Me-Made-May: Week Two

My linen frocks saw a lot of action this week, and I decided they are best worn with layers underneath.  The navy linen seems to hold its shape better than the charcoal, but it is a heavier weight, so I think that is part of the reason why.  I just feel good when I wear it.  My two favorite outfits this week were the navy linen dress with the striped shirt (#3) and the charcoal dress with the blue shirt and sweater (#4).  I'm not in love with my Raindrops dress (#7), but I'm sort of forcing myself to wear it to justify its existence.

I will say, I'm a bit bored with my clothes right now.  Not with my dress pattern, just with the particular dresses in this rotation.  I hardly wear separates any more, so the 12 dresses in my closet are it, and 2 of them are ready-to-wear and thus out of the rotation for this month, so everything feels especially lean.  I actually bought some fabric yesterday (online) that I plan to make up to wear in these last few weeks of the rotation.  I'm still not done making my summer clothing, but realizing how few separates I wear made me reevaluate some of my sewing plans for the summer.  I have all the fabric I need, I just have to make it up!  I do confess that with temps hovering in the high 50s and low 60s, I've been pretty unmotivated to make thin lawn dresses.  It is supposed to start warming up again later next week, so perhaps I will feel more like warm weather sewing by then.

I tried a new dress pattern last week as a toile, and it was pretty much a disaster.  I spent most of this week fiddling with the finished dress to try and make it work for me.  The dress itself turned out decently and it is pretty.  It fits quite well, but the style is not mine any longer.  I suppose I should photograph it for posterity or something, but I don't really even like having it on.  I was hoping for a new dressier-dress, as I have several events coming up that could use something a little nicer than my usual potato-sack dresses.  

I need to remind myself that I am not what I enjoy looking at.  The problem is that I am drawn to styles with a very defined waist (i.e. fit and flare dresses and separates) but my waist fluctuates a lot during the day and thus that style makes me feel icky and fat.  It is either too loose and looks weirdly too big, or too constricting and I feel fat and bloated; I just can't win.  Because I'm also short-waisted, it is difficult to get the proportions right as well.  So I think I need to not make that style for the time being.  I'm quite happy with my Simplicity 1080, in large part because it fits me no matter what the state of my insides, and I can achieve quite different looks with it depending on the fabric and details.  My rayon dresses are quite nice, for example, and look quite dressy with the right accessories.

I am glad I tried the pattern (it was semi-self-drafted) because it has been on my mind for a long time, and I'm glad I used a fabric from my bin that I was no longer in love with since it didn't end up working out for me.  

I know posting has been light in the past little while; I'm still finding a rhythm to things as some household routines have shifted and I've not felt all that well since Pascha.  I've been in a bit of a fog;  I'm hoping it will lift soon.