Day 14 MMM'19: Ahh, That's Better

 This ensemble came together just like that.

 

~ I wasn't sure about the shoes at first, but thought what the heck? ~

I've never, ever thought to wear these pieces together before.

Now that's the way I like it...

~ uhuh ~

I made the dress long ago from some lovely Batik fabric using Marcy Tilton's Vogue 8876 pattern.   I've made it twice so far, here and here. It seems very large now.  Oh well, I could easily take it in seeing that it has all princess seams.

~ here's the pants ~

I've worn these many times before.  Here's the last time I wore ,or rather posted, about them, I believe.   Silk dupioni harem pants modified from Sandra Betzina's Vogue 1355 pattern.

~ a closer view of colors and textures ~

And the centerfold

~ my Docs from ebay ~

Catherine of I Will Wear What I Want just went live, so I'm joining the party.  Come on by!

'til we meet again,

Let's catch up with Patti @ Not Dead Yet Style, too.  It's been awhile.

Another Accidental Outfit!

for MeMadeMay'18, Day 20

~ whoa, I'm all striped up ~

First, I had this skirt under a dress with the vest on top.  And then a light bulb went on.  Hey, that would probably look much better if you just lost the dress.  So I did.  However, I did replace it with a top that happened to be striped too.  Well, then I had to go with striped sox.  Another accidental ensemble came out.

(The camera flash was accidentally on for this pix.)

~ excuse the washed out face, et. al. ~

Again, I've never worn these things together before.  Even though they're made out of the same material!  What is my problem?  Am I blind?  That's what MMM does for me.  I get out of my routine of wearing the same things in the same ways.  

So the skirt is from a Marcy Tilton Vogue 8637 pattern.  The vest is from McCall's 7416 made rather large.  It's so oddly shaped, I really like it.  I believe I changed up the back a bit, but I can't really remember any more.

~ Dream Happy Boots from Trippen via ebay ~

And that's really their name.

And they are.

It's about that time to link up with Patti at Not Dead Yet Style when she goes live later today.  I'll also be joining Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like and Cherie's Shoe & Tell when they come on.  Hope to see you there.

Wearing That French Housedress

for MeMadeMay'18 on Day #6.

~ using the dry brush affectation ~

You know, so I look more like a French Impressionist painting.  hrmph.

Anyway, I'm referring to the nickname Marcy Tilton gave to her Vogue 8813 pattern.  I've made at least half a dozen of them, all from vintage tablecloths. I just couldn't stop.  Most combined 2 to 3 cloths, but this one was large enough to go solo.     You can see the others if you want to:  here, here, here, here, here and here (in reverse chrono order!)

~ ooo la la ~

As you can see, it's all embroidered and has cut-outs.  I was able to use the scalloped edges for the hem.

~ a look at both sides now ~

Not much was happening on the back, so I appliqued some of the embroidery work onto the back shoulder area and at the waist line.



And last but not least...

~ sweet shoes from ebay ~

It's that time again, so off I go to Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style, Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like, and Cherie's Shoe & Tell when they all go live.  Hope to see you there!

Cooler By A Long Shot

MeMadeMay'18, Day #3

and just in time to wear my newly made polka dotted sweatshirt jacket.

~ for MeMadeMay, Day #3 ~

I used Marcy Tilton's very old and out of print Vogue 8620 jacket pattern.  It got such great reviews, I couldn't resist.  I did make it much larger so I could actually wear it over things, not just like a suit jacket.  I also made it 7" longer.  Oh, and I added a draw string around the huge collar, so I could scoop it up around my neck if I was chilly.  The pattern instructions were great and very easy to follow.

~ I made the rest of the stuff too ~

The pants are a tiny dotted stretch denim.   I used Tina Givens Norma Jeans pattern for them.  The top is dark gray cotton I made long ago with matching pants.  Later I added scrap bits of embroidered silk to edge the bottom.  And made a narrow scarf with what I had leftover.  You can see that ensemble here.

~ ebay galoshes complete me ~

I simply must link up with Spy Girl with my real bonafide polka dots today.

Watching The Total Eclipse Dress

~ Oh yeah ~

I made the dress 'special for some moon event and finished it just in time.  Of course I couldn't really watch it with my sunglasses on.  So this is just a reenactment.

~ yep, I had to look away ~

But let me tell you about this dress.  What a process.  I had made the pattern before - Marcy Tilton, V8876 and really liked how it turned out.  You can see that make here.  So when I got the phases of the moon fabric, I thought no problemo.

~ it's still got the bones ~

But this fabric behaved so differently than the other.  And for some reason it ended up really large, even though I made it the same size!  I had also carefully finished all the umpteen zillion seams, along with putting in a jumbo two-way zipper down the center front.

I tried putting in the lightest weight tissue linen for sleeves and the bottom border, but that didn't seem to help much.

So I carefully ripped out untold teeny stitches to remove that honking zipper.

~ groovy leather belt-let ~

In the end, I decided to wrap the dress over by 4 inches or so and added a leather buckle strap from a gone-to-toast pair of sandals.  I found some moon-sized buttons in my stash and the rest, as they say, is history.



I made the organza pants in the beginning days of Project Minima.  They continued off of yoga shorts.


And I made the Japanese tabi socks from a pattern, more or less, by Folkwear.
I used stretch mesh fabric for the sock with non-slip gripper fabric for soles and snap tape as the fasteners.

~ geta shoes from ebay ~

And now I'm rushing on over to Patti and the Visibles of Not Dead Yet Style fame.  Then Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like, and Cheri's Shoe and Tell.  Come on by.

Arrest Me Red Moto Jacket

~ with my granny dress ~

I'm in my True Love's studio in front of his many works in progress.  A fabulous backdrop for my RED faux moto jacket, wouldn't you say?    The jacket is made from Marcy Tilton's Vogue 8795 with a few modifications.   I just added zippered pockets and lengthened it by several inches.

 

~ and now I'm swinging it ~

in the school playground a few doors down from my house.  You know, where I was standing at the Girl's Entrance the other day...

~ looking good unzipped too ~

They have that weird-o shredded tire rubber ground covering so no kid gets hurt.  

And you bounce when you walk across it, like doink-a-doink-a-doink, yeah.

~ while the ole Docs always look groovy ~

Off to Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style, then Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like and Cherie's Shoe and Tell when they go live.   Hope to see you there!

The Last Tablecloth Dress

Although I didn't know that at the time...

~ Hi, I'm having a delightful time in the neighborhood ~

It was a lovely day, weather-wise.  And I'm wearing one of the last of a series of tablecloth dresses I made based on Marcy Tilton's French house dress pattern, Vogue 8813.  In fact, this series really took off on Pinterest last year or so when I started them.  Something like 5,000 pins each...  And I didn't even have a pinterest page or whatever.

~ back view ~

This was one of the few (only?) that used one tablecloth for the entire dress.  All the others combined at least 3 to make a dress and that was the fun part - auditioning cloths to see which ones worked best together.

~ I just luv this dress ~

And it's so nice to bring them all out every summer.  Loverly old linen dresses that can be thrown in the wash and come out looking even better than ever.  Somehow I never got around to getting this one photo-ed with me in it.  So here we are.  Thanks Sara.

~ with Crocs from e-bay ~

Hopping on over to the famous Patti and the Visibles of Not Dead Yet Style.  Then Catherine's I Will Wear What I Like and Cherie's Shoe and Tell.  Come on by.

Out Takes x 2

Highlighting a doubleheader of no go photo shoots.  Yep, it's come to this, folks. 

~ whoa, I'm falling and I can't get up ~

But I'm wearing a flannel shirt rehabilitation of my own creation, home-made corduroy pants from Marcy Tilton Vogue pattern #8497, and refashioned suede clogs.

~in the sun drenched library ~

~ it's all very comfy ~

~ and look at that view! ~

Round Two:  Another day, another out take, still at the library...

~  ahh, Hot Harridan Reading! Must tell Melanie ~

~ aiyiyi ~

This time I'm wearing clothes made from the Phoebe pattern by Tina Givens (never to be worn together again) and Trippen shoes from ebay.

~ yes, now there's something pretty ~

Now, what shall I wear to meet up with Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style?  It'll have to be a last minute surprise, ya'll.  Cherie's Shoe and Tell is a clear choice.  Come on by.

The Monster Mash vs. My Ouiji Sox

~ Here we are, doing our thing, ya'll ~

~ with a little Saturday Night Fever move, uhuh ~

It was all very scary.  Thank goodness for my Ouiji sox.  Although they didn't know what to spell out, given the circumstances.  Still, I felt covered some how...

~ until the dance of the seven three veils, that is ~

~ anyway, there were non-stop photo opps ~

  with thanks to Sara for photo-ing

Ladies.  I'm wearing:

• a lovely batik cotton dress made from a Marcy Tilton pattern #8876
• my upcycled black yoga shorts turned into sheer pantaloons
• the aforementioned ouiji knee sox 
• my ancient red Doc Martens
• an old wooden bead bracelet that I found somewhere

 I'll be seeing you with the Visibles at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style on Monday.  That's one not to miss!

Yes, Yes, It's Another Tablecloth Dress

Oh dear, oh dear, I'm so behind in picture-taking.  And I found these pix already downloaded and edited, but not yet posted!  How did that happen?

Now posting tout de suite!

1

2

3!

How could I resist?  A gray and white with pink and red print trio of tablecloths.  I mean, we've got stripey things, checkerboards, flowers and big abstract shapes with flourishes going on here.

 

See what I mean? 

To see more, keep on going...

Behind the Times with Tablecloth Dress #5

Yes, I've several dresses made that haven't been posted, let along photo-ed yet.   So let's get caught up so I can get back to the future, shall we? 

Tablecloth Dress #5

It's rather sweet, innit?  It couldn't be helped, coming right after the elephant dress and being that it was a lightweight, scalloped, pink floral embroidered kind of tablecloth from a church rummage sale.

le side view

I just went with it.  In fact, it was so expansive, I used the entire cloth for the dress and didn't have to mix and match like I usually do.  That was a first.

and a back shot on the balcony off the sewing studio

Here's a couple in process pix for your viewing pleasure:

appliques

testing...

To see the dress in detail, go to my Clothes for Summer page.   And stay tuned for more as soon as I pause from sewing and start photo-ing. 

No close ups of the pig shoes as I call them.  They're my everyday wear and from the front, they look just like little pigs.  awww.

Tablecloth Dress #4 - Endangered Species

And now for something completely different...

Yep, those are big elephant pockets

complete with a  lion in them, uh-huh.

Let me tell you...

This tablecloth was so big, I was able to get the skirt and bodice out of it.  Having elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards, zebras, wildebeests, plus vessels on a tie-dyed tablecloth is about as good as you can get.  Finding a checked plaid woven tablecloth for the center panel and inside pocket linings was pretty cool too.

A tablecloth dress for the ages.

Straight on.

Obligatory shoe shot from you-know-where.

To see details of Tablecloth Dress #4, just go to my Clothes from Summer page.  You even get to see the back!   And I've got at least 2 more coming...