Me-Made-May 2019

I'm participating in Me-Made-May again.  Here's my pledge:

I, Katherine of WillKnitForMath, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May 2019. I endeavour to wear me-mades as much as I can, finish my long-term UFO Liberty pintuck blouse, and make several pairs of underwear during May 2019.

My goal with this is to get back into wearing me-made clothing - at almost a year post-partum, I'm still nursing my son and my weight is lower than it's been since junior high.  Because of that, a lot of my self-made clothing doesn't work for me right now, and hasn't since the early part of my pregnancy - a year and a half ago!  I also haven't sewn much in that time, because I haven't had the energy or the time to spare for it.  I plan to track which and how often I wear my me-mades, and fill a few gaps in my wardrobe (namely a work-appropriate blouse and some underwear, since the pairs I made 3 years ago are now very worn).

In general, I'd like to re-connect with my fiber hobbies.  I feel better and less stressed when I take time to work on sewing, knitting, and spinning.  I'd like to work through some of my stash, and actually finish some of the projects I've had planned or in progress for over a year.  My intention is to take some time (even just 5-10 minutes) to work on making things every day.

Stripey Nursing Dress

This is the Turn About the Room Dress, a free pattern from the DIY Maternity blog.  I cut out the small/medium size (with a few modifications to the skirt) as part of my Me-Made-May challenge last year, right before my baby was born. I sewed it up in little snatches of time last summer, and have worn it a bunch since then.  It works well for nursing (with a nursing camisole under it), and I get lots of compliments on it - people tend to be amazed that I made it.  It's very comfortable. 

I changed the sizes of the skirt panels because I wanted to wear the dress as a nursing dress instead of a maternity dress, so I wanted less fullness in front (and more fullness in back, because I have wide hips).  I also lengthened the skirt, because I am tall.  In the end, I decided to cut the front and back panels exactly the same: 13" wide on the fold (for 26" total width) by 33" long.  I also added pockets, using the Washi Dress extra pocket pattern piece. 

The dress went together pretty easily, and I liked the hem technique the tutorial suggests - using a narrow strip of knit interfacing to stabilize the hem.  I hemmed the sleeves and skirt with a wide twin needle, using wooly nylon in the bobbin.  I ended up needing to take several inches of width out of the bodice and shorten the twist bands significantly, as the whole thing was too wide.  On the other hand, the sleeves are a bit too narrow for me.  They're fine, but if I were to make it again I would do a wide-bicep adjustment to make them more comfortable.