I've been a busy blogger...

Rather, I've been busy with non-blogging things, as might have been guessed by my small posting hiatus (and limited viewing/commenting elsewhere). But I turned in my master's thesis on Friday! That's now officially done, which is really exciting. Along with that, the boyfriend was in town for a few days, and I've been helping my mother get ready to move.

So, I'll be playing catchup with Me-Made-May Lite outfits for the next little bit.


Yesterday, I was being frustrated by having not made many new items to add to my me-made and refashioned pile this moth, resulting in my wearing my refashioned jean skirt approximately one million times (more pictures will come...) So, before I headed off to the lab, I looked through my stock of pillowcases to make an easy top out of one. I grabbed this pillowcase with blue flowers that I'd gotten at a garage sale, and found that I'd already unpicked one seam at some point...so a skirt it was. I just cut a bit of length off the side opposite the original opening (to preserve the blue trim and lace as they were), folded down the top part and stitched it to make a casing, and threaded a shoelace through to serve as a drawstring. (This may be because I found a shoelace in my sewing box before I could find any elastic). And presto, a new Me-Made-May-appropriate item! I don't think it looks too much like a pillowcase now, does it? My strange pose is because I'm trying to hide my cellphone.


Details
Top: Express
Skirt: refashioned from a pillowcase
Shoes: Predictions, thrifted
Sweater: oh wait, I didn't have one. This is no longer an option for me, as the Lab is REALLY cold most of the time.

Saturday and Sunday I did keep up with Me-Made May (jean skirt on Saturday, ginko print dress on Sunday), but didn't get pictures.


On Friday, Day 14, I worked the outfit around a dress I'd refashioned. This had started out with long sleeves, a hem near midcalf, and far too much hot pink plaid. So, some chopping and hemming later, I got this mini-dress. The hem's much longer in the back than in the front, for some reason...while I took an even amount off the bottom all around, the waistband sits much lower in the back.

Details:
Dress: Liz Claiborne, thrifted and refashioned.
Jeans: Seven, thrifted (my friend convinced me to get them at the dollar-a-pound, and I'm very glad she did!)
Boots: thrifted
Earrings: Ebay


On Thursday, Day 14, I ended up having my jewelry be the me-made item...the earrings are my own design and construction, simple chains with a leaf bead on the end and some crystals dangling along the chain.


Details:
Patterned shirt: Ann Taylor, thrifted
Sweater: Express
Jeans: Seven, thrifted
Shoes: Sketchers, I think...can't quite see them well and don't remember
Earrings: Me-made

Hope everyone's week is going well so far!

Day 10

This was a rather weekend-like Monday...I went into the lab for a bit in the morning, without too much to do as I still have had no word on the thesis. Then I spent the afternoon working at home on a class project (a technologically-enhanced dress with color-changing sections) with my partner for the project. We did decide to scale back our plans quite a bit, as the project is due Wednesday afternoon and we'd rather not have to sew on 18 separate copies of our circuit...so that's going to be my late evening tonight, as well. But it's a pretty fun and interesting project, so that's all right.

On a semi-not-quite-related note...do any of you have fictional characters (from books, movies, etc.) that you look up to/aspire to be like/would want to be? I was realizing that I can't think of any right now. When I was a kid, there were heroines from fantasy novels who talked to animals and went on hazardous adventures in strange worlds and flew dragons and such things...I wished for those kinds of magical talents. But now, I'm not sure what my equivalent would be. My friend and coworker suggested that's because characters our age tend to have standard jobs, maybe families, fairly straightforward lives. Instead, we, working at the Lab and coming up up with exciting new things, are leading the life of other people's fantasies. Interesting to think about...


Details:
Dress: thrifted and refashioned
Leggings: Hue
Boots: GoJane


New cheap boots, thanks to an Amazon giftcard from my father a couple of months ago. I was needing a pair of mid-length, not too high of a heel, brown, slouchy boots...so these seemed to fit the bill.

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

Days 8 and 9

This was a lovely, busy weekend! My best friend/college roommate for three years/overall amazing person visited me from California. She got in Friday morning (very early!) and stayed through last night. It was just amazing to see her!


We met the first day of college, as we were assigned to be roommates...I was really lucky! We roomed together for the next three years, then next door to each other senior year.


Saturday night, we went out for a drink at a nearby restaurant, after a day that was spent mostly with me working on a class project (but it was still social...we were at my home, my partner for the project was there too, and another college friend came by for a while). Also, my mother and brother kept popping by. So I admit that most of the day I was wearing the refashioned jean skirt and a fitted t-shirt...but I took pictures of the better outfit, when we dressed up a bit to go out.


Details:
Skirt: refashioned
Patterned blouse: J Crew, thrifted
Leggings: H&M, thrifted
Pleather jacket: thrifted
Shoes: thrifted


Day 9, Sunday, we both went to the dollar-a-pound and lunch with my mother. (Happy Mother's Day to everyone, too! Lovely seeing people's "Mom" posts!) So I had a pretty casual outfit, also affected by the fact that it was suddenly back down in the 40's and I have relatively little wintery me-made/refashioned clothing.

Details:
Velvet top: Me-made
White shirt: thrifted
Jeans: Seven, thrifted
Shoes: Ann Taylor, thrifted

(You may have noticed the absence of Day 7! I wore a refashioned dress and some sandals and didn't get a picture of it because I was busy having fun with people. Oops.)

Days 5 and 6, with a refashion.

For Day 5 of Me-Made May Lite, I wore a skirt I'd refashioned last weekend.


I started with this silk shirt from the dollar-a-pound. I really liked the pattern, but knew I wouldn't wear it as a blouse. On further examination, the sleeves were really stained as well.


So I cut a straight(ish) line across the top from armpit to armpit, then sewed down about an inch of that top edge to make a casing for a piece of elastic (should have done a nice edge finishing, but didn't). Measured elastic to fit my waist, threaded it through the casing, and sewed the edges together. Let the fabric gather around the elastic naturally. And...a skirt!


It's a bit short, so I wore it over a navy dress. I picked the belt and shoes to pick up on some of the colors in the skirt. I really liked this outfit, though it didn't photograph amazingly well (in the one picture I could squeeze out of my almost-dead camera batteries).The shoes, on the other hand...they were the perfect purple for this outfit, but they rubbed my feet in several places I didn't know about until I'd gotten to work. I guess this is why I have a box of bandaids in my office.

Details:
Dress: H&M, thrifted
Silk skirt: refashioned from shirt
Belt: Vintage, Ebay
Shoes: vintage, thrifted
Necklace and earrings: me-made



For Day 6, the jean skirt came out again. I suspect this may be one of my major pieces this month.

Details:
Striped top: H&M, thrifted
Jean skirt: refashioned
Necklace: craft fair
Sandals: Bandolino, thrifted


So good news and bad news about today (Friday). The good news: my college roommate arrives today! (in just an hour or so, actually.) The bad news: I am not going to be able to turn in my thesis today after all. I finally tracked down my last committee member yesterday, and he's incredibly busy and won't be able to read or approve anyone's theses until Monday at the very earliest. So...I had to get a bit of an extension on it and can hopefully get feedback and get the thesis submitted by the middle of next week. But I'm really disappointed about that; we'd all been planning to celebrate this afternoon after turning things in, and were looking forward to finally having these projects finished, but now that gets put off. And not just for me, either...actually, the two others in my group planning on turning in theses today have the same professor on their committee, so none of us get to turn in things today. Yes. Rather frustrating. But I guess this gives me time to proofread it again, right?


And a silly pose for the day. Have a lovely Friday, everyone!

Day 4

So I managed to get exactly one picture of yesterday's outfit before my camera batteries died...

The dress is a thrifted piece I refashioned last year, mostly just bringing up the hemline from something awkward and mid-calf length. Of course, now the hem is potentially too high, so I tend to wear it with this petticoat-like skirt underneath. I don't know why I'm not quite comfortable wearing mid-thigh hems...I suspect because most of what I do these days is go to work, and I don't feel very professional in a short-short skirt or dress.

Dress: thrifted, refashioned
White skirt: Forever21
Tank top: Express
Necklace: garage sale
Purse: thrifted
Shoes: Naturalizers, thrifted

Speaking of work...I'm so close to finishing this thesis, it's really quite exciting. I'm just waiting for the last one of my committee members to get back to me with his suggestions (which really needs to be soon, as I have to implement any changes he wants and get him (and my adviser) to sign off on the final version before Friday). And then my best friend/college roommate will be visiting this weekend, getting in Friday morning, so I am incredibly excited about that. I'll turn in the thesis on Friday, and then can have a nice celebratory weekend! Now, back to Wednesday...

Day 3, and an inventory

For day 3 of Me-Made May lite, I wore my ginko-leaf print refashioned dress. More about that here. It was cooler than Sunday, but still a bit warm...and yet, very cold and air-conditioned in the lab. So this is not exactly how I wore the outfit to work; add a cardigan and some footless tights. But by the time I got home, it was MUCH too warm for those. I look so sleepy and overheated in these pictures...


Details:
Dress: refashioned
Sandals: Naturalizer

Also, I wanted to actually do an inventory of what I have that counts as me-made or refashioned. A bit less than I thought, implying the need for a few more refashions/makings in my immediate future!


I have:
7 dresses, two me-made (the solid blue and the strawberry print) and the rest refashioned.
7 skirts, three me-made (white lace, purple flower print, white with embroidery) and the rest refashioned.
1 top, me-made (my own pattern, but the fabric used to be a skirt...so I guess this could count as a refashion too!)
I also have a pair of booties that used to be boots, and a whole bunch of jewelry that I've made. Accessories may have to get me through days like today, when we have important lab visitors and I need to look dressy-ish.

Start of Me-Made May Lite

I know I've been pretty absent around these parts for the last couple of weeks...my thesis is due this Friday, so I've been writing and rewriting and generally being tired of my own words. But I think I'm pretty close...one of my committee members still has to give me feedback, then I have to integrate it, but other than that I'm essentially done. I think. I will be very glad when this is printed out and turned in, though.


Also, it's now May...and thus my Me-Made-May Lite challenge kicks off! (as a reminder: I'll be wearing at least one handmade or refashioned item of clothing every day). This was yesterday's outfit; I made the strawberry print dress last summer from a thrifted sheet and bedspread. It seems to be my go-to outfit for incredibly hot days right now...I'd worn this that Wednesday a few weeks ago when it was in the 90's, and now yesterday, when it was also in the 90's. I still don't fully understand MA weather...it was 40 degrees on Wednesday, and now this. It was hard to sleep last night, it was so hot, even with a fan on me.


Details:
Dress: Me-made
Shoes: Chinese Laundry, thrifted


For the first day of May, I wore my refashioned jean skirt and handmade earrings. My boyfriend and I got up early and went to a handful of garage sales, looking for interesting things...I found a couple of pieces of costume jewelry. The big news of the day was that Boston was having a "boil water" order; the main supply pipe had broken, so the water supply was having to come from alternate reservoirs that aren't safe for drinking. I was very, very happy to live in Cambridge, which apparently has its own water supply...so I've been completely avoiding all of that hassle.


Details:
Skirt: refashioned from a pair of Joe's Jeans (interesting story...I had won a Lucky magazine contest, and gotten them for free, but they were thin fabric and wore out in the thighs within a year. So...jean skirt)
Striped top: Thrifted
Shoes: Naturalizers, thrifted
Earrings: me-made

Hope everyone is having a good start to the week!