Me Made Wardrobe I: What I Have

I plan on participating in Zoe's Me Made May 2012 over on So Zoe.  With that in mind and spring in full swing here in the city I went through my closet and pulled all of my warm weather clothes out of storage.  I got rid of a ton of things and I realized I have a pretty good start on the hand made wardrobe thing.  Here's how my collection of clothes breaks down.  Keep in mind I'm still weeding somethings out.

Sweaters: 11 for spring/summer, 9 of which are hand knit
Pants: 7 Pairs (most of which are jeans), 1 of pair of hand made pants for the spring/summer
Leggings/Tights: 6 pairs, 1 pair of hand made leggings
Shorts: 3 pairs, 1 pair that were refashioned (I had more in storage, but had to get rid of 3 pairs that were too big.)
Dresses: 14 dresses for spring/summer all ranging from dressy to casual, 7 which I made
Jackets/coats: 4 spring jackets, none of which are hand made
Button up Shirts: 5, 1 refashioned linen top
Skirts: 5 all of which are hand made (It would of been 6 but I had to get rid of my lavender cotton Jersey Pencil skit, sad face)
Tank Tops: 20, 7 are hand made or refashioned
Tee Shirts: 20, 1 hand made, 2 refashioned

I have a t-shirt addiction

So here is the break down of my hand made wardrobe
Sweaters: 6

This is my only long sleeved spring/summer item

Pants: 1 (green cotton silk wide leg drawstring)
Shorts: 1
Dresses: 4 casual, 3 dressy

Dressy dress in yellow seersucker

Jackets/coats: 0
Button ups: 1
Skirts: 3 (I know I said 5, but two of them are not really my style so they may need a new home)
Tanks: 7
Tees: 1 (really the other two I counted above were all just chopped up to have shorter sleeves or more of a scoop neck, so I don't feel right counting them.)

This does not take in to consideration any of my hand bags or accessories all though all of my hats and most of my scarfs are hand made.

I am thinking about how I want to go about participating in Me Made May.  I really would like to only where hand made items, with the exception of undies, bras, socks, shoes, and hand bags.  The only thing I keep asking my self is, is that possible with what I have?  What would I have to make in April to be prepared for May?

Me Made June '11 Update: Day 12-15

Training is winding down for me and I finally have time to give you an update. Hopefully I will be able to update more often now that the intense training weekend is over.

Day 12

I Finally got a photo from Sunday. (Thanks Jamie!)
Top: Altered softball tee, I added the contrasting cap sleeves
Bottom: Navy blue, double knit athletic shorts, made by me!

Day 13

Top: Altered Men's Tee Tunic
Bottom: Black leggings
Braided Belt

Day 14

Top: Cotton Anchor Tank
Bottom: Go To Shorts

Day 15

Hey remember this dress? (Don't worry that's not what I wore!)

Now it looks like this! I finally finished altering that horrid pink thing. I took in the straps making it an empire waist. I also brought the hem up and finished the edges with bias tape. Ta-da a dress!

Black Friday

My black Friday isn't spent waking up at the crack of dawn (I actually slept in to 11am) nor is it spend running around trying to get the best deals on electronics. I have mostly been spending the day watching the History Channel with my dad and brother, knitting and promoting my etsy sale. Pretty laid back. Lots of coffee and leftovers.

I mean I love shopping and I love a good deal, but there are somethings that i just don't think are worth doing, like getting up by 4am to get in to a sale that only lasts 5 hours. Or staying up and going to the outlet mall at midnight to get a jump on all the good sales. First off i try to buy most my gifts locally in Philly or on etsy. I like the idea of handmade gifts even if it homemade fudge or a nice bar of handmade soap. I want to be a part of that handmade community so I want to put as much back into that community.

So, if you want to support handmade, pledge to buy handmade this holiday season. Go to buyhandmade.org and pledge to buy hand made! After that go to Etsy and check out all the great artists out there. If you are looking for a toasty hand knit stocking stuffer or some fun hand dyed yarn check out my shop,

Tonight is our annual Shanty Town Christmas with our family friends. I am hoping for some great gingerbread house photos for the blog tomorrow.

Pounce: Random Bits

I wasn't feeling like a theme today so I just browsed and pulled three brand new shops looking for their first sale.

onesweetorange
Illustrations by Iveta Abolina. Beautiful Illustrations, colorful and intricate. Check out the listing "Stay Awhile"

StudioSeven20
Interesting jewelry, hammered sterling silver, and brass O rings are arranged and strung together in a series of beautiful necklaces.

MateriaTextil
Wonderful cowls. Hand dyed and sewn, rayon linen blend. In this shop there are also hand knit scarfs made from 100% merino hand spun and hand dyed wool. Lovely colors and textiles.

Sea Cowel

I made my fisrt cowel over Thanksgiving and found the photos I took on my camera. I crocheted this out of a white wool arcrylic blend. It was a bit cheep, but I wasn't sure if i was going to like it or not. The buttons are my favorite and I was looking for a reason to use them. They are black vintage buttons from a Navy Pea Coat. They're Giant and have anchors in the center. I must admitt i'm a sucker for anything nautical.
The Yarn was a worsted, but I doubled it and used a K hook. It's super cozy and while my mom wasn't impressed her co-worker Tracy loved it as well as some strangers at the Farmer and craft market we go to.

Running

I've been workig extra hours at the shop as well as more hours as a nanny. Lately I feel like I've been running, but the extra cash is nice. The extra money is going toward Christmas presents. I'm making a few, but I'm going to try to purchase most of my presents on Etsy, or at least atempt to make most of my purchases hand made.

I happen to mention this to Simon and he was a little dis heartened. First, he is worried that whatever I purchase for him will look silly, or like somthing nanna made out of yellow acrylic yarn. (sorry nanna, I loved my afgan). Secondly, he cringed when I mentioned I wanted him to purchase hand made items for me. I don't quite understand this as he hate going to the mall. I'm going to chalk this all up to the fact that it's new or different. I'm going to win him over to the handmade side.