A Handful of Unblogged Handmades

A handful of unblogged handmades that got worn during May, in honor of Me Made May.  I was supposed to put this post up at the start of June, but life, you know how it goes.

L: Moss mini in green twill, and can anybody help me find my right arm?
R: Renfrew lengthened to mini, in organic dotty cotton.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve decided that the mini is pretty much the most versatile skirt length that exists.  Worn by itself in summer, or layered with tights and boots in the fall and spring, I could wear one for all but 2 or 3 months of the year.  Too bad neither of these are work appropriate, but outside of work, I really don’t want to climb into much else.  The twill has zero stretch, and that works really well for the Moss.  I cut a straight up size 6, which is nearly perfect.

Haha, no, I don’t walk around with my sweater falling off one shoulder (was that the 80’s?  Are we done invoking that look yet?)  I wanted to show off the little bit of self-made gray bias tape I’d inserted into the cuff of this self-drafted kimono tee, which I made using some STUNNING rose fabric that I bummed off Roo.  If you go back and read through the comments of her post, you’ll see my shameless – truly shameless – hinting.  Roo!  I’m so sorry I never got a chance to send you photos before now, my brother still has the photos he snapped, I’ve yet to see them!  But at least we can do matching-but-not from across the globe!  Used the steel gray to add a wee bit of edge to the blouse.  Ever so slightly.

A Simone from Victory Patterns in Thakoon cotton and self-made silk piping.  Swoon.  Isn’t Simone so luscious?  I really love Kristiann’s patterns – they’re so unique and fun, eye catching, easy to put together, and yes, 6 years late I am cottoning on to the preggers look, but hey, ain’t that the pleasure of sewing your own clothing, that you can be as far behind the fashion curve as you damn well please?

Since moving here, I’ve noticed my style evolving away from the classic-with-a-twist, quirky-take-on-modern-yet-vintage, color-plus-color philosophy that dominated my wardrobe for so long.  Don’t get me wrong.  I still have a number of those clothes in my closet, and because my former fashion personality was intent on a mix-and-match wardrobe, I can pretty much get dressed in my sleep and still walk out the door with a reasonably coordinated outfit.  But I find myself drifting towards a simpler, more modern look.  Less flashy, less fussy.

I think part of it is living in Portland.  There are some awesome indie designers, bloggers, and street trends in Portland, but the city as a whole is just not that into fashion.  Not in the way that San Francisco is, for example.  I also spent 2 months last spring living out of a single suitcase that held about a week’s worth of clothing, and then last fall I only had access to half of my wardrobe while the rest sat in boxes in Dao’s garage.  So there’s that, too.  Resetting the barometer – using less, needing less, wanting less.

I also think that I’m changing.  Clothing just matters less to me now than it did before.  I mean, ever since I was a kid, I’ve had my own very unique sense of style (LOL, did I ever!  Jessica (looking at old photos): Really?  You let me go out of the house dressed like that?  Mom: Letting you dress yourself was an act of love.)  But it occupies a lot less brain space than it once did.  Especially in my mid- to late- 20s, I spent a lot of time trying to pass muster in somebody else’s world, play by somebody else’s rules, and so I picked clothes that were distinctive yet conformist “enough.”   That whole time I used sewing and knitting as my creative outlet and source for individual expression.  But now that I feel like I’m living a life more congruent with the way I see myself, that need has faded from my life.  An external manifestation of an internal change.

At the start of summer, I'd every intention of refashioning a couple Archers, making a couple more Mosses, and living in those as my summer uniform, with a pretty sundress thrown in now and then for good measure.  I still have only 1 Moss and 1 Archer in my closet, and they get worn all the time (together and separate).  Something which might've bothered me in the past, but honestly now, it feels like almost enough.  I like to think that's keeping with the spirit of my 2014 resolution, take it easy.

To summer!  Hope yours is a wonderful one!