I Made a Baby Quilt!

When my coworker invited me to her baby shower, my first thought for a gift was a baby quilt. The quilts and blankets that Fake-Aunt Sheryl made for my son over the years were useful and super cute at the time, and have become cherished mementos in the ensuing years.

(Plus, now that I know how to sew, I understand the level of effort that went into each of them, and appreciate how Sheryl’s skill improved over just a few years.)

Now, I’d never actually made a quilt before — which is ironic, given that my initial interest in learning to sew was to make t-shirt quilts for myself, rather than paying others to make them for me. In the almost six years I’ve been really sewing, I’ve used quilting techniques to make “mug rugs” (aka coasters) and pillow cases, but this would be my first actual quilt.

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Status: Annoyed

Today’s reminder to double-check all the things: While machine-darning my husband’s shorts, I sewed the pocket lining to the leg. Real good, too, I might add. My only option was to cut the pocket away from the darning, which made for another hole to mend.

Usable Pockets

I know this isn’t my best side, but — huh-huh, butt? — pockets!

I extended the right welt pocket to accommodate my phone, and didn’t even bother to open the left pocket all the way.

Granted, I won’t need to wear business casual again until probably late September… but at least I’ll be ready with proper pockets when the time comes.

Me-Made May 2021

After a few years of sewing garments, I decided it was finally time to participate in Me-Made May. To quote Zoe, the creator of the challenge:

Me-Made-May is a challenge designed to encourage people who make their own clothes to develop a better relationship with their handmade wardrobe. You set the specifics of your own challenge to make it suitable and useful for YOU. However, one very common pledge is for a participant to aim to wear one self-stitched or refashioned garment each day for the duration of May. 

I’ve made a few garments for myself, but not nearly enough to last me through an entire month. So, my challenge for Me-Made May was to wear each of my me-made items at least once during the month of May, and to take notes on what I like most and what I would improve about each garment.

I chose not to photograph each garment, so I’m not planning to post a slideshow of my me-mades, but I will recap my notes and future plans.

My absolute favorite makes

I wore my green and black colorblock tunic to work on my single in-person day in October 2020.

Colorblock 3/4 sleeve knit tunic

Made in March 2020 from double-brushed polyester knit, with a pattern adapted from Simplicity 1199. Double-brushed poly knit has to be one of my favorite fabrics to wear, although the fact that it’s polyester (extruded microplastic, as I understand it) puts it lower on the “sustainable sewing” preferred fabric list. This shirt is one of only a few that I’m OK with wearing to the office.

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