Thirty-One

Thursday - blue check dress (blogged here) and white Archer shirt (blogged here). I like this dress in theory, but I never want to wear it because I feel that the weird bodice darts call attention to an area I typically try not to draw attention to. Solution? Cover it up. Sorry the blue checks look distorted and wavy in this photo. It happened every time I resized the photo to fit into this collage. I can't be bothered to fool with it. I've already culled and edited 31 self-portraits for these MMM posts and I'm exhausted by the process.

Friday - black OWOP blouse (blogged here) and a skirt that I found in my mom's storage closet and hacked off the hem a few years ago. 

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Weee! I did it, we did it. My first Me-Made-May was a pretty good run and I'm proud that I have handmade items that can stretch across 31 days with only a few repeats. Some observations:

1. The most repeated items were my new blue Moss mini skirt and my white Archer shirt (three wears each). What does this mean?! I love Jen Beeman, I guess.
2. There are still several handmade items in my closet that never made it on my body this month, mostly because they have poor fit, poor execution, or poor historic judgment on my part of what looks good on my body. Others I just never had an occasion for or are more winter-appropriate. 
3. Most of what you see in my round-ups is what I wore to work, but I often changed when I went out to bars and such. A lot of my clothes are pretty cutesy or conservative, so I'm wondering what I can make that will better suit the other part of my life. Don't think I wear knee-length floral wrap dresses to work and then change to sequined bodycon minidresses or anything (ha!); I just want to make some clothes that are casual and flattering (= not jeans) but with more of an edge. Suggestions welcome, fashionistas. How do you balance your work/play wardrobe?
4. The store-bought or thrifted items I wore were mostly tops, so I've concluded I need to make more tops, though I knew that before May started. I just never know what kind of tops to make and I'm not inspired by my current stash of patterns. Sounds tedious to trace off my current tops but maybe it's worth it.
5. Oh yeah, I still need new shoes.

How did your MMM go, and did you discover anything about your wardrobe that may affect your sewing plans for the future? Whose MMM inspired you? I enjoyed following along with the me-made round-ups of Lauren of Lladybird, Sue of Sewin' Steady, Morgan of Crab & Bee, Rachel of House of Pinheiro and Anna of Paunnet, just to name a tiny few. I'd gladly snatch anything out of those girls' closets.

Thanks for following along. Onto another year of furious me-mading...

project sewn: signature style

The last challenge! I've made it to the top three of Project Sewn and I can't thank you all enough for voting for my looks and being true sweetheartz. I hope that the whole series has inspired some of you to sew more for yourselves or start creating in general, as that's what it's intended to do. What has been your favorite theme so far?

The guideline for this week's theme "Signature Style" was: "Design a look for yourself that is all you---your look, your style, what you love to make and wear." Perfect. I love making and wearing things that I love to make and wear. 

As you probably know, I kinda only wear dresses and skirts (see here, here and here for evidence). Casual dresses mostly, made in solids, stripes/plaids or geometric prints. Feminine silhouettes but nothing frilly. No embellishments, no ruffles, no ric rac. Pink is limited. Kinda preppy and modest, but also kinda cool (maybe?). Fitted waistline required, fitted skirts discouraged (less so lately, though). Must be beltable. Must pair well with a cardigan or cropped jacket. If it's not neutral, it's probably blue, red, or something in that color family. Must be able to be cut, sewn and finished in about a week or else I'll get bored. If it's not office-appropriate (i.e. knee-ish--length and cardiganable), it must be appropriate for my low-key social life that involves going to a lot of ethnic restaurants, drinking beer at microbreweries, sitting in my friends' living rooms, and walking around parks or whatever.

I've never written out my style requirements before, but it's easier to do now that I've made it most the way through my first Me-Made-May. Seeing the weekly collections of photos and hearing the feedback in the comments gives me a better understanding of what kind of clothes I most like to wear and how other people interpret my style. 

This dress seems to hits all my key style points. I love it, anyway, so that says something. Is it epic enough for a Project Sewn finale? Maybe not, but it's going to get worn and enjoyed a helluva lot. I started with Vogue 8665, a pattern I made recently in red ponte knit. I chopped it at the waistline and added a quarter-ish circle skirt. For more stripey fun, I added a 3" thick band of horizontal stripes at the hem. I was worried about how the straight grain of the band would interact with the off-grain circleness of the skirt, but it didn't freak out too much and actually added some needed structure and weight. It swings like a bell when I wear it.

The fabric is pinstripe chambray from the Michael Levine online fabric store (found here). It's labeled as black and white, but altogether it looks gray, of course, which is exactly what I wanted. Gray looks great with yellow belts, and red belts, black belts, and even brown belts. I think I'm set.

I lowered the back neckline by a few inches because the only matching zipper I had wasn't long enough otherwise. It probably would have been fine as is since the skirt is full, but I do like the look of the lower back.

I used a regular zipper but decided to hand-pick it instead of fiddling with trying to get straight machine stitches all the way around. The little hand stitches sank into the fabric so they're basically invisible, even if the zipper itself is not.

I didn't re-read the pattern instructions so I don't remember how it has you finish the neckline and armholes, but bias tape made the most sense to me. Of course I used red bias tape. Of course!

So that's my final look! If you're feelin' it, please head over to Project Sewn and vote. This is my final solicitation for votes, I promise.

Thanks everyone!