The final countdown: MMM13 Week 5

Finally! It's been less than fun taking daily pictures of myself, but using the daily prompts from Fat Mum Slim's Photo-a-Day challenge and trying to combine them with different locations around the city has at least kept it interesting. For me, at any rate; I can't speak for you.

Last five days. Here we go...

May 27

Toronto Reference Library. "Can't live without"

This is not a picture of me on Bike-to-work day because, as usual, I overslept was too busy biking to work to attend the breakfast. One of these years, I will go. I'm wearing a green pre-blog version of the McCall's that is the same pattern as the eyelet dress, but which I made in grad school when I hemmed everything shorter. Much, much shorter. It's made of the same mystery faux-linen as the Easter parade dress and lined in black satin because... well, why not? Anyway, it's the last time I'll wear this dress, because not only does the length take the dress into hoochie-mama territory when I'm on my bike, but the bodice is much too big and it gapes. Fortunately the jacket kept me modest during the day. I have no desire to try and fix the issues, so out she goes. The earrings are the green glass ones I bought in Venice because they reminded me of the canals.

May 28

Princess of Wales Theatre, King Street West "What you're doing now"

What we are doing is waiting to find out if we won tickets to see The Book of Mormon. (We didn't.) You can barely see my brand-spanking-new blue striped Sorbetto hack (with me-made bias binding, yo). I will blog about my various Sorbettos eventually; this one needs a bit of tweaking before I'm completely happy with it. It is doubled mystery chiffon from the sari store I went to last week. The earrings are the "vintage" blue earrings I bought in Paris in 2010. Then last July when I went back to the same store, I saw an identical pair. Vintage my eyeball. They're still really pretty, though.

May 29

Kensington Market. "Kiss"

I'm wearing my white Sorbetto and a debut: the PhysicsGirl exclusive Spring Waves scarf, despite it not being entirely finished -- I still have to add the fringe. If you want to make your own, and why wouldn't you, the pattern will be posted eventually. The earrings are the moonstone earrings I bought in Amsterdam.

May 30

Corner of Richmond and Spadina. "Tool"

The weather is having personality issues. From torrential and chilly on Tuesday, it has gone up to seriously summer heights. 31°C and muggy today. I'm wearing my white Butterick 6582. I was hoping to wear a reverseable me-made belt in beige (the other side being cream satin, which is the other side of the fabric) with a buckle I bought at the Aberfoyle antiques market, but it went completely cattawumpus, so I'm just wearing the dress's self-belt. I'm also wearing the amber earrings I bought in Delphi.

May 31

Jarvis CI/The Marriage of Figaro, West Queen West. "Four things"

You get two shots today. The first four things are Thurlow shorts, a refashioned blue linen top, me-made burgundy cluster chandeliers, and a pair of sandals refashioned from flip flips. I don't usually wear shorts to school, but it was hot and I had tests and/or presentations all day. I'm sure nobody noticed the fact that they are a wee bit tight in the rear. I finished hemming them this morning, and discovered on my way in that I had left a pin in. It was unreachable, too. Ow. The top was one of those Sears things that was too big and shapeless. I took in the sides and considered putting darts in the front but decided it didn't need it, which makes me happy since I hate sewing darts. I forgot to take a before shot; sorry. I think I need to refashion the refashion, though, because it doesn't fit very well in the back. The earrings I call a qualified success. Surprisingly, I only have one pair of burgundy earrings, but since they are burgundy and gold, I don't wear them much. I made these, but I think the hoops are too big.

In the evening we went to see Against the Grain Theatre's Figaro's Wedding, which was amazing. It's a contemporary resetting of Le Nozze di Figaro with an English libretto and it's hilarious and beautifully sung. The staging has it so we are guests at the wedding and reception, and due to the table we were standing at in the fourth act, I got to interact with the cast. Hi, I'm Stacy's mom. It's only on for one more night (June 2) and you should go see it if you can, even if you have to fly in from Australia to do so.

Oh, the four things here are a refashioned red polyester top, my refashioned me-made black peau de soie skirt, the earrings, and a cute purse I bid for at last year's Frankie Manning weekend. I've always felt the blousy, elastic-bottomed top made me look pregnant, so in the spirit of the ReFashionista, I chopped off the bottom and took in the sides. Much better.


So, this is the end of Me-Made May. Is this where I do a reflection thingy? I fulfilled my secret challenge of wearing something I had made or refashioned every day (crocheted scarves to the rescue!), and I did complete new items (in all three categories), although I really wanted to have Spring Steppes (a cotton/linen version of the Fall Fields cardigan) and grey linen Thurlow trousers finished by the end of the month. I was on track to have the cardigan done, but two weeks ago I got sidetracked by this job thing I have. I also had a plan for working on the Thurlows a little bit over the past two weeks. Didn't happen, although they are mostly all cut out. I'm a little concerned that with a lack of deadline, they will both languish in the UFO pile. I did cross several refashions off my list, which is good, even if I have to go back and redo one or two of them. I'm especially proud of my M*A*T*H tee and flip-flop refashions; I've been wearing those suckers a lot.

Geeky stats:
Me-mades: 5/5; Refashioned: 4/5; Sewing: 8; Crochet: 1; Earrings: 1
Monthly total: Me-mades: 20/31; Refashioned: 16/31 Sewing: 20; Crochet: 9; Earrings/Jewellery: 13

Previously, on PGOTLMMM13: