Nesting Dolls of Science

You know what the best part about this challenge has been so far?   By not shopping this week, my brain is like "Girl, you are crushing this challenge!"   So, I could passively go through a year of not buying clothes and feel good about myself!   BOOM.   But here’s the thing:   looking forward, I'm going to need to do some serious wardrobe consideration.   My jeans are quite a few years old and wearing out in places.   I had a baby a year ago so my body is still changing.   I'm also trying to be more active, so yeah it's going to keep changing.   Plus, I'm rocking the tail end of my 20's, therefore weddings.   Always.   I have three invites for this year alone (one my daughter is going to be a flower girl, exciting!) Basically, the goal for this week was to sit down and figure a few things out. Define my personal style. What pieces do I need? What pieces do I want? How do I get those pieces? STEP NUMBER FUN:   D...

I think the word I want to use as my mantra this year is Sustainable. Not just in the green sense of the word, but maintaining good habits. All holiday, my heart has been breaking over new about wildfires in Australia and it reminds me that the new reality here in California is the same with semi annual wildfires.  I want to make changes to help the environment, but they need to be sustainable as well as sustainable...oh man that wordplay cuts me deep. Anyway, I started with some soul searching. A few changes I've already made are to use period panties and menstrual cups. I also started using a reusable straw a little last year, but maintaining that habit has proven tricky. I also was using an imperfect produce system, but we weren't eating stuff fast enough due to time constraints. There's also other changes I could make, but here's the thing: a lot of the rhetoric around sustainable lifestyles is changing habits and they ignore the privilege that involves. As a parent...

You know, it's important to let your freak flag fly, even if you're a mother.  I went out for lunch with a lovely bunch of ladies, but it reminded me of a few things.  1.  My social anxiety is still strongly in effect. 2.  Finding mom friends is good, finding mom friends who get you is great. I really enjoyed my time, but it definitely made me feel like I shrank a little.  When I'm around people I'm comfortable with, I feel just free and comfortable to stretch out within myself and like I'm understood.  If I'm not, I feel exhausted, like I have to check every syllable for something that gives away just how odd I am.  What I realized is it just feels easier with either women I knew before I was a mother or nerdy moms.  Not to say I hate moms, it's not that at all.  Mothers (and fathers) need each other for survival.  We are the only people who understand the physical, mental and emotional toll raising a child takes.  And while ...

Look at me, progressing with actually sewing something!  I think the moral of my story is have someone to keep you accountable, like a mom.  Every mom needs a mom. This was my daughter's first time in the magical place that is Joann's Fabric, and it turns out my kid as she is right now rocks at errands.  Frankly, she's more patient than me.  I don't think it hurts that she was complimented by I think just about everyone.  I had done some research on Joanns.com before we went to the store, so that is a huge plus.  I knew I wanted some light weight fabric for the peplum top and something kind of linen-y for the playsuit. I knew white withe some kind of embroidery was what I wanted for the top, but I hadn't decided what it would look like, and I saw some navy light weight embroidered fabric that I fell madly in love with.  The issue was that fabric was not really in the direction that worked best for the pattern, so I landed on this floral embroidere...

Let's start with the peplum clone and how that's going so far.    I have seen some videos about cloning a garment (from WithWendy and AnnikaVictoria ) and so I have some idea of copying a shirt without destroying it.   HOWEVER, most tutorials are based around knit garments, and this garment is made of woven fabric.   The biggest issue with this is cloning a knit garment is easy because shaping is less of an issue.   Stretch is forgiving, so you can kind of wing it.   Woven material is 2D, so shaping it to 3D takes a couple techniques that can be hard to replicate.   It's got bust darts. It's got gathers on the bottom. I think to make an accurate copy, I'd have to cute the top apart, but the fabric is so thin, this might not be the best idea.   The first thing I did was call my mom.   Moms are important, and she tends to be a fount of sewing wisdom.   I told her about the issues with cloning, and she came up with s...

So I’ve done Me Made May for a few years.   Last year, I even did Me Made Maternity thanks to some stuff my mom made for me as well as some pieces that transitioned with my changing body.   And once again, your girl’s body has changed.   Really my life has changed.   A lot.   I’m now the mother of a 7 (almost 8) month old baby, which means making stuff has taken even more of a backseat than before, if you can believe it.   All of the handmade clothes I have were made and have been seen on this blog before, which makes the whole reveal of Me Made May kind of useless to me.   I mean, some I am styling differently, but honestly I don’t feel like I need to post the stuff because it’s been seen.   And I think Me Made May is supposed to be one of those inspirational things, to inspire you to wear your homemade clothes and that’s great.   Frankly, I already rock my handmade clothes a lot because they’re the stuff that fits.   So…I had a thoug...

I studied animation and physics in college, and something I love to do is still to draw or paint or all around doodle.  And do math.  At work, I can math all day long (I'm a physics teacher) but my creative endeavors have been tricky.  The big barriers (and I think this is possibly true for most people, even if they aren't parents) are: Time to do the endeavor If you have the time, space in your home.  Some things take up a lot of space or need a large space to complete. If you have the space and time, materials can be hard to work with around the kids For me with drawing, I've been trying to find a digital solution.  I've been drawing with Procreate on the iPad, and if I can overcome time and space issues, I have my laptop and cintiq to play around with.  But the big thing is I want to make this something that works for me wherever and whenever.  Drawing on iPad on the go works pretty well, but the programs aren't as slick as those on the comp...

Monday:   Seamwork Jane tie front shirt in blue stripes from Joann's No photo, busy day You know what I find interesting: I have been on Instagram looking at outfits for other sewists rocking their #mmmay looks, and I have been reusing so many pieces this year.  I am super impressed with those who can make and wear a whole bunch of stuff, but my time right now does not allow it.  And you know what: I'm actually really happy with the repeats.  I feel like I haven't styled them the exact same way every time, like trying out different bottoms with the tops or different accessories.  I think, however, that I do need to branch outside of jeans a little and mix up skirts some more.  I think, especially at this time of year for teachers, it is super easy to get caught doing the same look. Tuesday:   Butterick slacks by mom in grey stretch from Joann's Again, no photo, busy day.  Again, I wish these pants had pockets, but I'm really feeling how I c...

Preface:  My dad described me as having A WEEK this week.  We found out that 20 ft. worth of water pipe has to be replaced, it's the last week before finals, I had a huge district meeting to go to on Tuesday and on Wednesday I landed myself in the hospital (I'll talk about it there).  To say photos this week are spotty is an understatement.  I'm proud that I was able to finish out this week at all.  Read Friday to hear more. Monday:  Butterick dress in peach floral satin-y fabric from Joann's I am so upset with myself that I don't have a photo of this one!  I got tons of complements on this dress.  This was the first version my mom made of this dress, and I wore it Easter Sunday as well as to work on this particular Monday.  It is the perfect color for my complexion, and while it is a bit baggy still, it's super comfortable.  When I was trying to remember what I wore or even find a photo of it, my mind drew a complete and utter blank...

Monday:  Rae skirt from last week with Old Navy maternity top I had to dress this one up fro work as I was presenting at a showcase.  The good news is that skirt can dress up, down and all around town.  I wasn't as thrilled with the proportions, especially in the photo they took of me at the event.  It just made me say mentally "OH MAMA AM I PREGGERS."  I did get a lot of compliments on it, weirdly enough.  And my presentation went well. I forgot to download the photo from my work email, so c’est la vie. Tuesday:  Butterick maternity dress in polka dot fabric, also by Mom I love this dress and this pattern.  I will wear it for as long as I can.  Initially, the polka dots did not thrill me as much as the as thoroughly as the floral (I may be obsessed with floral prints) but I like how it turned out.  I also packed up the drawers of my desk in the nursery, as the desk will be moving out this week.  Kind of a weird feelin...

Day 1: Butterick B6068 Maternity Dress by Mom in cotton First, I want to say I love this dress and everything that went into it. Looking super pregnant... Zuko: "My mom is crazy..." Here's the hardest thing about doing Me Made Maternity: there are not a lot of patterns for maternity clothes.  Back in February when I hadn't popped yet, my mom and I went on a pilgrimage to Joann's for maternity clothes patterns.  When my mom was pregnant with us in the 80's, her mother made maternity clothes for her to wear, which saved her a lot of time and money.  However, nowadays, patterns were few and far between.  I think we found a total of like three patterns, and we chose one with dresses and one with tops.  We still haven't found a good one for overalls/dungarees.  (I found a pair for sale at Motherhood that was abo $76, and I'm not sure that I'm ready to pay that much for overalls.)  My mom swears by overalls for pregnant ladies because y...

My final stages of getting excited and prepping and drawing to a close.  My mom made some dresses and they have been hemmed, I'm snipping loose threads from my new skirt and ironing some other stuff to prep for this month.  I'm actually becoming excited, and it's all thanks to elasticated waistbands and dresses. Dude, straight talk: I'm in love with elastic waistbands in clothing.  Luckily, I've made a ton of skirts with them as a main feature over the past few years. Now you may be thinking: where did this sudden epiphany come from?  I've been transitioned into maternity pants now for about a month and my bump has just gotten to the point where I really can't wear anything but maternity pants.  The only downside is a maternity pant with panels kind of tends to slide down and can get awfully uncomfortable throughout the day.  Luckily, I know have lots of elastic waistband skirts thanks to making them throughout the year (and when they stretch out, I'...

As the day of actually Me Made May approaches, I have begun to reflect more on how I felt after Me Made May last year.  I think, overall, it was a great experience.  I loved showing off my handmade things that maybe I didn't wear as often.  It also pushed my sense of style and how I want to present myself.  Here are a few things that stuck with me that will most definitely impact how I prepped for Me Made May and how I'm going to post this year. Instagram Selfies, Not for Me Can you smell the awkward?  Believe it or not, this is NOT the most awkward photo I have from last year. I really don't like photos of myself.  I don't like what my face often does, I get annoyed with my body and I'm super self conscious.  I like DRAWING self portraits, but not so much PHOTOGRAPHIC self portraits.  Last year for Me Made May, I posted a photo almost every day of my outfits.  It drove me a bit crazy.  If I wanted the whole outfit in the photo, ...

What I have found to be the biggest difference in making things before and now is one big one:  I've been tackling a lot more knits. Sewing madness. With a little help from my buddy, of course. It's much easier for me to deal with a growing, changing body if the material has some stretch to it.  Plus, I have some great and versatile patterns from, who else, Seamwork to play around with.  An outfit I'm kind of excited about is made up entirely of Seamwork pieces, and knit fabric.  Right now the skirt doesn't fit super well, but I made it for when I'm a little bit bigger. I did a ton of planning around some of these outfits, but unfortunately fabric constraints mean I had to do a bit of rearranging or changing of color.  Luckily, I had my moodboard and Pinterest to help me out.  I realized that I forgot to show you my moodboard from last post.  WHOMP HERE IT IS: Weirdly enough, I feel like a lot of these images just explain my life t...

So as I mentioned in my last post, I did the Seamwork Design Your Wardrobe program.  Basically, it was through the email and it was worksheets, and as a teacher, it worked so well for me.  I don't want to spoil it (if you're interested, check out Seamwork ) but I do want to talk about part of the process.  Specifically, the moodboard and organizing part. I realized part of my issue last year was not having enough pieces that fit my existing wardrobe to allow me to actually wear them and feel like it looked good.  Through the Seamwork email thing, I really thought about what I needed to wear and what would work for me based on what I partially already had and what I wanted to have.  Making a moodboard always seemed so arbitrary...until I did it.  I looked at images that excited me, silhouettes I liked and colors I enjoyed and appreciated.  I also, for once, looked at seasons. The first step for me was to look at clothes on my Pinterest (specifically...

Yes, you read that title right.  I'm going to attempt Me Made May for the second time.  Oh, and I'm 20 weeks pregnant.  Yeah, so it's been a process.  My little buddy girl has just started to pop out a little, so I've been making the move into maternity wear.  The first trimester was actually somewhat mild compared to those in my new mother's support group thing.  I had fatigue and nausea, but overall it wasn't like the worst thing.  I mean, I slept a lot but I think that was my body preparing for insomnia to come.  And the second trimester, which many call the best trimester, has been good so far.  The body changes have been weird, and I feel like I have a new body like every few days, but other than that it's been fine so far.  Luckily, I'm tall, so she has plenty of space to move around.  I have a feeling that my blog posts for Me Made May will have a similar "Baby Update" vibe to them, but if I've learned anything about how I ...