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...

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...

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...

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, ...

Monday:  (No IG post) Raglan T Tuesday:(No IG post) Jane T-shirt Wednesday: (No IG post) Rae Skirt in rust colored poppies Reflections: This was just a piece of the month, but it was also the final week of school, so documentation did not happen.  I think the big thing I decided was how much more important just wearing the clothes that I made was to me than to post photos.  Any teacher can tell you this is a tough week.  You're just trying to make it to the end.  But now it's over, which means more sewing!  Look for those posts as they come through.  Also, this will be short because I've made a full project reflection that I'll post during the week.  Let me just tell you what to look forward to: -Posts about sewing projects -A hair style post.  No, really, this will happen. -More We Make Stuff posts -Yard updates So, keep posted.  I'm thinking I'll stay with the Sunday post date, but it may be more frequent as it is summer. ...

Sunday: (no IG post) Homemade PJs Yeah, I failed.  Oh well.  I was putting way too much pressure on myself and this was the cost. Monday:  Seamwork Hayden top Pretty stoked on today's look. Totally going to make more #seamworkhayden now that I've got the hang of it. #keepflippingthrough #itgetsweirder #endofyearteacherproblems #mmmay17 #memademay2017 A post shared by The Shreve (and Carvalho) (@nestingdollsofscience) on May 15, 2017 at 7:14pm PDT Tuesday:  See Kate Sew Peplum top See past post for picture. Wednesday:  Sewaholic Rue Skirt and Pendrell Top #memademay2017 #mmmay17 best part about giving a test is I can wear heels and not regret it #sewaholicpatterns #rueskirt #pendrellblouse A post shared by The Shreve (and Carvalho) (@nestingdollsofscience) on May 17, 2017 at 8:26pm PDT Thursday:  Sewaholic Pendrell Top, ruffled sleeve version I have never been complimented more on a homemade thing...#pendrellblous...

Sunday:  Agnes Top from Tilly and the Buttons Casual Sunday #agnestop #tillyandthebuttons #mmmay17 #memademay2017 #iactuallywentawholeweek A post shared by The Shreve (and Carvalho) (@nestingdollsofscience) on May 7, 2017 at 12:43pm PDT Monday: Rae Skirt in polyester #Raeskirt what you don't see is the paper clips holding the skirt up since the elastic broke #mmmay17 #memademay2017 #sulerstar A post shared by The Shreve (and Carvalho) (@nestingdollsofscience) on May 8, 2017 at 4:39pm PDT So I have learned a lot by making mistakes and cutting corners.  The corner I cut?  I didn't sew the elastic together strongly enough.  Now, why this is often not an issue, at a certain point, it'll come apart if put under enough stress on the seam.  Or any stress.  Or just over time.  So...the elastic came apart first thing Monday morning.  Didn't have enough time to fix or a sewing kit.  What did I do?  Paper clip my skirt...

(I meant to post this yesterday, hence the title and past tense.  Whoops.) So tomorrow begins Me Made May and I'm becoming more excited.  The prep turned less into "MAKE ALL THE THINGS" to "organize my stuff so I can actually see what I have."  Which I was surprised to find was a lot more than I expected.  Which made me really proud of myself and those who have made stuff for me (mostly my mom.) I also spent that time really trying to define my style so I could make outfits I actually want to post on the internet.  I have just started reading a book on capsule wardrobes, and I really think I need to do some major gutting of my fast fashion pieces that were nice in the moment and just ended up degrading quickly or being tossed aside as quickly as they were purchased. While initially in this process I started a thrift store binge, recently I began looking at my own closet and seeing what I already had and could alter.  I also took a moment and looked thro...

I have a Pinterest problem.  I love it, so very very much.  When I have moments of downtime during my days, I'll peruse it at my leisure for craft ideas, hair ideas, fashion ideas, teaching activity ideas or just basic inspiration.   My husband often wonders why we run out of data every month.  Between Pinterest and Instagram, it's me.  It's all me. Now to the purpose of this post.  As I began preparation for Me Made May (see last post), I found myself spending an increasing amount of time on Pinterest, and I found myself actually starting to consider some of the projects I've Pinned.  A lot of the modification and project idea (as well as informative tutorials) have found their way onto my boards, and I want to share this journey with you. How We Met I was introduced to the magic that is Pinterest via my teacher education program.  No, I'm not kidding.  During our technology class, we learned about Blogger as way to share our teach...

So I've been preparing for Me Made May the best way I know how: organizing, talking and shopping and going on Pinterest.  My goal, honestly, going into May is to modify as much clothing as possible so I have options and, honestly, to save myself money.  Why buy fresh fabric when I can use old pieces in my closet that haven't seen the light of day since college?  Also, in terms of time cost, I think this will be the best way to rejuvenate my wardrobe while still preparing for the month of May. Now before you think about the post that said this is not about completing a bunch of projects in April to prepare for May, I am simply using this deadline as inspiration.  I am a deadline girl, so I find it to be enough fire under my butt to finally do something.  Also, I've had a big creative burst thanks to a recent Disney trip and I want to channel that energy into something besides paintings.  (If you want to see the paintings though, look here .) I think my P...