party crasher

I dreamt last night that Karen of Did You Make That had to drop out of Me Made May, and challenged me via Instagram to take her place. It was a hashtagged dare, something like #oonaisapussy. (Sorry, that's what she said. Guttermouth.) Fiona of Diary Of A Chainstitcher then immediately messaged me, begging me not to take the bait, as my participation would mean she'd have to join in the fray, and she just didn't have the time.

Either I have a bit of (obviously silly) residual stress over not participating in #memademay for the first time in years, or I have an obsession with London bloggers. One could also say that I think the world, or at least the sewist world, revolves around my choices.

WELL OBVIOUSLY.

Big head and big need to wear and holler about my own makes notwithstanding, so far, in this dreary gray rainy May, I have worn ONE handmade item out into the actual world. ONE. You see it above, devoid of color, and indeed, it is black in real life. It was angrily stitched over a year ago, during an equally dreary February, when I was  d o n e  with winter. And today was its virgin outing. Could have something to do with the lack of color...but come on! OVER A YEAR IN MY CLOSET?!!!

The dream popped up into my consciousness when I looked for something appropriate for today's drizzly errands, and on it went, in an attempt to appease the part of my brain that apparently feels like a draft dodger. I've loved participating in this May Parade for that very reason-- it's always forced me to wear something that I might be on the fence about. Some of my favorite outfits have come from trying to think up pairings!

Although I'm late to the party, I think I will do a little challenge of my own (after all, I'm a Leo, but I'm no pussy). I'll be donning an item that has yet to see the light of (public) day, once a week for the duration of May, and I mean for actual activity, not just for blog photos. BOOM! TAKE THAT BRAIN!

Care to be late to the party with me? I could use some more crashers! And those of you with lampshades on your head already--how's the shindig going? Are we good on booze?

Kon-DON'T

As I was scrolling through the archives, looking for a possible throw-back post for this hashtagged day of the week, I came across a me-made-made trio of duds from 2012...

          

They've all gone the way of Goodwill, for various reasons which now seem overly harsh. I loved that drapey maxi dress! Yes, it was a bit clingy! But purple! With PRINT CONTRAST! What about that tribal romp of a dress? Who cares if my overzealous fittings birthed a waist two inches too short? And even when I go for refashioned RTW I do it in readily available yardage! I'VE SPIED THE PRINT OF THAT SILK TANK TOP IN NO LESS THAN THREE FABRIC STORES! WHY ARE THESE ITEMS NO LONGER IN MY CLOSET?!!!

I'm sure I agonized over the decision to give these up. Scratch that, I'm sure I didn't. We were in LA, we were moving up and down and around the country, and we were at the point when packing ONE MORE ITEM WOULD BREAK OUR SPIRIT. So yeah, we Kondo'd the shite out of everything, before we knew this ruthless practice existed. Oh, whatever! You can package it in pretty paper and speak in soft pleasing tones but IT'S RUTHLESS! So you looked at the item and thanked it for giving you joy?! HOW NICE OF YOU! I'M SURE YOUR OLD TEDDY BEAR DOESN'T FEEL LIKE AN ABANDONED TODDLER!  

I'm quite yell-y today. I have a prediction: this current craze is going to leave a lot of people with feelings of ragret. And one should never have ragrets. (That will never not be funny to me.)

There are pieces in my closet from my mom, my mom-in-law, my grandmothers, I've even got a supremely awesome Joe Namath print button-down shirt from my dad-in-law (which I am not allowed to hack). If they had Kondo'd their lives, these would probably not exist. Save for pictures, I wouldn't know of their existence. And though the three items pictured here are not heirloom quality, or of vintage worth, it fills me with regret that they now exist only in pictures. 

I mean, not life altering remorse, you know, just, sometimes I get a little harsh. Last night, in a bit of a rage getting dressed, I tried Kondo'ing my closet, asking myself what brought me joy and what didn't. Though my process was less "thoughtful questioning" and more "Sipowitz Interrogation." DO YOU LIKE THIS?! NO??? SHOVE IT IN THE BAG! This "bag" now resides in the back of my closet. That's right! QUAKE IN FEAR AT THE THOUGHT OF MY GIANT LAUNDRY BAG FULL OF MIRTHLESS ITEMS, KONDO! I'll be saving that bag, and going through it again at a later date with a fresh set of eyes! Maybe several times! It could take YEARS! KONDO! YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!  

monday mayday

WELL. Let's make this Monday better than last Monday, shall we? Same day, better breeze!

As many of us are, I'm playing along with me-made-may, but I'm letting my wolf form #standinselfie for me over on Instagram. It's a very Cher approach, I highly recommend it. What strikes me this time around is that I'm pulling more things out of the closet, and not relying on six or seven staple dresses. A little less obsessed with making the outfit ONE HUNDRED PERCENT STITCHED, and a little more comfortable with throwing some RTW in the mix.

A friend of mine raised her eyebrows at the notion that sewists would exclusively wear handmade garments. That's like a chef only eating food he cooked. Even Batali goes to McDonald's sometimes.

Does Batali really slum it like that? Probably not, but I guess when I'm "eating out" I'm FULL ON GOING TO MICKEY D'S. That would be H&M, TJ Maxx, and Rue 21, all three of which contributed tops for this first week of our little game. A trifecta of fast fashion! This is undoubtedly contrary to our me-made-mistress, Zo's philosophy on clothing. But, it makes me happy to sew the things I want to sew, and it makes my wallet happy to buy a few fillers without breaking the bank. I suppose I have a very Penn & Teller outlook on it. Their episode of "Bullshit!" on recycling had me yelling at the TV, on both sides of the argument. 

And really, how does one resist a t-shirt that infuses THUG LIFE with a floral print?

I digress.

Last week was all about the sewing community on my bod. YEAH GET ON MY BOD SEWING FRIENDS! Numeros 1, 2, 4 and 5 were all made possible by the neverending generosity of the sewing blogisphere. (Why do we say blog-o-sphere? It's hem-i-sphere, so... anyway. Also, a made up word. So.) We've got fabric from 1. Little Green Orchids, Burdastyle Laura dress, 2. Vogue wrap dress in Etro jersey from a giveaway during the PR LBD Party at Elliot Berman, 4. A refashioned maxi dress from Cynical Carnivale, and 5. Vintage rayon from Lladybird for Christine Hayne's Derby dress (my favorite First Warm Day dress!). SEWING FRIENDS ARE THE BEST FRIENDS. Numeros 3 & 6 are fabrics from my beloved janky store, may it live forever. And yes, you might spy my medallion of power on its new home, a denim vest from TJ Maxx. My back is SUPER warm, like my own little sun. The only blogged item here is Sewaholic's Gabriola skirt! Hey New York, can you port into another universe for like 15 minutes a day so I can get some uninterrupted pictures of things? THANKS!

I'm off into the wild of the concrete jungle, in another me made that I am CHOMPING AT THE BIT to show you... 'til then, happiest of mondays, peeps!

sunday snap up: the first time ever i saw your face

Yeah so I met Michael Kors.

Let me back up. Last week, after my first night of real sleep in seven days, my eyes catapulted open, the battle cry LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE careening through my head. Stomp! Upstairs! Stomp! Kitchen! Coffee! Egg! Stomp! Shower! STOMP!

closet.

EH. The first day of Me Made May, and within four minutes of eyeing the goods I was seriously thinking of flaking. I sew for fun, and fun is not audition wear (except for the occasions I am asked to be a prostitute, hipster, or designer). But here's where the genius of my very plain pledge helped me...it didn't have to be an entire outfit. So I started with my BHL Victoria cropped blazer and went from there. I ended up in an outfit that I never would have known was in my closet.  

Stomp! Back upstairs! You look cute, babe. you should say hi to our commercial agents today. Stomp! Over to our desks! Inches away from my man's surprised face! REALLY? YOU LIKE IT?! OMYGAHINEVERTHOUGHTYOU'DLIKETHISCOMBOIJUSTCAMEUPWITHITLIKEWHOAHRIGHT 

I'M TELLING YOU, DOC'S ORDERS WORKED. FULL OONA POWER.

Stomp! My man obliged me with an Instagram. I informed him he'd be obliging me all this merry month of may, and stomp! Out the door and off into the concrete jungle. People were smiling at me. A slow grin that would creep up and fully bloom as I happily bared my teeth in return. Say what you will about clothing, it sets a tone, and when you can get unsolicited smiles out of jaded NY commuters on their way to work, on 42nd and 5th for godsakes, then hell yeah fashion is important. We are our own briefcase.

And then, suddenly, as if manifested out of these thoughts, an icon of Important Fashion was walking up to me. Jeans: stomp. Black t shirt: Stomp. Black blazer: STOMP. Jet black sunglasses. STOMP. Brain sent a signal to Eyes: that's Michael Kors. Mouth, however, kept grinning, but did hold itself back from shouting hey Michael Kors I made this! Good thing, as the smile was ever so not returned. (Mouth could not help but breathe dick, but Brain was able to keep it under Breath.)

As always, when I see a celebrity/public figure, I'm reminded of how easy it is to ruin one's image in seconds... at least in the eyes of whomever is watching. I'm not really awestruck much, and wasn't in this situation, mostly it's just neat. However, awestruck or no, a figure can still be dashed to pieces or built up to the skies in a moment. It's probably too much to ask of someone to display a worthy image at all times, but when they've been in your home, having coffee, chatting away while you're cooking, even though you don't know them, you do. And when celebs are on your TV nightly, they're in your home. And you expect the people you know to be generally nice to you, don't you?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I saw Tim Gunn. Not on the same day, if I had, I would've taken it as a sign to bang on the doors of Project Runway stat. No, this was months ago, on a windy, cold, drizzly day, and I was dressed (quite sloppily) for the gym. The Gunn was enswathed in a suit that looked made of imposing clouds, and a wool great coat that swirled around him, moving at a quick purposeful pace to whatever great thing The Gunn is always moving to. I assessed the situation: I am in torn jersey pants and a too-tight hoodie. But he is wonderful, and I AM awestruck. SILENCE, BRAIN. MOUTH, PROCEED.

You're just wonderful!! I yelled over the howl of the cabs and the wind as I passed him. Not slowing his pace, he bent his head in that I'm giving you my full attention manner towards me, and projected a warm Well thank you, aren't you sweet!

Two glorious seconds. Skyscraper heights.

(post script: I'll be doing a weekend snap up all may, wrapping up my me-made-may contributions. 1: BHL blazer, RTW refashioned jeans & tank.  2: unblogged maxi skirt, refashioned RTW studded jeans jacket, tshirt, and cat butt.  3: gifted artisan tank top & BHL charlotte skirt.  daily snaps are on instagram--which by the way--I shall henceforth only use the official hashtag #mmmay14. I wish I could edit the first two snaps. SUCH CLUTTER! And does anyone remember when a hashtag was a pound sign?)

undismayed!

on this gray and rainy day

this is just a note to say

i'll be joining me-made-may

but mainly on instagram.

instagram doesn't rhyme with much, does it?  at least, my brain isn't coming up with a match at the moment-- i've spent the day off, per doctor's orders, as i managed to catch my second cold-ish-ick-ish plague on the bolt bus.  a highly enjoyable day, however! the constant sideways rain outside our windows made it even easier to keep my ass put and create an archive of garments for the blog (coming soon!).  my lovely lady doc also said i was a healthy young woman  and saw no reason to irradiate me  because xrays can be inconclusive and antibiotics don't work half the time and anyway what you need is sleep and the best cough syrup is a tablespoon of honey and a shot of tequila.

MY KIND OF DOCTOR.  SIGN ME UP.

(for those civilians who are wondering what the hell me-made-may is, and who will no doubt eye my instagram feed in confusion, basically it's a challenge to wear your handmade items out.  in the past i've signed up for three days a week, this year i'm going for something me-made on my person every day.  that's challenge enough for me as i never know who i'll have to be...)

are you in?

the true monster in my closet

but hell if it isn't still in my closet, five years after making it.  cause, you know, i made it.

yes, damn it all to hell, i'm throwing my hat in the me made ring.  why must i proclaim it in such an irritable fashion?  because i need a kick in the ass to get my closet straight, it has been weighing on me forever, I DO NOT WANT TO FACE MY CLOSET, and zo's MMM is the perfect way to make  this mountain of an activity happen in a fun way.  as much as i need to cull the RTW stuff, there are some me mades that just don't get worn as well.  so, here go the pledge:

 'i, oonaballoona of www.oonaballoona.com, sign up as a participant of me-made-may '13.  i endeavour to take control of my beast of a closet, taking out the filler and leaving it filled only with things that i will actually wear/look good on me.  by the end of may, i hope to end up with a closet that's 40% "me", 60% "them", with an end-of-the-year goal being a closet that's 80% me.  i will wear a piece of "me" three times a week for the duration of may 2013, more if possible.'

so yeah, i haven't amped up my personal challenge wearing-wise, but the closet challenge is really going to be troublesome.  i sense much gnashing of teeth in my future.  mais, ruggy has a pitiful amount of space, and i've heard tell it's easier to dress when everything in front of me is a winner.  i'm not sure how i'll document my participation, but it will probably have something to do with alcohol.  maybe cocktail closet hour.  YEAH THAT OUGHTA DO IT.  game on, baby.

mayday, mayday, IT'S JUNE?!

me made mission accomplished.  lucky number 13 of the month was a tribute to the mastermind behind it all, zoe, homage brilliantly suggested by the crafty gillian.  i was fortunate enough to have zoe's number one choice of backdrop handy: le red door, but i couldn't finish the job without my gent.  so he grabbed a little sunshine with me.  he's all ready for graduation, dontcha know. 

if you'd like to see my full mmm set with bigger pics (the last one bearing my thank you note to zoe), hop on over to flickr.  me, i'm done hopping for the night.  i'll be putting my feet up and having a little sweet vermouth.  i'll tell ya, it's a good thing this was me made may and not jacked up june, cause this next week is gonna be ca-ray-zy.

did you play?  are you celebrating with a toast?  cheers, baby.  and do tell what's in your glass.

thooooose were the daaaaays

my day 11 outfit for mmm reminded me of just how awesomely intricate RTW pieces were back when our parents walked to school uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow, so i had to get some close ups for you.  like i said, i'm pretty sure this was a mommaballoona maternity dress.  look at the embroidery on this little piece of cotton heaven!  i love all the angles and the little insets and trim... the buttons are from my stash, it used to have small plastic jobs that didn't seem to have the same standards as the rest of this dress.  i topstitched it like crazy in gold, carefully hiding and tucking all the worn places away.  it feels like a faded photograph on, and i always just barely iron it for fear of it disappearing completely.

i found this frock in my parent's magical attic (no longer in existence, sadly for me and probably a source of great relief for parental kalkatroonans).  it didn't matter how many times i'd sneak up there, i would Always. come out with some treasure.  the magnitude of the prize dictated whether i would show it to said parents, or stuff it in my overnight bag.  in my mind this was not stealing; it was a rescue mission.

i like my mind.

this stitched belt was rescued by ruggy from his dad's Oh My God We Are Getting Rid Of EVERYTHING period.  you know that phase, yes?  when you can't stand your closets and shelves and cupboards any more?  and then lament over everything you maniacally tossed?  oh, the wondrosities that were fated to boxes by the side of the road.  and the thing is, i probably wouldn't have known to save any of it even if i'd been there.  i looked at ruggy like he'd been hit on the head with too many sports related flying objects when he brought this belt home.  it came with a joe namath polyester button down (as in, the tag said joe namath menswear, and the shirt had repeating drawings of joe namaths surrounded by women) and a pair of acid purple bell bottom jeans.  i was all into the jeans.  sadly, my ass was NOT.  circa 70s ruggian dad apparently had a booty the size of one of my thighs.

even though papa ruggy was eager to let this stuff go, he made us promise we would never get rid of the shirt & belt.  (the jeans were abandoned shortly after arrival.  it was too depressing.)  i'm glad we made that promise, as i wear the belt constantly now... we'll see if joe namath ever makes it into heavy rotation.  (ba DUM dum.)

i left many, many accessories behind in NY, so the only embellishment for this outfit was a pair of earrings found last christmas with mother ruggy.  they were fifty cents.  THEY WERE FIFTY CENTS.  hand painted!  i lurve them.  

(now... dad du kalkatroona, if only you'd find that lions head gold necklace, i could dub this ensemble the Parental Parade Package.  or was it swallowed by magical attic?)

mmmmonday the fourth

you shouldn't go from manhattans to burgundy back to manhattans and then on to champagne.  i'm just saying.

my me-makes this week started out with a serious test of seams on my hipster camo dress, which i wore to work. i had to propel my five-foot-two-and-three-quarters-inches onto a six-foot-three-thousand-and-seven-billion-inches man.  repeatedly.  my knees are bruised but the seams held.  huzzah!

the Perfect Shade Of Blue vintage tent dress was shown the town in its first ever outing, and boy did it have fun.  i stole was graciously bequeathed this dress by my mom, i believe it was a maternity dress.  the color and the gorgeous embroidery (and the fact that my mom wore it... maybe i wore it too?) made me lovingly schlep it unworn from move to move, and i finally found the guts to refashion it into a patio dress.  it was a LOT of work, and thanks to y'all i've decided refashions that were a LOT of work totally count.

did you see the rock and roll hall of fame ceremonies this year?  HOLY SHIT THE BEASTIE BOYS TRIBUTE WAS JAW DROPPING.   YOU MUST YOUTUBE IT.  AS SOON AS THERE IS A DECENT VIDEO I'M PUTTING IT UP HERE AND IT IS MANDATORY THAT YOU WATCH IT.  i'm sorry, i shouldn't be yelling when there are peeps nursing hangovers in the vicinity.  this xxl t shirt has 3 refashioned seams running up its low cut back, and a cool twisty embellishment at the neck... but who cares, IT'S A BEASTIE BOYS T SHIRT.  i'm sorry.  i will chill.  the skirt is the bottom half of the magical schizophrenic 4 in 1 hack of this vintage dress.  though the skirt half was mostly seam rippage, an hour of pulling threads qualifies in my book.

whoah hey, one more mmm left!   i have no finish to this post other than that (see: first sentence).

mmmmonday the third

as you can see, my beau is highly judgmental of my last outfit for week three.  he should be.  indeed, it is not a head-to-toe me-made look, but a thrifted silk top (sides taken in, length taken off, ties taken up) and a pair of stretch jeans (front pockets hacked out and sewn closed, pants hemmed a la lady danburry's awesome pinched hem tutorial).  it totally doesn't count but at least i had it all under a sewing machine at some point... 

hey, LOOK y'all.   what.   sunday was, as they say, day one of le month  (and i'm not talking me-made-month). that day.  Is Always.  Stretch Jeans Loose Top Day.

moving back in time!  friday saw the purple yardage of my perfet summer wacay dress, quite drunkenly blogged about in days of yore.  this is only the second time i've worn it!  what the fa, oona.  it had stretched out lengthwise about 18 inches (i kept it on a hanger, jersey does not want to be on a hanger, did you know that?) so i finally cut the excess off, and gave another inch of breathing room to the armholes.  GO ME MADE MAY.

the middle child of last weekend is dixie diy's (free!) one shoulder dress pattern, borne out of an intense surge of jealousy that engulfed me when i spied seek's awesome chevroned version last week.  it sews up super quick! though the bodice side seam step took a few minutes of puzzling... and i added some braid... and i bailed on the elastic... i'll be detailing that soon.  

soon.  i seem to jinx myself whenever i promise anything "soon", but i do really mean to have separate posts for new makes.  right now i'm in the middle of a bunch of things, as evidenced by the tree pose i felt necessary last saturday. the weekends are actually busiest for me, and although i've kept silent here & at your blogs i've been reading and chuckling and oohing to myself whilst my coworkers give me the side eye.  it's a nice side eye, no worries. though the one compliment i got on my outfits from last week was for my RTW fail day... hrrrmmmmm...

mmmmonday the second

mmm is totally whipping my ass in the best way.  it's truly a challenge to do a head-to-toe-me three days a week, especially when i realize a lot of my garments stay on a hanger because they have one little thing off about them. so to succeed i have to fix them.  and i'm not even doing any stunt sewing (much)... the fixes are turning out to be surprisingly quick, i just didn't have the patience desire to win vodka challenge to make me revisit them.

the purple people eater batwing dress was one of them, it's a shapeless box on.   took in the side seams, took 3" off the hem, and now it's my 80's dancer-at-rehearsal dress.  

you might recognize the leopard print... it used to be this cocktail dress.  the bodice was always too tight across the bust, flattening my girls, who need all the help they can get.  burdastyle, baby, why you gotta wrap them up like it's 1942?  i finally hacked it in half and inserted a new super cute two-toned zip from my sis in law.  the side seam of this jammy is now the front seam, and since it was a rectangle to begin with there was no need to mess with the hem.

finally there's the tribal print dress, my first head-to-toe from last week, which i fairly trumpeted about at work. this was sewn on my maniacal day, i traced around a forever 21 dress, et voila.  no, not as easy as the french phrase would lead you to believe.  more pics and backstory on that one to come, as i'll be parading the new makes from mmm in separate posts soon.

i likes to parade.

mmmonday the first

(details on all the new makes to come later this week.  go try picmonkey yo!)

mmmoona

on a hike with ruggy yesterday, he asked what was happening in my sewing life.  (he's very good like that.)  i yammered on for a bit about me-made-may: i'll be wearing something i've sewn every day for the month of may! and noticed he had grown silent.  eyeing my RTW hiking gear, he paused: that sounds... crazy.... he finally ventured.

well, it is crazy, but when i joined up (over a glass of something red, i'm sure) i did think it was do-able.  after all, i have a closetful of stitched stuff.  what the problem is?  the problem is THIS: it's all fancified.  and i don't want to sew casual stuff.  so i'm amending my pledge over at miss zo's to this:

"i, oonaballoona, sign up as a participant of me-made-may '12.  i endeavour to wear a me-made outfit three days a week (excluding undies, cardigans, shoes and accessories-- well maybe not bracelets!) during the month of may, with no repeats.  i will strive to wear at least one me-made or me-altered garment (vintage, thrifted or RTW) four days a week."

i like this because it will make me choose my own fancy stuff more often in a sane way.  let's face it, i'm not wearing a teal lace scoop back dress when i leave the house today, but i should do this weekend.  when i dress up, unless i'm meeting sewists, i often grab someone else's label.  and injecting bits of me into the other half of the week could sway me into sewing some more casual things.  

cut the theorizing crap, really what it comes down to is this:  I LIKE COMPLIMENTS.  if i start getting compliments from friends who don't sew and strangers who don't know, it could give me the swelled head kick in the ass i need to make my closet fully me-made.

so there you haz it.  i'll be posting on the flickr group, and i'll do a weekly MMM monday post here, with one new outfit featured.  i've got some new fancy frocks to show you!

how much do you dress up during the week, whether it's you-made or not?  do you wish it was more or less? 

bangled beauty tutorial

i've decided to throw my hat into the MMM ring.  zo commands: no panic sewing.  i like that rule.  but really my closet is mostly made up of fancy frocks.  so, instead of finishing off a few casual items this weekend, what did i do?  i made some bangles.  and a tutorial on how to make some bangles.

bangles!! i love them so!! and i had to leave so many of them behind in new york!  most of my bracelets are of the thick and chunky tree trunk variety, not travel friendly when you're trying to stay under the weight limit and still get half your home across the country.  as i stitched up my version of an everyday dress, i pondered my choice of facing: this orange dye job from my self drafted dress.  why did i choose to put it on the inside?  what happened to my pattern matching penchant?  was there not enough whiskey in my sunday coffee?

then... eureka!  i could wear it on my wrist.

you will need:
medium to heavy weight fabric (i used quilting cotton)
medium to heavy weight interfacing (lies! i used light weight)
thread, scissors, ruler, marking pen
an irish coffee

this is a GREAT way to use up those scraps of special fabric and bits of interfacing that you can't bear to throw out.

first, decide on the circumference of your bangle-to-be.  you could tie a string in a loop and practice getting it on and off, or loosely wrap fabric round your wrist, or have a nice long swig of that coffee and then dunk your hand in the mug and measure the circumference of that.  (actually, that works.) remember, you don't want it too wide or it'll fall right off your mitts.  add 3/8s inch for your seam allowance... my circle came out to 9 inches total, but i have gorilla hands.

(i guess you could also measure an existing bracelet and add 3/8s inch, but where is the fun in that.)

you can cut it to any width you like.  for this tute, i just used my invisible ruler to measure out a perfect 9 x 2 inch rectangle.  lay your fabric wrong side UP on your ironing board.

press & fold over one long end 1/4 inch.  then eyeball fold the other long edge in and press, so that when you fold that 1/4 inch edge down, you will make...

an envelope!  give it a good press job.  this is the final width of your bracelet.

now lay that pressed strip down on your interfacing.  cut 2 strips of interfacing to match this width & length.

open up your bracelet (wrong side is still UP) and lay one piece of interfacing down the middle, "glue side" touching the wrong side of the fabric.  carefully steam press the interfacing onto the fabric, keeping it straight. don't press your 1/4 fold out, you'll need it in a minute!

now take your second piece of interfacing and place it "glue side" UP, right on top of the strip you just pressed.

fold those long edges back up to make your envelope, and give it a good steam press to seal it up.  this is the inside of your bracelet.



at this point, the envelope is not completely sealed.  the little 1/4 fold nicely hides any raw edges, but it isn't fully touched by the interfacing.  head on over to Ye Olde Sewing Machine and sew, inside up, along that folded edge to close it.  yes, that's magic tape on my 221 featherweight.  WHAT.  izzie is a bit of a punk, she can take it.

you may now have another swig of spiked coffee.  what, you drank it all already?!  GOOD GIRL.  go pour yourself some more, i'll wait.

turn that jammy right side up and go to town with some topstitching. i just went with straight lines back and forth but it's all up to you and your level of inebriation.  the topstitching will help your finished bracelet keep its shape, but if you're going with a heavy weight fabric/interfacing, you may not need it.



we'll seal the deal with a little french seam action... right sides together, sew at 1/8 inch. then clip the corners at an angle.



turn it to wrong sides together, and sew at 1/4 of an inch.  with the tip of your iron, give the seam a press to one side and topstitch it down.

DONE.  now you have a bangle that won't break the bank or the weight limit on that weekender bag, and you've used up those scraps ya love so very much!



here they are lounging by the fabric for my casual dress... you'll be seeing these lovers in action later this week as i document my me-made-may (my personal pledge coming up later today... i'm working out the kinks).

happy monday y'all!