Nesting Dolls of Science

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...

What Went Right: I wore handmade clothing 26/31 days in May!  I wore the first dress and first button down I ever made.  I didn't repeat too many outfits, which is big for me in general.  I think this month of focusing on what I was wearing and what it looked like helped me define my style in a far more sophisticated way.  I don't think I would have ever called anything about myself sophisticated, but there you have it.  I think it inspired me to push for more fashion risks, which is another sentence I thought I would never say. I made more clothing this month than throughout the rest of this year.  It took me MONTHS to make a dress, and within May I made a skirt, a top, redid a sweater and a t-shirt and finished a knit sweater vest.  Now, when I look at this, it does not look prolific, but when you think about how much work I was doing at school and how busy spring weekends can be, I'm pretty happy with it.  And I'm hoping that inspiration will...

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 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...