MadMenMeMadeMayBlogiversary

Happy Everything, Everybody!

Of course I waited until the last minute to finish the Mad Men Challenge. I blame the lovely Kristin for mentioning the deadline extension on her blog, because I had no idea and thought I needed to finish by Thursday night or so. I’m as done as I’m going to be, and while it’s not an exact replica, it’s good enough and so soft and yummy. During this experience I got to do a darn near perfect lapped zipper thanks to Sunni’s FREE (Yes, you’re an idiot for not doing this because it is in fact free) Craftsy class on zippers. If you don’t believe me, Rochelle raves about it too. It’s just too helpful and no-brainer. I also finally made myself learn a blind hem after hearing my wonderful best cheerleader/biggest critic co-workers bitch about my machine hems. (Like THEY’RE at home sewing fabulous things!) I figured that a charmeuse dress warranted a neat hem.

My inspiration dress was this lovely shot from the Season 5 cast photos.
I had to pick a Joan dress (gotta do something with these girls) and I’m all about the floral. I chose New Look 6567 because I thought the neckline would be compatible, plus it’s a simple silouhette, enhancing my good bits and kinda flowing over the meh bits. Works for me. I absolutely adored my wearable muslin, and got compliments from random people who don’t even know I sew, which means they’re not people who feel they always have to ask if I’ve made what I’m wearing and compliment me.

Here’s the muslin:

It’s a decently substantial cotton, I dare say an actual apparel rather than quilting cotton, and it feels wonderful. I didn’t bother putting a zipper in it because it was fitting great and it is a muslin and only needed to be mildly cute. I also didn’t do facings, just hemmed the neckline in. No probs. It passed the dancing test one evening last month when both my boyfriend and his brother had gigs in the area. Look out, Bridgewater nightlife! Shelley’s boogying in her muslin.

The actual dress is made from a charmeuse. I’ll be honest and say I don’t remember if it’s silk or polyester, probably poly since it was reasonably cheap. I got it on eBay and it was as close to the Joan print as I could find. It feels phenomenal on, like wearing lingerie all day. Nums. I’m so glad I did the lapped zipper, one because it was already in my stash and two because it was a dark green, which appeals to me even though you can’t see it. Any picky looking places are because I accidentally had the tension on low when I did the last stitch and had to redo it, therefore making a bit of a mess. It was by no means the fault of the fabulous Craftsy class.

We be lappin’

Since the muslin fit well, the dress went together smoothly, BUT since I didn’t test a facing AND because it was a funny material AND because I altered the neckline and therefore the facing pieces, the neckline doesn’t lie perfectly flat. I think that there was also a problem with the sleeve insertion on one side because that seems to be where the pulling is from, but I’m not about to unpick a whole sleeve. It’s just going to be something I fuss with throughout the day. Seems like there’s always something I’m tending to on my garments. But overall, I LOVE.

Here she is

I left the sleeves long because I didn’t think I would like the length of the inspiration dress sleeves. Just seemed awkward for me. I was lucky enough to find the perfect trimming (at Wal-Mart no less), so that was a fortunate addition to my Joan homage.

Sadly attempting the Joan pose

And they’re spectacular 😉

Not too bad from the back

Thanks as always to our gorgeous hostess Julia!!!

In other news, let’s make Me-Made-May 2013 official:

I, Shelley of Cuckoo Chanel, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’13. I endeavour to wear a different me-made outfit each day for the duration of May 2013. I will not repeat outfits, but repeat garments are permitted if necessary and if the garment is just too cute and versatile to wear only once.

Here again is a shameless link to my Me-Made-May’12 gallery, just showing you that you can wing it even if you think you don’t have enough items. I did a lot of refashioning, and wore a quickie infinity scarf as my me-made item one day. Hey, it all works. It’s all in good spirit and good fun!! Absolutely cannot wait to see what everyone does this month. I will be lurking the Flickr group CONSTANTLY.

If all of this weren’t exciting enough, today is my one-year blogiversary. Sorry, no prezzies yet, but I promise I’ll get generous someday. I truly feel fortunate to be a part of this community. Thanks to everyone who commented on my blog when no one else was, and to all the wonderful folks I met during last Me-Made-May ’12 and all of the other events and sewalongs over the past year. Looking forward to making lots of beautiful things and meeting even more of you blogoddesses. Also, just a reminder for those living in or visiting the greater NYC area, our Google community is open for meetup suggestions
https://plus.google.com/communities/116445537642005689069#communities/116445537642005689069
Come on over!

Major Mad Men Me-Made-May LOVE!
Shelley