June Wrap-up and July Plans

Hey, remember me?  I have had such little sew-jo, and June was absolutely insane. 

I lost a couple days at the start of the month to a migraine. I'm sure the near 100 degree temps didn't help.

June 4: Grabbed my daughter's cap and gown from her college, bought some (expensive!) fabric from Sewing Lounge to make a simple cami style dress for her for commencement (she graduated last year but the ceremony was virtual)
June 6: Picked up daughter, sil, and grandson from the airport
June 6-8: Sewed the dress
June 8: Commencement 
June 9: Picked my parents up from the airport
June 10: Niece's birthday party
June 11: My dad's birthday, younger niece's HS graduation, cousin's bday dinner
June 12: Younger niece's grad party, aunt's bday dinner (dad's sister that traveled up for his bday)
June 13: Cousin's (mentioned above) birthday, dropped kids and grandkid at the airport
June 14: Started my new job (exciting but exhausting!)
June 19: Parent's last weekend, family dinner
June 20: Father's Day
June 23: Dropped my parents off at the airport
June 25-29: Girl's trip to Savannah

Like, seriously! 

This month I sewed 1 thing, total of 1 1/4 yards of fabric. Sighhh

I used the Kommatia patterns (Studio Calicot) Claire bodysuit pattern lengthened to a dress using M6886

Yep. That's it. No photos on her...I took these two pics from my IG stories

I tried various methods of using my Brother Coverstitch bias binding tool...it did great with a woven fabric (with either knit or woven binding), but not so great with knit-on-knit binding. And I was running out of time so I did it all on the sewing machine.

It turned out really well!

Now, this weekend is the 4th, my birthday is Tuesday, and I'm tired y'all! I want to make an outfit for Saturday, but I just do not see myself having the ability to get it done. If I can get the pattern cut out and adjusted tomorrow (doubtful), I can sew it Friday evening/Saturday morning & afternoon. Maaaaybe if I switch my idea from a jumpsuit to a dress, it'll be doable. We'll see :)

Otherwise, I really need to do a massive clean-up. My closet feels stale and is a mess, my sewing room is a mess, I've been having weird (for me) self-doubt. Like, it took me days to start that dress because I was worried about the binding. I look at patterns and think, "too complicated" and then, it sits. Wah. 

I try not to sweat it when the mojo goes...it just seems like I'm in a looooong slump right now. 

May Wrap Up

This month I sewed a total of 7 things for a total of 10.75 yards (plus a 2 meter project for Minerva - more to come)

• Butterick 6621 dress - 2.25 yards
• taupe jersey from Stylish Fabrics
• McCall's 7465 dress - 1.75 yards
• heavy navy jersey from Stylish Fabrics
• elastic
• Simplicity 9273 tee x2 - 1.25 yards each
• black & white striped jersey from stash (likely Fabric Mart)
• black rayon blend jersey from stash (I have no clue where I bought it!)
• McCall's 7465 dress - 1.5 yards
• blue and white floral & striped ITY from stash (Fabric Mart)
• elastic
• McCall's 7920 dress (WIP) - 2.75 yards (45" fabric)
• buttons (assuming I complete it!)
• Burda 1/2018 skirt (Minerva project) - 2 meters (not counted in my total)
• ditsy print black & white cotton poplin
• invisible zipper

mini'd M7465 in ITY

Favorite: I am probably most excited about the navy M7465. It's such a basic pattern but it fits SO well and the jersey is fantastic. I will be posting the review on this one tomorrow (apparently I did NOT schedule the posts I thought I scheduled! LOL!)

Accomplishment: Not much in the way of stretching the skills this month, but that's okay. I did continue to "fly by the seat of my pants", and overall, I'm happy with the new adds to the wardrobe except...

FAIL: I'm not sure about this white M7920. It is looking kind of nurse's outfit mid-construction. I am going to plan to finish it. We'll see!

Other things...

I finally put away all of my winter clothes (we were having lows in the 30s still near the end of the month) and pulled out spring and summer clothes. I then proceeded to try on EVERYTHING. If I hadn't *just* worn it/bought it/made it and knew that it fit, I tried it on. 

IT WAS EXHAUSTING!

But it was good. I have a lot of clothes (which is okay!), and having stuff hanging up and taking up space is pointless. If it did not fit in that very moment, it went back in the bin. And then, I sorted the bin with stuff that I cannot fit but want to hang on to on bottom and stuff that was pretty close to fitting on top, and some stuff went in the donation pile. 

RTW: 

I saw these pants in Target and thought they were worth trying for $25. SO much extra front length. Bleh. And they were twill and very stiff. Not what I was looking for.

I ordered these wide legged pleated trousers from Calvin Klein from Nordstrom Rack and I've checked at least 7 times to make sure they weren't "tall'. Nope. Just super, extra long for some reason. I tried them on with 4" heels and STILL need to lose 2 inches. Bananas. But, the fabric is really nice, they are fully lined, and fit well otherwise. At $45, they were worth it, even with the cost of alterations.

In case you are wondering - I have a tailor. I do not alter RTW clothing.

I was sort of interested in the shoulder-pad tee trend but not enough to fully commit. I like this muscle shirt from Target. It gives the look without the pad. I do wish the neckline were a little more open.

I really scored on a few items at LOFT. But that's one of the few places I shop consistently. I just LOVE this smocked top. The pants are new too! I also picked up a pair of slim, cropped black trousers. Great fabric, waistband faced with wide elastic, double darts in back...they are fantastic. 

I am pretty picky about RTW now, not surprisingly. I saw this white top in Marshall's one day and thought it was a little too long for tucking and so I left it. 

But then, I could NOT stop thinking about it! 

Yesterday was a perfect weather day here in Minneapolis, and there was a Simplicity that I wanted to pickup so I hit a JoAnn that's a bit further away, just to go for a ride. I happened to stop in Marshall's and I FOUND THE SHIRT!!!!!!!! Woooohoo! I didn't know that Beach Lunch Lounge was a "real" brand ("discount" stores often are just selling house brands made for their store). It's 100% viscose, fits well, and since it's so soft and drapey, it actually tucks just fine. (I have it on over an off-shoulder jumpsuit so ignore the weird shoulder bulges!)

Lastly, here are some RTW inspiration pics I rounded up for summer, all from Nordstrom (I like to look there and Net-a-Porter for inspiration!)

I mostly participated in Me Made May. I think I did everyday, but I didn't document daily so I'm not 100% sure. One of the BEST things about MMM is finding new people to follow. Totally makes it worth it!

I've got about a week with nothing happening but then, June gets insanely busy (in the best ways!) so I'm only going to set a few goals:

• Finish the WIP, Burda 1/2018
• Sew a matching tank with the leftover fabric
• Do as much as I can to finish stalled WIPs and UFOs

As always, more later!