the final days of me-made-may

well its been a fun ride. i've never done a wardrobe-challenge-month and i was really curious to see if i would stick with it or not. and i did! even the weekends - though i have no photographic evidence so you'll just have to take my word for it that i pulled off at least one me-made article of clothing every day, including weekends, for the 31 days of may.

5/29



top: american apparel
skirt: self-made silk midi-skirt, blogged here
shoes: frye
belt: jcrew
check out mister muscles' new collar! he hates loves it! and now i can hear him coming so he can no longer sneak attack and destroy my ankles!! sallie = 1, mister muscles = 549....

5/30



i'll be honest, i almost forgot to take a picture this day. it wasn't until we were almost about to go to bed that my husband asked if i had taken my picture for mmmay and i realized i forgot, so he quick snapped this one while i was working on some hand sewing. its hard to tell but i'm wearing this dress.

5/31



top: self-made (proof in the picture above) more info to come, promise!
jeans: i had to end my me-made-may with my champions, the stovepipe skinnies.
so the pictures this week kind of devolved. but hey! it lasted up until the last two days! thats pretty good! this picture gives you a wonderful profile of the lovely lucille, and also a glimpse of my bum toe (and our very wire-y and um... old... sound system)

a huge thank you to zoe for hosting and organizing and conceiving of such a fabulous month-long celebration of our me-made wardrobes. and a huge thank you, blog readers, and flickr pool for all your kind words of encouragement.

i definitely feel like this challenge made me more aware of my own wardrobe and my dressing habits than i ever have been before. i think separates really serve me well in the day to day and i seem to have a fondness for red, white and blue (hmm... perhaps i should remedy that...)

but really, i need to give a huge thank you to three darlings who, hands down, made my me-made-may:

the draped leather jacket (worn 4 times), the stovepipe skinnies (worn 9 times), and the red midi-skirt (worn 4 times).

without you three i don't know where i would be. probably posting pictures of my stark naked self on the internet. but not in a sexy way, you know? it was through this powerhouse trio that i really found the full potential of my me-made wardrobe, and it will be with this triumphant triumvirate in mind that i consider my future makes. 

in other words: i really gotta make myself another leather jacket, pair of jeans and midi-skirt, already!! sheesh!

congratulations to everyone who participated in me-made-may! you're a rockstar!! pop open your poison of choice (me? i'll be clinking some ice around in my campari and soda, squeeze of orange, please) throw on some (non-me-made) sweatpants and contemplate just how awesome you are!

cheers!

xx

a (toe)tally awesome mmmay...

warning: this post gets a bit gory at the end...

and another mmmay week comes to a close. it began with me rocking some me-made outfits, and ended with a trip to urgent care. lets begin at the beginning.

5/22

top: anthropologie, a beautiful gift from my beautiful mom. just cuz she loves me.

jeans: these ones here that i've been wearing nonstop. seriously. are you sick of them yet? because clearly i'm not...

shoes: shoemint

earrings: old old old...

5/23



dress: my ikat blanket dress - blogged here
shoes: frye
beach: beautiful, isn't it?


5/24

jacket: draped leather jacket - are you sick of seeing this one yet, too? blogged here

shirt: silk colette sencha - made (very poorly) in the early days of sewing. actually i think this was the first real pattern i ever made. it never fit quite right and i keep thinking i'll remake it, but it looked pretty cute in this outfit.

shorts: old. urban outfitters, possibly? these are actually the only pair of shorts i own. which needs to be remedied...

belt: jcrew

shoes: shoemint

5/25

top: vogue 1247 - blogged here

jeans: same as always - blogged here

shoes: falling apart and yet i keep wearing them.

this top always gets worn the same way. i wish i could get more creative with it - but this always seems so perfect!

and its all down hill from here...

5/26




top: stripey knit from burdastyle - blogged here
jeans: same as always...
icepack: loaned from a friend...

so today started out like a normal saturday. i got up, got ready (a bit tired so i just threw some clothes on, thinking about how i'm going to have to justify wearing these jeans as much as i do on the blog, and lie about how i swear i'm washing them...) went to work. we had a small event the night before so i wanted to try and clean up from that and in one of those weird accidents where the action doesn't really seem to justify the outcome, i opened a door on my foot, experienced a shooting pain, and looked down to see my big toenail had come off!!!

... thats only a mild exaggeration, it came almost all the way off - but thats what it looked like to me at the time. i remember thinking how that seemed like cruel punishment just for opening a door on one's foot. then i saw blood. lots and lots of blood. 

now, if there is one thing about me that becomes crystal clear in situations like this it is that a) i have a low tolerance for pain, b) the sight of blood (or really even the mention of it) in general, but especially my own makes me queasy and c) i rely very heavily on the people who love me to care for me when faced with an injury.

but i was alone. so i limped and dragged my seriously injured foot over to the neighboring building where my husband has his studio, knowing that he had a first aid kit in there (my husband is a valiant prince of a man who laughs in the face of pain and is no stranger to gruesome injuries) then i dragged myself, leaving a very dramatic trail of blood behind me, to a large sink where i cleaned my (truly disgusting) toe, wrapped it in gauze and stuck a band aid around it. 

then i limped back to my office - leaving one lone bloody shoe and a manic scattering of first aid supplies behind me, so they'll know what happened to me when they found the body...

and i called my husband. i was certain that i hadn't done a good job cleaning the toe because i couldn't even bear to look at, let alone touch it to clean the nail bed. as i waited for him to come find me in my pathetic state i sensed that i was feeling very nauseous, and i was having trouble breathing.

my prince came to my rescue. then he told me he was going to have to remove the rest of the nail. and the room went white and i felt like vomiting and my husband told me to elevate my foot. this part was just so traumatic its all a blur (wink).

after a quick call to my mother in law, who's a nurse practitioner, we were advised to go see a doctor, who could clean the toe and - possibly - cut the nail away. insert shuddering, heaving breath and room-spinning sensations here.

and thats how my saturday ended up at the urgent care! we waited for about 3 and a half hours till we saw a doctor, who was very nice, but told me he wasn't going to do anything. nothing! that the nail will come off by itself in good time and that i should soak it in epsom salts to keep it clean. thats it!!! no scary scissors, no me having to bite down on a wooden spoon while a doctor hovers above me with a saw and yells "nurse! bring me more laudanum! for god sake woman!" while the nurse vomits quietly into her apron. in other words, it wasn't the hospital scene from gone with the wind. go figure. just some free gauze and instructions to keep it clean, massage the nail bed so it regrows, and...

STAY OUT OF THE OCEAN!!

say what?!!? apparently salt water is great for disinfecting, just not the salt water in the gulf of mexico.  blast!! there goes my weekend (and next weekend, and possibly the weekend after that) plans!!

and here ends the gruesome story of sallie and her toe(nail). its tragic, i know. 

now, dear readers (those of you who aren't as delicate as i and actually made it to the end of my sad tale) i have a question for you. what does one wear when you have a zombie toe?? (zombie because of its blue-ish, purple-ish, black-ish coloring. like a zombie. duh.)

do you hide your toe under wrappings and closed toed shoes so the people at the table next to you at the restaurant don't lose their appetite at the site of your ghastly digit? or do you let your zombie toe breathe?

inquiring minds want to know...

xx

mmmay week three!!

high five for the weekend! i plan on spending my two free days thusly: 

spend one day at the beach. spend one day sewing. mix and match. mornings and evenings for cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping et cetera, et cetera, and so forth, and so on.

will you support me in this? good. i thought so.

i kind of felt like i was kicking this me-made-may's butt this week - until today. something happened and every single thing i put on this morning felt like someone else's clothes. i think this was because it was sunshine-y and warm and the only thing that would have felt comfortable was a bathing suit, wide-brimmed hat, and sunscreen. accessorize with sandy feet and salty hair. but apparently thats not appropriate work attire. or so they tell me. jk. i've never shown up to work in my swimmies. yet.

okay! enough chit chat - let the me-made-may week three parade begin!

5/13 and 5/14 not pictured but i wore some combination of my new(ish) stove-pipe skinny jeans, that mint green t-shirt, or some other t-shirt and blue shorts. mix and match. match and mix.

5/15

lets go from the top down, shall we?

hat: random beach store here in galveston

necklace: so old i don't remember

bra strap: you really don't want to know

top: self-made burdastyle, blogged here but i cut the sleeves off (the ties never laid right and i just felt i'd get more wear out of it this way)

jeans: emersonmade

clogs: frye

where: to work. obviously.

5/16

topknot: so silly with my short hair

braided thingamabobby: american apparel from many moons ago

jacket: draped leather jacket - blogged here - i've seriously been getting my money's worth out of this jacket!

shirt: self-made from the drape-drape 2 book, never blogged

jeans: emersonmade

shoes: shoemint - not gonna lie, i didn't wear these all day. i just got them in the mail this day and thought they might spruce up my look

where: i might stop doing this, because i don't go anywhere other than work and home! so there. done. not doing this anymore!

5/17

sunnies: rayban!

necklace: madewell from last year

dress: self-made, self-drafted, super soft nani-iro double gauze fabric. made about a year ago, never blogged

shoes: shoemint

5/18

necklace: same old one from 5/15

tshirt: altered built-by-wendy pattern from sew u home stretch, blogged here

belt: jcrew

skirt: self-made, blogged here - this skirt has also been another all-star in my spring wardrobe...

shoes: shoemint, and this time i actually wore them all day

i felt totally awesome in this outfit! i suppose this is me taking part in the "colorblocking" trend but i sort of hate that word and i'd much rather prefer to think of it as "three differently colored things that i happen to be loving right now and i'm gonna wear them all together just for shits"! i gave a little talk in the morning to some middle school kids and one of the girls came up to me and said "i'm loving all of (waves her hand around in the air) this" yeah. thats right, my look was 12 year old girl approved!

5/19

sunnies: rayban

top: urban outfitters, self-altered

tank top: jcrew

jeans: stovepipe skinnies, blogged here

shoes: frye

and i think i used up all my good-outfit mojo on friday because today it just wasn't working. i don't usually do the whole thing where i change outfits 50 times in the morning, but this was one of those mornings. nothing seemed to be working, so i just kind of defaulted to my jeans. it seems almost like cheating, but hey - they are the most wearable self-made article of clothing i've ever made!

and thats it for this week! now if you'll excuse me, i have about 4 yards of beautiful ikat fabric that needs my attention

jealous?

xx

mmmay week two

phwew! i'm running a bit behind schedule this week. i was talking to my dad this weekend and he said that since he didn't see a new post up he assumed i was no longer participating in me-made-may! well! how wrong you are daddy-oh! my wearing of me-made clothes is still going strong - and i've got photographic evidence to prove it (except for the weekends...a girl needs a break...)

my camera batteries died on saturday leaving me a bit slow in recharging them and getting these pictures posted. but the greater contributor to my mmmay tardiness was.... drumroll pleeeaassseee ...

this weekend my husband and i decided to do our part as young americans and stimulate the economy by buying a new car. like a real car. not one off of craig's list.  at least this is what i've been telling myself we were doing to avoid the all-consuming anxiety that grips me every time i think about taking on more debt! i think i'm just hardwired to hyperventilate when faced with this kind of purchase, despite the fact that the numbers keep telling me that we can afford this.  there was also a serious need factor involved here. our poor little car was on its last legs - quite literally wheezing and burning its oil - and (perhaps the biggest strike against it) we were facing our third texas summer without air conditioning. we just. couldn't. do it. again.

so my mind has been a bit preoccupied with paperwork and numbers and budgets and the anxiety and exhilaration of our brand spanking new car!!!  you guys, she's so purdy. she even has power windows and locks (apparently thats become standard in the past 20 years...) so yeah. big weekend in the sallieoh house!

oh. you didn't want to hear about my new car?? well fine then - without further ado, my mmmay week two in review:

5/6 and 5/7: not pictured. wore a self-made, self-drafted blue polka dot dress. it'll be worn again, no worries. and yes i wore it both days. don't judge me.

5/8:

top: urban outfitters, from many moons ago, self-altered (i shortened the hem)

skirt: watermelon silk midi/maxi skirt - blogged here

shoes: frye

where: to work. same old same old. weirdly enough this has been one of my favorite outfits to wear this spring. i'm not really sure why since the silhouette isn't the most flattering. i think i just really like the way it billows in the breeze. i'm a sucker for some billowing...

5/9:

blazer: christmas gift, several years old by now. from urban outfitters i think.
top: rachel comey for vogue in tessuti silk, blogged here
pants: new stove-pipe skinnies, blogged here
shoes: shoemint
where: work. so much for this top being a special occasion top...


5/10:

dress: self-made, self-drafted red wrap dress. never blogged. made about a year ago in a post-flu delirium where i began maniacally serging this red modal knit. despite the fact that the hem is uneven and the ties are oddly, like, 6 feet long each - this has got to be my most loved self-made garment to date. and this is because when i put it on i feel like the lovechild offspring of marilyn monroe and sophia loren. bam! bombshell...

shoes: shoemint. 

bod: all mine, baby, alllllll mine

where: yeah. just to work.

5/11:

sexy rain jacket: not sure what brand, but i got it at the sporting goods store

tshirt: self made just recently. incredibly unremarkable so it won't get blogged.

pants: self-made stove-pipe skinnies, blogged here

shoes: my trusty (and oh so sexy) old lady worifshofers. 

where: to work. the internet told me to expect thunderstorms all day so i dressed appropriately (i even had some awesome galoshes on earlier) only for it to be stupidly sunny. allll freaking day. go figure.

5/12:

jacket: self-drafted draped leather jacket, blogged here

dress: the second dress i ever made! it also happens to be self-drafted (yeah, i worked backwards...) made a few years ago now and never blogged. its made from some fun poly (!!) knit from the 70's. 

shoes: frye

where: to work. duh. sorry about my stupid face in this picture. my camera battery was dying so this was the only one i snapped before it quit on me. no time to preview and try and arrange my facial features in some way that doesn't look like i'm possessed by the devil...

and thats week two!! i didn't really get any sewing done this week because my mind has been elsewhere. perhaps inspiration will strike this week and i'll have something glorious to post later, but i'm not going to force it!

have a great week, ya'll!

xxoo

mmm...(mmmmm!!!) week one

well we've got one week of may under our (possibly self-made) belts! i'll be doing my "week in review" posts on saturdays, since my work week is technically tuesday through saturday and thats just how my brain works.  i'm still contemplating if i want to photograph myself on the weekends. i might leave that optional...

so... me-made-may totally took me by surprise on tuesday morning! for all my posts and putting little gadgets in my sidebar and such, i found myself woefully unprepared! at 8am on tuesday morning i was lazily flicking through my blog reader when i came to zoe's "happy me-made-may" announcement and i exclaimed "shut the front door!! is it may first?!?" to my husband who just raised an eyebrow in the affirmative. dammit! i hadn't done my laundry! and i was really hoping that one zit would heal before i had to start taking pictures of myself daily...

ah well, thats part of the lure of participating in (and seeing everyone else's) me-made-may challenges, isn't it? its a bit of the "warts (zits) and all" thing.  so without further ado, here's my un-momentous opening act to the me-made month!

5/1:

top: jcrew jackie cardigan in navy

skirt: silk midi skirt, blogged here

shoes: shoemint

where: to work, where it is very cold because of the blasting a/c! 

5/2:

jacket: self-made draped leather jacket, blogged here and here and here

dress: self-made (and self-drafted) yellow striped handkerchief hem dress. made about a year ago, never blogged.

shoes: shoemint

sunnies: rayban (my one and only, signature pair)

where: to work, for a very busy day filled with meetings and appointments that left me in no mood to have my picture taken!

5/3:

top: urban outfitters (kimchi & blue) 

belt: jcrew

pants: self-made modified colette clover denim trousers, blogged here (tutorials here)

shoes: frye

sunnies: raybans!

where: to work, to run errands.

5/4:

top: not sure anymore...possibly jcrew? or urban outfitters? its super old...

jeans: new!! self-made stove pipe skinnies, modified from the built by wendy simplicity pattern. a proper blog post to come soon (because i'm super excited about them exclamation pointssss)

shoes: can't really see them but they're the same frye sandals from up above and down below.

hat: from a random beach store here on the island

where: to work for a day where, as is often the case with my job, i needed to be able to get a bit dirty.

5/5:

top: self-made, rachel comey for vogue patterns. blogged here

jeans: self-made, stovepipe jeans, same as above (i'm obsessed with them!)

shoesies: my comfy frye sandals

where: to work for a quiet day.

and thats it my friends! as i've more than hinted, i'm pretty psyched about my new jeans. they will be getting their own post shortly.  also, for all of you that asked for tips on working with delicate fabrics, a post is in the works! i'm just trying to figure out the best way to do it because sometimes, ya know, pictures just don't cut it. so i'm looking into (gulp) video... yeah. we'll see....

i hope everyone had a good may day and me-made-may week one!

xx

feeling zen-like

not one of my most inspired haiku's (pfft!! as if i have haiku standards!!) but still... hiya haiku! nice to see ya!

that title is a lie. but ya know, whaddyagonnado? sometimes you just need to tell yourself those little white lies. "feeling globular" just doesn't inspire normal human functioning, does it? but "feeling zen-like" well! now we're talking... see! talking! human function! where was i??

i'm back! i've managed to make it through my stressful april and i'm now seeing the light on the other side which is may! please be good to me may! please oh please oh please!! it was actually a bit of a challenge to stay away from the computer. in the little bouts of free time i've had over the last 2 or 3 weeks i've had to remind myself to limit my computer time. turn the thing off. step away from the mouse. its for your own good. this didn't always work since i was also determined to stay up to date on my blog readers (i don't know what it is, but an overflowing reader makes me more stressed out than an overflowing email inbox!)

but this self-imposed blog break doesn't mean that i haven't been thinking about sewing or blogging. au contraire!! part of the break was to help me organize my thoughts and get some action plans made up for the upcoming months. chief among these was preparing for me-made-may and the colette spring/summer palette challenge.

so where am i with all of this? hmmm. well when i say "organize" i mean "form coherent thoughts" so... don't get your hopes up...

lets start with me-made-may shall we?

my "mmm" oath reads a little sumpin like this:

i, sallie of sallieoh.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of me-made-may '12. i endeavor to wear one self-made article of clothing, and to mix and match said articles of clothing to the best of my ability, each day for the duration of may 2012.

so here's the tizzy - i have a pretty good self-made wardrobe built up at this point. its not great, but it does get a lot of wear. i plan on building onto this wardrobe (particularly my summer wardrobe) throughout the month. so that should be fun. but what i really want to get out of this challenge is a chance to remix my current wardrobe. i think by setting the boundary of having to wear a self-made article of clothing every stinking day i might be forced to get a wee bit creative. also, this is a chance for me to show off some of the things i've made before i started this blog - which are all generally poorly sewn but for some reason i love them. so that should be fun! stay tuned!

now! the colette spring/summer palette challenge! i approached this a bit different than i did for the fall one. in the fall i picked some images that were inspiring me and then tried to fit my fabric/garment choices around that. this time i tried to pay attention to what fabrics i was being drawn to and edit them to find a coherent theme, curating patterns to go along with them in the process. and this is what i came up with:

what can i say? i'm feeling blue! maybe its my yearning for some beach time - or something else, but i'm really craving cooling hues.  also, as a sort of continuation of my mini spring wardrobe, i'm also really trying to incorporate more prints into my wardrobe along with some classic solids. prints are the spice of a wardrobe's life, in my humblest of opinion, and so far my closet is like the cafeteria at a retirement home...bland.

i'll check back in soon with a more complete rundown of my plans and patterns and such and such! also, i have a newly finished garment to show off that i'm trying to get photographed either today or tomorrow - aaaaand  the me-made-may madness starts this tuesday!! ya'll are gonna get so sick of me...

till then,

xx

breaking bad

the time has come. i always knew that april was going to be a doozy of a month for me. and now that its here.... well. its a doozy!

and so the time has come, my friends, for me to take a short blog break. alas! do not fret over my absence! for i only leave for to doeth the thingseth that needeth to get done. eth.

cough. see what being strung out does to me?? it makes me talk in bad made up 15th century melodramatic speak!! and it also makes me write sentences like that last one! (get a grip sallie! get a grip!!)

okay but for realz here. april is a busy month for me at work (and i haven't done my taxes yet!!!!!!!!!!! h&r block please stop emailing me because its making me stress ooouuuutttttt!!!!) and while i really like to pretend i'm one of those superwomen who get extra motivated by a full schedule and can do things like get to the gym at 5am (gym??! who's that?) in reality i just shut down and become a mushy slushy thing with two eyeballs peeping bewilderingly around me. yes. that is an accurate description. no i'm not exaggerating.

so things will be pretty quiet around here for the next week or two. my usual mode of operation is to just go all m.i.a. on you and then reappear and be all like "sorry!!!" but this time i decided to give you fair warning and be proactive about it. (see, self, i can be proactive about something!)

in the meantime, i am actually working on some sewing. i just started my final rachel comey pattern, v1170, which is a tricksy little pattern, but i'll give full details on that when i finish it!

and in other sewing world news... i've decided to participate in me-made-may 2012! i think may will be a much quieter month than april and i think i can handle the challenge.

i, sallie of sallieoh.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of me-made-may '12. i endeavor to wear one self-made article of clothing, and to mix and match said articles of clothing to the best of my ability, each day for the duration of may 2012.

i'll be outlining my goals for the challenge closer to may.

also! did you guys see all the new colette patterns?!? i'm sure you did. and did you see that they're hosting a spring/summer palette challenge!!? i loved the fall challenge and since spring here has seriously been a blip on the ol' radar i've already been turning my thoughts to summer sewing. i think this will help me focus and edit my plans which have been a bit erratic.

well, lets close out this post and get this blog break started. final questions:

what do you do when you feel like your life is out of balance?

will you be participating in me-made-may? and if so, what are your reasons?

whats your favorite new colette pattern? mine's hazel.

and from the department of random - what do you think of hats? i've been really craving some hats lately...

well friends, i'll see you on the flip side...

xx