Workhorses

At some point in the late spring, I realized that my warm weather uniform had become a linen tee and linen Free Range skirt hack.  I find the woven tees a lot cooler in the disgusting heat, and the linen skirts are an easy addition.  I have a few regular knit T-shirts I'm wearing, but mostly these tees are my go-to.  So I made a few in May and have been wearing them nonstop since. 

This version is my favorite. The linen top is Abyss handkerchief linen, and while I was unsure about the colorway (I have a complicated relationship with navy), it is a much richer and more interesting color than it photographed. The hand of the fabric is almost buttery, and it is one of the nicest linens I've worked with.

The pattern is my super-Frankenpatterned simple top.  It is a blend of the Sorrel dress bodice, the Portrait blouse, and something else that I can't remember at the moment.  The 3/4 sleeve piece is from the Carson dress, but I'm probably going to redraft it sometime soon because I don't love how the sleeve head fits onto the grown-on sleeve cap.  It's a fabric-efficient pattern; I can get 3/4 sleeves with bias binding out of one wide yard, and this cap sleeve version can be cut from 1/2 a wide yard, but no bias binding.

The agave linen I used on the skirt goes with almost everything.  It's a great strange neutral.  I squeaked the skirt out of 1 yard, cut extremely carefully.  There were fumes of fabric left.   

It's been pretty hot the last little while here, so I'm extra grateful for these workhorse pieces!

Wellerman Remy

Almost the end of June and I'm still catching up from May!  That will probably be my song and dance all summer.  The hours of the day just seem to slip by me; I'm pottering in the garden, doing some deep cleaning and culling on our many bookshelves, getting the kids to and from camp, making meals, doing the dishes, laundry, etc.  It all adds up.  

Some critter (or bird, maybe) got into one of my strawberry plants overnight and ate all three partially ripe berries, plus a few more that weren't even fully grown, but left all the other plants alone (including a ripe strawberry on a lower placed planter).  Part of me thinks not to bother about it, because we share the planet, but part of me thinks that there are plenty of other places to dine in the neighborhood besides my plants, so go along somewhere else! This restaurant is closed!  None of the critters around here are the least deterred by cayenne pepper and the birds aren't scared off by the shiny CDs hanging around the planters.  Maybe I need to cut up some pie tins?  Anyway.

This make was one that I wasn't sure would suit me, but actually, I kind of love it.  I felt really great in this outfit, and the boots kind of made it for me.  

This is the gathered sleeve view of the Remy Raglan, a free add-on that I believe is now included in the pattern. I've been wanting to try it out for a while now. My primary concern was that the volume would overwhelm me, or that the sleeves would be in my way all day long.

Unlike other gathered sleeves, this one is loose at the cuff, so I knew that part at least should be fine.  I can't stand tight cuffs.  I found a length of linen on the doggie bag section of Fabrics-Store.com in the Marlin colorway, and while I was a little unsure that the color would work with my palette or tone preferences, it was cheap enough to use it as a toile.  

It turned out to be a really gorgeous shade of purple-y blue.  It looks more Delft-y to me on the website, which was why I was concerned.  Sometimes Delft shades are fine on me, and sometimes they are just blah.  I was concerned that it wouldn't go with anything, but it goes with my beet linen skirt very well, and my Purple Violet Squish skirt hack, plus my black pepper Free Range skirt hack.

I think it would also go with the dark denim skirt I thrifted and altered, but haven't tried them together yet.  I managed to squeak out one more wear out of this blouse over the weekend but I think now it will need to wait for fall weather.   

Not much to say about construction.  I made my usual size 8 (although I might have added a tiny bit on the side seam allowances; I can't really remember right now) and made the sleeve as directed.  The cuffs were pretty easy to make, and the gathers weren't too pesky.  (After making two dresses that had a LOT of gathers in them, the cuffs on this seemed easy.  I'll blog those dresses at some point). 

I'm not sure I'd make another one, because I think one statement sleeve blouse in my closet is enough for me, but maybe not?  I could see trying it in a really drapey rayon challis or something like that.  In any case, a highly successful make!  Who'd have thunk?  

Off now to attempt to impose order on chaos--ha!

Isla Wrap dress

School's out, and I'm suddenly swamped with things that didn't get done this spring, or that I planned to get to before the kids were home, or that I hope to get to this summer.  (Massive clean outs/deep cleaning for a start).  

The garden is in and looking good, and we harvested our first raspberries today!  The birds got the first strawberry that was ripe, but there are more on the vines to ripen.  

The birds have been a real scourge this year.  I have one in particular that is quite aggressive and doesn't seem bothered by my attempts to foil him.  Bird netting is my friend this year.

Last month, I made an Isla wrap dress, a new pattern from JLH patterns. (Incidentally, I found a new place to print pdf patterns that is cheaper and fast!  They ship flat, which I greatly appreciate).  But back to the dress.  I usually don't go for wrap dresses because I end up feeling like I'm always two seconds away from a major wardrobe malfunction, but this dress has a generous back wrap and I wanted to try new things, so there you go.  I had a long circle-type wrap skirt years ago that had a similarly big overlap and enjoyed wearing that skirt, so I did have some reason to think this one would be okay.

The pattern is a dead ringer for the popular Swirl dress of the 1940s-1960s.  A long time ago, I bought a traced-off and graded version of an original Swirl pattern, but I couldn't get the bodice fit right and so gave up on it.  

The JLH pattern is very straightforward, and I really appreciate the bodice fit on Jen's patterns.  I went with a B cup, size 16 overall.  I could have gotten into a 14 (it's what I use for a bodice block on a lot of my tops) but I was struggling with overfitting things and didn't want it to be too tight.  So it feels slightly too big.  The seams are French throughout, so it's not a big deal to take in, but I might just leave it.

The fabric is an Indian block print cotton voile that I bought last fall when I thought it was going to be hot forever.  I was a little short on yardage and ordered a bit more from the same etsy seller, but the extra yard was quite different in hand and print from the first, so I had to cut the dress carefully out of the 3 yards I had.  I used the extra for the pockets and facings where it wouldn't show.  I did have to piece the back bodice pieces a little bit, but that's okay.  The waist length ended up being slightly too long so I ran another line of stitching around the middle at the 5/8" mark to bring it up slightly and it fits better now.

My main oops is that I cut the skirt pieces flat, and ended up cutting both back pieces the same way.  Any other fabric I would have been in a pickle, but because this is block printed, the back side is pretty similar to the front, so I put that one on the bottom side of the wrap.

The button is non-functional because I was feeling lazy and the instructions said it could be pulled over the head, so that's what I did.  

I wouldn't say I love the dress enough to make another one, but this is fine for church. The cotton voile is very cool and breezy without being sheer.  

Embroidered Remy

In the fall, when I was batch sewing 3/4 linen tops, I made a Remy from some pale sage Brussels linen that I hated immediately.  The linen/rayon substrate in a top made me feel hot and cranky until the humidity and heat broke sometime in October, and then the color made me feel very washed out and dull.  It didn't seem to go with much in my closet.  I put it and the skirt I made with the rest of the 2 yards into my bin to evaluate later.  

The skirt turned out to be a good summer make, and I've worn it several times already this spring.

The shirt continued to languish, however, and I wondered if I could perk it up and make myself like it better with embroidery.  I realize it is a lot of work to undertake to rescue a garment that might not be salvageable, but it was worth the experiment. 

I've been wanting to embroider some of my clothes for a while, but have chickened out because I didn't want to wreck something I already liked a lot.  It was a low-investment way to try out whether I'd like the finished look.  

I started with the front of the shirt, doing two lines down the center seam of the top using an iron-on transfer I had in my bins. I liked that well enough, and decided to repeat it on the sleeves as well. I added some whip stitching to the collar, cuffs, and hem, and it is...fine.

I like the look of it, as it is somewhat evocative of peasant-style rubashkas of Eastern Europe, although a white top with red stitching would be just about perfect.  I think the main problem is that I don't love the fit on it, and it doesn't go with much in my closet.  It matches the skirt in these photos, but that skirt really doesn't fit me.  Maybe the dark denim skirt I thrifted and altered?  I dunno.  

I will probably enjoy wearing it during Bright Week next year, as I was wanting something like this during Bright Week this year, but I was still working on the embroidery that week.  I enjoy the process of embroidery and find it somewhat meditative, so this project was worth it from that perspective anyway, and it gave me the confidence to undertake another embroidery project on a new top for summer.  I'm nearly done with it, and am looking forward to wearing it.  (Also: print and stick embroidery stabilizer is magic!)

In the meantime, enjoy some garden spam!  I've been working hard to get the kitchen garden into shape for the season, and I'm pretty happy with it now.  

A neighbor friend dug up her blueberry bush for me and left it on my doorstep early yesterday morning; I have good friends like that.  :)  It is loaded with tiny berries, and is definitely a different variety from the one I was gifted last summer from a different friend, so I'm curious to see how the two bushes do together.  I pruned the original one a bit this weekend, hoping to encourage more berry production, as there are only a handful right now, whereas last year this time, it was loaded.  I probably should have pruned it earlier, but maybe it will still fruit well.

I also hit the mother lode at the hardware store over the weekend as they had mature strawberry plants, some with already-ripening berries!  I bought three and put two in big pots and one in the middle box planter with the other bare roots I've started.  The ones in that planter seem to be doing okay, whereas I've lost almost all the ones I put in the boxes in the corner--probably not enough sunlight or something.  

My sun situation back there is tricky because half the patio is partially shaded in the morning and afternoon, but not the same half!  So the sun lovers get the prime spot along the brick wall where it is sunny most of the day, and the others have to make do.  Although I have to be careful that the brick wall doesn't scorch the plants.  It's a balancing act.  I also found a good looking watermelon vine with a bunch of flowers on it, and some purple cauliflower, a couple of bell peppers, an additional cucumber, and some herbs.  (To be clear, this is a 16'x8' space, with walls on all sides, and a large grill on one end of the patio).

The cucumber plants I put in a few weeks ago from an online order look pretty decent too, so perhaps we'll get produce this year?  I found a little wood trellis for them, since only two will be able to trellis on the mesh wall put in for that purpose in 2020, although the watermelon may be able to trellis there, so not a total loss.  

The raspberry plant is loaded with berries (and still sending out more flowers!) so we should get a decent yield if they ripen well.  I had a list of things I wanted to do today, but after a busy gardening weekend and a speed walk of nearly a mile to the bus stop with the kids this morning because I forgot my house keys and had to double back, I'm too tired to think straight.  I think I'll just take up my stitching and call it good.

Me Made May Weeks 4-5

Greetings from the swamp!  If you need me between now and October, you can find me in a heap of perspiration in any dark corner of my house.  (Just kidding.  Kind of).

The temps the last week have been ridiculous after a fairly pleasant week last week.  We had a weekend of gross upper 90s/high humidity, which was followed by a week of being able to leave the windows open all day, followed by another gross weekend that has morphed into a gross week.  It's the kind of humidity and heat where you start sweating the instant you step outside.  My favorite!  

I've been sewing like mad, since a lot of my summer clothes from last year don't fit well, so there's not been time to post.  I've got a backlog of projects to show, but I figured I should at least wrap up Me Made May before it gets ridiculous.

May 22-28~ 

Top row from left: 

Isla wrap dress (new, unblogged) 

Unblogged embroidered Remy (2021/22), rhubarb Elemental skirt (2021, but doesn't really fit me) 

Marlin linen Remy with gathered sleeve (new, unblogged), beet linen skirt (2021)

Bottom row from left: 

Abyss linen tshirt (new, unblogged), Agave linen skirt (new, unblogged)

Beet linen drop shoulder shirt (2021), agave skirt

Viking linen tshirt (new, unblogged), altered RTW denim skirt

May 29-31~

Top left: Indian block print voile Hinterland dress (new, unblogged)

Middle left: Meadow linen tshirt (2021), black pepper Free Range skirt hack (2021)

Bottom left: Indian block print voile top (new, unblogged); beet linen skirt (2021)

Right: Abyss linen tshirt, sage simple skirt (2021)

If you can't tell from the photos, I think my uniform this summer is going to be a linen or cotton voile tshirt and linen or voile Free Range skirt hack.  It feels good, looks decent, and doesn't make me want to claw my eyes out with heat.  (Always a bonus).  I'm going to remake the Hinterland into something that doesn't make me feel like 1995 is calling and wants its dress back.  Still, it was a worthwhile experiment.  I'll blog the individual new makes later this month, hopefully.

This week, I made a Driftwood dress (above) to wear for the Ascension liturgy/feast today, and it came out fairly well (will blog it properly soon). It's not my usual style, but it is surprisingly flattering and feels nice to wear. I'll probably make another from my remaining block print voile, with a few fit tweaks. A couple more linen tshirts and I'll be set for the season. I'm working on embroidering a white one I made three weeks ago and haven't worn yet.

I'd best get on with things before my day gets away from me too much.  Stay cool, friends!