Me Made May Update Three

Despite my fears at the bumpy start I had, I'm glad I'm updating each week this year, because I'm certainly wearing a lot more me-made this year than last! Photos remain the hardest thing ever.

Started the week with this green dress that I made last year. I thought I'd be cold, but after all the rain, Brisbane came through with some quality humidity and we had a hot day. 

Monday was much the same - nearly 30 degrees in the 90% humid air. I took the opportunity to wear this skirt that I made last year, which is comfy and easy to teach in most of the time. I discovered, however, that it is not the right outfit for sitting on a stool to demonstrate bucket drumming with a bunch of grade 6's. Good think it was only one class that day. Lesson learned. 

Tuesday  I wore this dress, which I didn't make, but did add pockets too and took in at the shoulders so it would fit. Again, I'm counting it me-made because of that. Sorry you can't see the actual dress. I only remembered to take the photo after a long long long day of work and I was tired. 

Another photo of me tired after a long day of work. 

At least you've seen this full dress before, in this post! Thursdays at my work school the teachers try to dress in animal print, so while the majority of teachers are rolling around in leopard print whatever, I'm cruzin in my glorious peacock dress. Winning! 

That's all the me-made I had time for last week. Friday & Saturday I was running around in jeans doing last minuet baking for the Election Day stall and then squelching in the mud selling the baked goods at said Election Day stall. Turns out I don't sew things that you can wear and be warm in when it rains and you need to be in the mud all day. 

So Close

It's been nearly another six weeks since the last update and we are so close, and yet, still so far from this renovation being done. I was feeling a bit down about it, but when I look back at the last update, I notice that heaps of stuff has happened since then, so it's not exactly like our builders have been idle. 

First thing to notice is that the carport got a roof! We also got concrete for the Nana Flat patio and the path around the side of the house, as well as the front path coming off our stairs. These stairs are just glorious. I love the merbau planks and the small veranda at the top of the stairs. Hooray! This bit still needs to be cleaned and stained, but it's pretty cool to stand out there in the arvo. 

Steve also had the vision to make our front path a little bit more fancy, rather than just plain concrete. He was inspired by the stone steps as you climb up Mt Ngungun, when we took the girls up in January.

The stone we got was a different colour, but we love it. 

Inside the Nana Flat so much happened! The painters came in, the kitchen and bathroom both got put in. Sparkies came back and suddenly lights and fans work. The floors happened, trim went on and the painters are about to come back and finish things up. I need to make sure I take some more photos, because I've been very slack lately!

We have had heaps of rain again, some places in Brisbane were at risk of flooding, which was all too soon after the last lot in March. So much mud, so we haven't been using our front stairs much still to avoid trekking it in through the house. That said, the path through our neighbours driveway, the hole in the fence and around the back is getting pretty worn and muddy anyway.  

In this last photo, maybe you can see the bright yellow tape measure out on the front, measuring from the centre of what will eventually be our driveway. Yes, we have had complications; this is the problem that makes me feel as if it could easily be another two months until it's all done. 

When we knew we were moving the driveway from the right to the left side of the house, one of the first things we asked as would we need to move the water metre. We were assured by our architect that we would not need to. Plans went through council and they didn't ask us to move it either. We checked with our builder, and he told us that our architect was right, we could just pop a grate over it and have it in the drive way. 

It seemed all ok. Then our builder applied to actually pour the concrete for the driveway. We were told that we would indeed have to move the water metre. Council have changed things and no longer do the grate in the driveway thing apparently. Rather devastatingly, applying for this is no easy process; lots of red tape and applications and waiting around for 3-4 weeks for answers. 

On top of that, when council realised we wanted to put a driveway close to where we had (rather unsuccessfully) replanted one of our trees, they told us that we weren't allowed to. Can't put a driveway too close to a tree apparently. When we told them it was pretty dead, they let us know that they would need to send an arborist out to check that first. 

On top of that, the old Telstra cables and junction box is right on one edge of the drive way too and will also have to be moved. There have been mixed messages about where that can go and how far from the driveway it needs to be, but we are hoping it can just shuffle slightly and sit between ours and our neighbours driveways for minimal hassle. Wish us luck. 

In the mean time, most of the Nana Flat is now complete and Maria is moving in this weekend! I guess she's ok with enduring the ongoing mud situation and finalisation of building works (slats around the side and front of the house, water tank relocation, gutters on the carport and veranda roof etc). It's not so bad I guess. So close now, right? 

Still Not Great

 Me Made May Update. 

Week two and I've definitely not done as well this week. Only two me-made items to report as worn. I'm going to blame the rain and cold, which have made all things quite bleak. 

Apparently the bathroom at my work is the easiest place to take photos. 

Doing This Wrong

Not sure where to begin with this one. This morning was a rough trot with lots of general grumpiness on my part. Lots of this is because I've been staying up late and not getting enough sleep, which always makes everything else seem just that little bit worse. 

I decided I'd do Me Made May again this year, because, well why not? I've actually had a huge increase in my self- made wardrobe over the last twelve months, (3 dresses, a jumpsuit, shorts, and 3 skirts) so I think I thought it would just be easier than last year. The problem was that I didn't actually think through what my goal would be. Am I trying to just wear self-made clothes for all of May, no matter how hard that is? Or am I trying to reach for them first, like I did last year? 

I think I toyed around with the idea of having my Me Made May goal be something that actually made me adjust clothes so I could wear them, like the jumpsuit I started with last year, or my pink yukata. But we are a week in, and I have no intention of adjusting either of those items. So I'm grumpy because I don't really know what I'm doing, and on top of that, it remains inexplicably difficult to get a photograph of myself in any self-made item, let alone every day.

I feel very distinctly that I am doing this wrong. 

So this morning, when I woke up from a lovely sleep, and realised it was cold and I wasn't sure what I would wear, let alone find time to take a photo, I was not the best of company. Still, I put on a self-made dress which was a little bit perfect for Mother's Day, if also a little too cool for the sudden drop in temperature over night. 

And I got Sophie to take a photo of me after church with my Mother's Day flowers. I notice that the neckline facing doesn't sit right and that I need to tack it down. Bah, more adjusting. 

It's really not all bad, even though the photos are. This week, I've worn two dresses I wore last year, this dress and an unblogged one. Both of these were worn around the house, because now (as I suspected last year) they really are getting to the point where they are so soft and faded they can't pass as anything else. The sushi dress has not made an appearance this year because it was torn last year in an irreparable way. Devastation right there. Maybe what I'm learning is that it's time to retire some things? 

I've also worn this dress, which I did not make, but I did add pockets too. What is Me Made May about if not recognising how to be sustainable in your wardrobe and what is a sustainable wardrobe without pockets? 

I wore my Jocelyn Proust Dress last Sunday for day one. And I've also worn my yellow yukata to work last Thursday which coincidently coincided with Children's Day in Japan. Decided it was time to learn to tie a new obi style with it, as I was running late for work at 6:30 in the morning. Not the best choice, I'll be honest. New obi picture thanks to Rachel. 

I guess that's four dresses, a yukata and a pocket adjustment for the start of Me Made May, which, out of seven days, isn't really a bad start. Still, not sure what I'll do next, because the winter weather feels like it has arrived in force as I sit here with socks and a jumper and all the doors and windows closed. 

Hopefully I sort my goal out soon, because I'd hate to be grumpy for the rest of May, feeling like I'm doing something wrong. Also, if you've any tips on taking photos of yourself, let me know. That remains the worst part about the whole affair. 

Rachel's Kimono

After I made the yukata in April, I moved on to making the girls ones pretty quickly. It was holidays after all! Rachel's was first up, I think mostly because the one I had for Sophie had some slight staining on the fabric that I needed to wash out first. Given that that was an extra step, I think Rachel's appeared easier. 

Turns out I was wrong on that front. Rachel's fabric was a light wool. It's an orange colour that sometimes seems more red than orange, and I know that my rubbish night-time photos don't do it justice. The trouble was that it had a pattern that needed to be matched. 

I cut the pieces for this following the advice of this video that I watched on YouTube. It's all in Japanese, but you can watch it if you like. Essentially, he folds the entire fabric in half, then measures the sleeves first, and folds the remaining (double layer) into roughly thirds with the very top being 12cm shorter. The sleeves are on the bottom, the body of the fabric is in the middle and the top, not quite as long section, turns out to be the collar and okumi parts of the kimono. Then you just have to make two cuts, which was heaps easier than measuring and cutting each part separately. 

Then with my pieces, I thought and thought and thought about how to make the patterns work. Firstly I wanted to make sure the butterflies fall in nice positions on the sleeves and also on the body, but secondly, I wanted all the black lines to match up where they could. So much thinking!

After it was cut and I had started to figure out where things would match up, I began sewing and noticed something not so fun about sewing with wool. It frays. It frays pretty badly. At the time I was convinced I did not know this before, but in hindsight, I do remember the cape wool fraying. I think I didn't remember initially because the lining fabric in that project frayed infinity more. Oh well. 

All the fraying edges of this kimono gave me a sense of urgency to sew it as quickly as I could; so I sewed it in a week. 

Check out that pattern matching friends! Got to be happy with that. 

After it was finished, I tried it on and then sized it down for Rachel. This had always been my plan, which is also historically accurate. The fantastic thing about kimono is the way they are made is easy to adjust them, for shorter people who can grow into them. 

Rachel was so excited to wear this. 

She was so wriggly with excitement that it's all tied a little lopsided, but so cute right!? 

The lining layer is still my size, and the sleeve bits kept popping out. If she was going to wear this for an event or even just longer than a five min photo shoot, I would tack them back for her. 

Patterns matched! After all of that though, I decided I would need to make an active effort to take longer to sew Sophie's. Really, sewing an entire kimono by hand in one week is a little too committed.