Shorts, Shorts, Shorts- for the little boy

Big boy doesn't need any shorts after finding a stash of REI shorts in his size at Salvation army for $3 each.  So easy.

The Little boy is a different story.  He is finally getting the whole I have to actually pee in the potty.  (We won't talk about the other part.)  I've noticed though that for a such a thin bit, his shorts are rather tight and need to be re-buttoned and zipped up when he goes.  We have a small stash of elastic but they are weekend shorts.  Yes, I'm that parent that doesn't like to send their kids to school in athletic wear.

So long story short, he needed shorts.  I was looking for something super simple and pull up but wasn't finding anything already traced out in my stash.  I did find 2 tracings in size 98 of the Aqua Shorts  #7 from Ottobre 3/08.  I obviously made them for my oldest once upon a time.

Yep, I made him these awesome soft corduroy pants.  In fact they are sitting in my youngest bottom drawer waiting for fall.  Hopefully they'll fit.

Well despite the fact they aren't exactly "whip it up" quick, I decided to go for it.  I'm so glad they are awesome!  The only change I made was to take out 2 inches in the denim and khaki pair.  I felt they were too long for my taste.  The striped pair is board short material I picked up from  Chez Ami ages ago when they were still selling fabric.  It was so much brighter than I had anticipated and has been languishing in my stash for a while.  Funny thing is I cut those out last summer and started putting them together- so they have one front pocket that was already done.  I decided to omit the rest of the pockets to make them faster.

I know I'll make a couple more to last through the summer.  Yeah!
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Shorts, Shorts, Shorts- for the girl!

At least in theory.

Its sewing shorts season here.  I've been sewing shorts for my daughter, who it turns out actually has no summer clothes!  When I went to pull out the Spring/Summer clothes for the kids there was no stash for my daughter.  She had a skort from Children's place and a couple of dresses that she won't wear.  Because we did have a weird hot spell, I bought her some short sleeves shirts and shorts at the local thrift store.  Still I knew she'd need a few more.

I started with the Scientific Seamstress Skirt & Skort pattern.  I was wanting to copy the Children's place skort that they no longer sell.  Hanna Anderson one for $36.  Even though the SS pattern is for wovens I decided the style would be okay in a stable knit.  I wasn't sure about sizing down.  I did not.  I might take some width out but really the elastic holds them up and my daughter finds them really comfortable.

The first I made from an up cycled woman's t-shirt and some minky in my stash.  It was intended as a wearable muslin.   She's worn this one several times since it was made.

The second one is more like the inspiration.  This skort was made from french terry in my stash.  The top is Jalie 3245.  

After that I wanted to put together some quick and dirty shorts and tee sets for her.  I went with my old stand-by Ottobre for the t-shirts.  These are all modified versions of the standard tee in Ottobre 4/04.  The shorts took a little more thought as I didn't want to spend too much time fitting.  I ended up going with the shorts from the Modkid Zoey pattern.  The pattern is super cute, I made my daughter a darling set last year during their sew along.  I didn't have time for the whole set but the shorts were perfect for my purpose here.  

They are flat front and elastic back.  I sized up so they would last through the summer.

Wrap up for Me Made May

So the last week of May came so quickly- really I cannot believe how fast May went as it is!

I was able to keep up with my personal challenge of wearing a Me Made item in conjunction with the style prompts from Style Sisters on FB.  It was definitely a challenge.

Sunday, style prompt- Dots and Stripes or Stripes and Flowers.  I made this tunic 4 years ago from Ottobre 2/2012, it was just before I found out I was pregnant with my third.  I don't think I've worn it since.  I'll have to give it a few wears this summer.

Monday, style prompt- Boho.   These are my favorite summer pants- not Me Made but I did alter them last year.  I actually narrowed the leg and added a yoga waist band.  I'm wearing the red top I made during the Basics week at the end of April.  

Tuesday, style prompt- tone on tone.  My ever present Iris Shorts with a Target Tee that has seen much better days.  

Wednesday, style prompt- cropped pants.  I actually don't wear many cropped pants, find them to cut me in a weird way.  These aren't too bad though.  I will replace these, hopefully, this summer with the Morgan boyfriends as the fit on these is all sorts of bad!  The top is Buttericks 5495, great pattern, I really should find some fabric to make another.    

Thursday, style prompt- Favorite Tunic.  My tunic is actually a Salvation Army find from Land's End.  Its a wonderful voile fabric which is great in the heat and humidity we get here.  I paired it with my lengthened Iris Shorts from last summer.  

Friday, style prompt- unexpected color combinations.  Iris shorts again!  

Saturday, style prompt- flip flops or oxford.  Of course you can't actually see my flip flops but they are there.  Sorry about the washed out picture.  The top is my sleeveless Sis Boom Shana.  I have put this top in the recycle pile as it has just not been my favorite ever.  I think the fabric is just too stiff.  I've got some voile to make a new one this summer.  

Sunday, style prompt- A little bit or a lot of pattern.  Polka dots and Jalie swimwear to the rescue!  This is a prototype for my summer suit.  I love it.  I'll likely make the sleeves longer.  I also make a SUAT Brazi bra to wear under and it peeks out of the neckline.  I'm thinking I may just go with a cheap underwire bra instead- I may need a little perking up in that area.  

Monday was actually a repeat of Sunday as we spent the day at the pool.  

Tuesday, style prompt- Your signature look/formula.  This outfit is definitely my summer formula.  Tank or tee and shorts.  I'll put a long sleeve button-down on top for A/C and/or bug protection but otherwise you'll find me in some variation of this all summer.  The top is the Seamworks Aurora.  I'll definitely be making more to freshen up my tank collection.  

So thats Me Made May!

Enjoy.

Made by Me Week 3

Yes I'm posting these both on the same day.  I didn't want one long post with both weeks.  So here we are with week 3.  The style prompts are from my friends at Style Sisters on Facebook.  Combining my two current passions- sewing and improving my style.

Sunday, style prompt- Show us a new item.  Okay, no picture.  I was sick this Sunday.  I know I was wearing something me made as most of my lounge and pjs are me made.  No pic though.

Monday, style prompt- Favorite warm weather completer piece.  Mine is this ladder necklace I bought for the GYPO Summer Style Challenge in 2014.  I hemmed and hawed since I rarely wear necklaces and was still nursing a munchkin who pulled on anything that he could grab.  I'm so glad I went ahead and bought it.  Mine is a copy cat from Zulily that has held up beautifully.  Here I'm wearing it with a long sleeve store bought t-shirt, my green Swoon cardigan and jeans.  Don't let the sunshine fool you, it was cold.

Tuesday, style prompt- Favorite Skirt.  This jean skirt was a recent- long looked for- purchase from Goodwill.  I've been searching for a jean skirt for a few years, everywhere!  Got lucky last month at Goodwill.  I paired it with my modified Day Tripper top, wool tights and rainboots!  It was a record month for rainfall.  

Wednesday, style prompt- Pattern or Favorite shoes.  Well I can safely say these are my favorite shoes.  They are shearling lined slippers from LLBean.  I'm pretty sure I spent this day in bed still recovering.  Ugh.  I am wearing a Hey June Halifax and heavily modified Sis Boom Judy sweatpants.  

Thursday, style prompt- Leapin' Leopard!  Okay, I was finally feeling better so I went all out.  I'm wearing the leopard top I made for my capsule (Ottobre pattern) with my favorite leopard Bobs and fun leopard watch.  Bright pink cardigan to call the Spring.  

Friday, style prompt- Graphic Tee.  This tank is an up cycled t-shirt using a pattern from my trusty Ottobre magazines.  

Saturday, style prompt- Feelin' the Blues, wear denim.  Rain, rain go away!!!  Its never ending.  I managed to get out to take a picture most days during the break.  No luck on Saturday.  While you can't see it well I am wearing jeans.  I topped them with an Ottobre t-shirt from the awesome sewing collage fabric and panel from Affordable Fabrics (a little bit of a misnomer!).  I think I may need to budget some $$ for another panel, I love it.  

Woo Hoo!  A week and a half to go.  I'm definitely going to be spending time culling my closet after this experience.  I want more Me Made and some days I struggled to reach for them.

Made by Me Week 2

I have been struggling with the outfits.  Partly the weather and partly uninspired by my wardrobe.  I have to really look at that here shortly.  I think its partly a seasonal thing- I need a Spring wardrobe that works better.  Oh well.  Here we go.

Week 2-
Sunday, style prompt: Mother's day outfit.  On the left, Greenstyle Katie Peplum for church and rainy morning.  Changed into Target tee (that needs replacing) and denim Colette Iris Shorts.

Monday, style prompt- Print Top or Check it out Gingham.  Love this Sis Boom Patricia Top I made a few years ago.  Its such a great light-weight voile.  The picture though reminds me I need to wear it with a slippery cami.  

Tuesday, style prompt- Striped Dress.  So I ventured a little off here since I rarely wear dresses.  I did go with stripes, a lightweight Greenstyle Lacey Slope Tee.  

Wednesday, style prompt- copy cat an outfit.  I did copy cat this from pinterest but of course cannot find the pin.  I'll have to add it later.  The t-shirt is from Ottobre 2/11.  

Thursday, style prompt- denim vest or jacket.  The striped shirt is from Ottobre.  

Friday, style prompt- wear something you haven't worn in a while.  This Sis Boom Tortola top is the first I made.  I don't think I wore it at all last summer.  Truthfully as much as I like the fabric something pulls across the back funny.  I will need to replace it.  

Saturday, style prompt- favorite casual wear.  This look is so my weekend- well any day- wear.  The top is a copy cat from my favorite Ann Taylor top.  I wore the blue one last week and blogged about it back in October for my Walking Dead post.  

And thats week 2.

Bring on Summer!

In  keeping with my running theme of BRING ON SUMMER, I decided to join some friends in a little Shorts & Capris Blog Tour hosted by Ti, over at Sewing by Ti.  If you've never checked out her blog, you're missing out.  Tons of great sewing info, pattern reviews and sewing inspiration.  Anyway, I agreed to do a pair of shorts for the tour. Yeah!

Well as it turns out though, I don't need any shorts.  Weird.  I pulled out all my summer shorts to get an idea of what I wanted to make.  Turns out I have more than 7 pairs of made by me shorts all from one pattern!  Added to that are about 2 pair of Jean shorts (rtw), a random pair of gray bermuda shorts (also rtw) and a pair of wide leg shorts from the Jocole pattern.  Even at my laziness- you know only doing laundry when you have no clothes to wear- I don't think I need more shorts, 11 might be enough.   Oh and lets not mention the pair I have cut out from last summer that I never sewed up.  Oops.  

So instead of sewing up a new pair I thought I'd just show off my 7 pair of shorts from my absolute favorite shorts pattern the Colette Iris.  I fit them a few years ago and have just continued to add shorts from the pattern to where I now have 7 pair!  The slide show is missing the khaki pair and I think one other pair, I'd have to check.  I'll be adding a red pair this year since they are cut and ready to sew up.

Seriously, I'm not sure I can say how much I love this pattern.  I've made changes, style wise, such as omitting the pockets, moving the pockets, adding pocket stays, lengthening them (the mint pair below), and notably I generally sew the zipper in the back seam instead of the side so that I could, in theory take them in when needed.  In reality, I'll likely just sew new ones in a smaller size!

I'll do a quick review and show off the changes I ended up making for this pattern.  It really is a quick sew.  Now with no elastic, fitting must be done.  You will need to make a muslin.  This pair (picture was taken on an iPad during when were in the process of a transoceanic move!) was my first muslin.  The big thing that came from this muslin is that I found the pattern runs large.  I cut a 14 based on my hip (my waist does not fit this pattern as its in a size 20 for Colette).  After sizing down, I actually made only minor changes to the first few pairs after this one.  All are wearable except the first as it was too big, the fabric loosen up too much with wearing on top of it and well, we were moving so seam ripping and re-sewing just wasn't happening!  

This white pair was probably the second.  As you can see I have some nice pulling heading into an area you just don't want highlighted.  They are a combo of need a little more full butt room and having a sway back.   

Now onto my adjustments:

               - swayback 

               - full butt

               - full belly

               - moving zipper to center back

               - pocket stays

               - adding length to short shorts

You may not need all of these- which should make the shorts even better for you!  If you do, they are super easy to do.  

First the sway back- this is actually a fairly standard adjustment for me on all fitted garments.  On fitted shorts and pants it really amounts to using a smaller waist band than the pattern size I'm using.  I measure my waist along the back only from side seam to side seam and then double that measurement to find out what waistband I should use for the back only.  I will also deepen the darts to accommodate the smaller waist band.  This works about 80% of the time with no issues.  It worked perfectly with this pattern.  Now the other 20% of the time I end up having to shape the waistband into this wacky looking trapezoid.  

Now the full butt- super easy adjustment.  I went ahead and pulled out my tracings to show you what I did.  First I started by scooping out the crotch curve.  You can see the red line is the size 12 crotch line.  Mine goes down farther.  Now the triangle that is inserted there is actually a subsequent adjustment.  I did that after the white pair.  

I also added to the top of the center back seam to lengthen the seam just a touch more.  You can also see how the curve is scooped out a little up here too.  

Fully Belly adjustment is probably the easiest.  I simply started curved the front crotch seam out to halfway between the size 14 and 16.  I may have started with more but thats where it ended up.  

No picture of moving the zipper, the seam allowances on the Iris make it an easy thing to do.  I did have to cut the back waistband in half and add seam allowances to the center.  

Pocket stays are so necessary for me in general.  I find that they give just a little support to the belly plus my pockets don't pop open so much when I use them.  I essentially followed this tutorial on the Curvy Collective.  Because the pockets on these shorts sit right on the edge of my full belly they do still pop open a bit.  Not as much as they did before I started using the stays though.  

Lastly I lengthened the regular style of these shorts by just tracing to the 18 length.  I found them just a tad too short at the drafted length.  I did find that the length created a funny pool of fabric right in the front under my belly.  To correct, I angled the inside leg seams on the front pattern pieces only, that fixed the issue for me.  

With that I can tell you I will sew many, many more pairs of these shorts in my lifetime!  Maybe not this year though- other than the red pair that is.  Now go, sew your own, you'll love them.  

Since I know you still need more inspiration, check out the other stops on this tour:

Summer Sewing, The Long and the Short Of It

Sewing By Ti

Creative Counselor

Gray All Day

MSL Creations

Sew Sophie Lynn

The Socially Awkward Seamstress

Week 1 of Made by Me May

Made by Me May is so fun to watch and track as I've been doing for the past few years.  Every year when it rolls around I think, next year I'll do it.  Next year I'll be ready.  It can't be that hard, right?
Well next year finally rolled around- about 2 or 3 years later- with a little push from Katie over at Creative Counselor.  She mentioned it on the Capsule Wardrobe Facebook page.  I decided this would be the year!  Of course, if you actually scroll through the comments on the MMMay page, I didn't actually make a pledge there.  oops.  I'll do it now.

"I, Maria from MSL Creations, sign up as a participant in Made-by-Me May '16.  I endeavor to wear an article of clothing made by me each day for the duration of May 2016."

Uhm... doesn't seem to hard.  I have quite an extensive collection of made by me pieces in my wardrobe.  I wanted this to be a little challenging but not overwhelming so I figured that I would incorporate my made by me pieces with the style prompts from my other Facebook haunt Style Sisters.  That group was formed by former challengers in the GYPO Style Challenges.  These challenges are really fantastic.  I decided, though, after the Winter Challenge that I needed to take a break.  The colors and styles weren't as inspiring as they had been at the beginning when I was still trying to get out of my frumpy rut.  Anyway with the Style Sisters in mind I added this addendum to my challenge:

I will also follow the prompts from Style Sisters in my Made-by-Me May challenge.  

Again, really, how hard could that be?  Yep, laugh now.  It actually turned out to be more challenging than I thought- mostly due to the fact that Winter is just not wanting to loosen its grip!  Well I guess thats Spring here- one day 70 the next 50 and raining.  So fun.  Well without further talkie-talkie, here is Week 1.  

Sunday, May 1st, Okay, now I did not decide to work with the prompts until May 2, so this was my own thing.  Comfy for Sunday.  All from Ottobre magazine. 

Monday, May 2, style prompt- stripes, something nautical.  Now not so much on target but I am wearing stripes.  These are the Seamwork Moji pants- my muslin for a day at home.  

Tuesday, May 3, style prompt- Spring Blazer, the t-shirt is a made by me from Ottobre

Wednesday, May 4, style prompt- build an outfit around a favorite necklace.  I'll admit I didn't actually build the outfit around the necklace but the necklace is a favorite.  Tee shirt is Ottobre, pants are modified Sis Boom Judy.  

 May 5, style prompt- show us a Bargain outfit, here I have my $3 sweater with my $1.50 scarf and Jalie Jeans I made from $3 fabric.

May 6, style prompt- Run for the Roses, Red and pinks.  I, of course, read Roses.  I only had summer roses- as in sleeveless- so I whipped up (sorry Sam) this Hey June Halifax up for the day.  Love it.  

May 7, style prompt- show a Date Night outfit.  Now hubby and I did not go on a date night tonight so this outfit is the one I made for a rehearsal dinner we went to last month.  Its a heavy modified version of Simplicity 1142.  I actually wore it with gold flat sandals, which was a godsend as we walked quite a bit that night.

For the Made by Me challenge though I couldn't not wear handmade so I pulled out the blue shirt I made for my Walking Dead Sew the Show post back in October.  Really love this shirt and so far the hole hasn't grown.  This pic is from then, I didn't take a pic today.  I wore it with boyfriend jeans, a pink tank and leopard flats.

So that wraps up week 1.  I'm hoping to be better with the style prompts this week- some were a bit of a stretch, no?  Anyway here's to next week!!

Back to Basics Sewing

So I am trying to hasten Spring by just going ahead and pulling out my Spring wardrobe.  Unfortunately I don't think its actually working as I sit here typing this in my hoodie, long sleeve t-shirt and insulated Bog rain boots.  Almost exactly like this picture.  On the positive side, I'm loving this hoodie.  Its from Ottobre 5/2012.

The only trouble I have with it is that the coat is supposed to be lined and I didn't line it.  That means that my pockets pop out when I put anything in them.  I need to figure out how to attach them retroactively.  

 Anyway, that will be a project for another day.

This week, I wanted to join my friend Katie for her Back to Basics Sew-A-Long.  Essentially the week is supposed to be dedicated to those boring basics I end up just running to the store to buy cheap instead of taking the time to make them.

Normally I do buy t-shirts and tanks, they aren't expensive.  I'll make them when I'm in the mood but I've never actually set out to make them on purpose.  Well there was the time I made the gray t-shirt because I needed one and didn't feel like going to the store, but really thats a rarity.

However as I was pulling out my Spring clothing I was noticing that many the "cheap" shirts I bought last year had all managed to become too wide and too short.  The necklines were laying funny as well.  Then there are the tanks.  I have been buying larger sizes as I don't like things skin tight- especially the thin cheap tanks.  Well the armholes on the larger sizes are crazy huge.  Last year I went ahead and fixed the straps on a few and made them too small.  Oy!

That brings me to my sewing for the week!  I got off to a slow start as we spent the weekend out of town and I just could not motivate on Monday.  I did sew up 2 t-shirts from Ottobre 2/11 on Tuesday, no hems done though.  I've been wanting a green t-shirt for a while so here it is.  And then the basic white with half sleeves.  I'm planning another white with short sleeves as well.

On the white one I also did a neck band instead of lining as the pattern is written.

Then on Wednesday, I actually worked on a test pattern for my oldest instead.  Whoops.   So Thursday I whipped up this red t-shirt from a different pattern in Ottobre 2/11.  The V-neck back isn't as pronounced as I thought it would be.  Still I love it.  Loved it enough that I actually changed into it for the rest of the day.  I have an aqua one cut out to sew up in the afternoon.

No tanks though.  I had done a muslin of Jalie 3245 in preparation, but the weather this week was crazy and cold so I just could not motivate to make tanks.  I also need to get a good accounting of what tanks I really need.   Next time.

I also worked on a muslin of Cake's Janthina Shell.  The straps were way too long on me and I needed to take out about 2 inches at the shoulder which made the front too short.  I'm liking the style though and want to make it with the ruffles.

That will wrap up my Basics week for now.  I do have some more solids for tees and tanks that will get done between other projects.