The fact that “Me-Made-May” is winding down is both a happy and sad thing for me. I’m going to miss the interaction with other sewists in the flickr group. I’m NOT going to miss the daily photo shoots, since they are a big drain on my time and have forced me realize that I’m a slob at heart–me and a hairbrush barely acknowledge one another’s existence on far too many days.

I’m also running out of new things to show you and do not want to become a total bore. I only have three days to attempt to keep this interesting, so I’ll show you old clothes in their typical habitats.

Here I am in my old, comfy home-sewn clothes and a snazzy apron in the kitchen, getting drunk on red wine and cooking dinner for my family.

Incidentally, the steaks were excellent.

And today, I sat around in my underwear a lot because I was sewing a muslin for pants and was continuously taking them on and off. I’m NOT going to show you my underwear, but you can see the AWESOME muslin that I ended up with.

I’ve never sewn Burda pants before and am amazed at how well they fit my figure. This is a muslin for BurdaStyle Mag 05-2009-111, which will be part of my summer wardrobe.

I’m sure many of you have been down the same road I have been…muslin after muslin after muslin just to end up with a pair of pants that are barely on the side of being presentable enough to wear in public. So you can imagine how thrilling it is to end up with a muslin like this without making a single change. I keep looking for faults–and there are some, but I’m going to forge ahead without giving them another thought. I do need to try my hand at single welt pockets first, so there will be a leetle delay

I finished a new top today!

This is Simplicity 4589, which is similar to the Built By Wendy pattern I mentioned not too long ago. I decided to use this pattern instead, since it has more ease than the BBW top, which is a good thing for my not-so-youthful figure.

Just to test it out, I used some quilting cotton printed with a street map of Paris. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t use that sort of fabric for a garment, since it’s a little too stiff for my tastes, but it worked out great for a “wearable muslin” and the print brings a smile to my face every time I notice it. Since this one worked out so well, I’ll probably make another out of a fashion fabric that drapes nicely.

It’s comfortable and will be great to wear throughout the summer. It’s not exactly shapely, though, which is particularly noticeable in the side and back views.

If you’re worried about that kind of thing, you’ll do better to choose a top with darts. It doesn’t bother me at all, especially when I wear it under the swanky doe suede vest my mother made for me about twenty years ago.

MMM Day 28

I love that I’ve been able to work that vest back into rotation. It just goes to show that home-sewn clothes can stand the test of time!

As chance would have it, both Tasia and I created red dresses recently. Hers turned out splendidly and she’s using it as a bargaining chip to get her husband to take her out to a fancy restaurant.

My red dress is not getting me a gourmet meal and a night out on the town. Instead, I’m eating frozen pizza and watching TV with the family.

This is my second attempt at Butterick 5315 and it is certainly better than the prototype, which inspired a vituperative review on PR. The pattern isn’t the creation of the devil, as I might have implied in that review. I suspect my disappointment was the result of user error, rather than bad pattern design. I’ve learned a thing or two since then, i.e. I need a FBA in 99.9999% of the patterns I encounter and it’s ok to change things like where the waist seam falls. I moved mine down by about 1/2″ and it feels much more comfortable than where the pattern would have put it.

I like the pleats, the Peter Pan collar and the short and flirty length. It’s cute, but not too demure due to the racy color–wait, I take that back. Robert just said I look like Little Red Riding Hood.

What I do not like–in addition to critical commentary from Robert–is how the vertical darts look. I’ve adjusted them a couple of times, and no matter what I seem to do, I can’t get rid of the “puffiness” at the top of the darts. Well, if I’ve managed to learn enough to make this dress wearable, I’ll eventually learn to make those sorts of darts right.

I’m done with this particular pattern, though. It won’t be the go-to dress pattern I had envisioned it becoming. What I think I need to do is copy someone, like Tasia, who has better fashion sense. I don’t think her husband called her “Little Red Riding Hood!”