Me-Made-Maybe Round 2

First of all, thank you to those who made deductions in Round 1 of Me-Made-Maybe, here and in the Flickr group! I had a really fun time seeing your guesses. And maybe now you're wondering about the puzzle: did you guys get it right? Which one was the self-made item?

The Big Reveal: It was...the grey shirt! Collared, cuffed, made in linen and worn open, it's actually a favourite of mine. The bright floral top was a bit of a red herring, I'll admit, but it's so nice I kind of wish I'd made it.

Round Two
Again, anything's game except for my shoes, my glasses, and any clothing that you can't see at all. Before you start, though, I've added a clue to this round, if you'd like to use it. Just click on the word "CLUE" below, and the clue-card will reveal itself.

CLUE (go on and click!)

And here is the outfit photo:

That's a playground, yes.

Go ahead and guess—and please let me know how you found the "clue"!

PS: There's only one outfit photo this time because, well, it was really windy out and I wasn't using the mini-tripod, so...my camera fell twice and the second time, the lens got stuck. (Yeah. Self-photos are not working out for me too well—but at least I have a whole month to get better at them, haha.)

The camera's 6 years old—it was my first "big" purchase in high school—and I'm sentimental about it so I'm going to muck around and try to get it working.

In the mean time, though, here's a photo to cheer you (and/or me) up:

It's from the first time my camera fell (I don't know why I didn't just stop shooting at this point). The timer went off just after it landed on the ground and I came over to look. Doesn't it look like those scenes in movies, when the camera takes the point of view of someone who's just fainted, and then blinks up at the crowd around them? This is what my camera woke up to, post-faint.

Me-Made-Maybe Round 1

Today, as I worked to fulfill my Me Made May pledge, I was schooled in the fine art of self photography. Or wait, that's not quite right. Today, I got schooled by my own camera as I tried to take self photos, is more like it.

My morning attempts, in no particular order:

In the end I asked my mother to take the photos for me (yes! MMM as a family project?) ...and managed to keep both my eyes open for about a quarter of the shots. In my defense, it was very sunny outside.

The photos, of course, were for the second part of my Me-Made-May pledge: For these [outfit] photos I will plan and photograph my outfit to intentionally disguise the identity of the self-made item. The item will be as a snake in the grass, a chameleon among the leaves, a purloined letter hiding in plain sight.

So: which part of today's outfit is self-made? If you're guessing, then for today's self-made item you'll have to do with the outfit photo alone, but I've got "clues" ready for all the other rounds.

I should probably also note that the self-made item is visible, it's not my shoes, and it's not my glasses. And for today, that's all I'll tell you.

That's right, come at me.

With deductions.

My me-made-May pledge, or: Every outfit is a (detective) story

So first things first:

I, Meraj of Threaded Dances, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear one self-made garment or piece each day for the duration of May 2013, and to post an outfit photo on the Wednesday and Friday of every week.

Furthermore, for these photos I will plan and photograph my outfit to intentionally disguise the identity of the self-made item.

The item  will be as a snake in the grass, a chameleon among the leaves, a purloined letter hiding in plain sight.

(Ignore my penchant for melodrama and simile mixing, please and thanks.)

Really, though: a purloined letter...hidden in plain sight...some of you can guess where this is going, right? Basically, my plan is to have the daily self-made garment "hidden" among all my ready-to-wear clothing, so that the whole outfit will be constructed like a puzzle or a mystery. "It was Meraj in the pantry with the self-made belt", you know?

My sister suggested the idea—and even a name: Me-Made-Maybe (yes!)—when we were talking about the pledge, and the idea kind of stuck in my head (thanks :D!). After getting in touch with Zoe of 'So Zo...: What do you know?' to run it by her, I started some serious planning.

Why don't I live in Portland?

That's Portland, Oregon, in America. If I did, I'd at least be able to apply for the new position that's just been created at Colette Patterns. Yes, that's right: as of now, Colette Patterns is looking for a Summer Intern Blog Editor!

Of course, my style doesn't have a lot in common with Colette Patterns' vintage-inspired aesthetic, so even if I lived in Oregon I wouldn't be a good match for this position anyway, but I still think this is really cool news.

First, because in terms of 'business' blogs, Coletterie really is a good one. It's regularly updated, informative, and has some very interesting series—like I said, I don't even like most vintage styles, but I'm super excited whenever I see a new post in the "Detail Inspiration" series. Running a 'business' blog definitely has its own challenges (I manage a blog for an administrative office at my university) so getting to help with a blog that's as great as Coletterie is—well, it sounds pretty exciting.

Second, (and fair warning: I'm going to bring up the touchy topic of money here) I think it's nice that the position is paid. I think I understand that businesses can't always afford to pay interns, but as someone who hasn't quite finished university yet—and is therefore surrounded by internship horror stories—I have to admit that I've got mad respect when a small business owner decides to make intern compensation a priority.

Best of luck to whoever wants to apply! (And lives in Portland!)

Purple and Green Jacket

Or: I don't know fancy colour names, so what.

There's this scene in Robertson Davies' What's Bred in the Bone where Francis Cornish, an aspiring young artist, is told to draw a perfectly and impeccably straight line. Being a dedicated student of drawing, he does so. Easy.

Then he's asked to draw a second line, equally straight, precisely on top of and parallel to the first. And then another that bisects those two indistinguishable lines. And then another that intersects those three lines exactly at their meeting point. Francis gives it his best, of course, but wonders at the near-impossibility of his task.

Hey, I wonder why the process of topstitching always, always reminds me of that scene.

I made the above shirt (jacket?) out of the fabric left over from two projects, this shirt and these pants, as part of the Itty Bits section of Cation Designs' Stashbusting sewalong. (Yes, that was the January theme. Better late than never, and all that!)

I'm actually not sure why I was sewing with leftovers when I have 5 different untouched fabrics in my bin, but I used up those scraps like you wouldn't believe. They were barely enough for the jacket—actually, they weren't enough for the jacket, and I ended up having to use two other scraps for the inside back yoke (see above) and the undercollar:

Uneven stitches on lilac fabric? I won't be popping this collar.

This was also my first project using Mabel Erwin's Practical Dress Design (scanned and shared months ago by TJ at The Perfect Nose). I read through a big chunk of the book way back during winter break, but hadn't got a chance to use the techniques from it until now. For anyone who's skimmed the designs in this book—and understood the implied promise that you, too, can learn how to sew all of them!—do I even need to explain the excitement of finally making something from it?

As much as I liked the drawings, though, vintage-style dresses aren't exactly my thing, so I pulled out an oldish Levi's jacket for inspiration, trying to ensure that the yokes, rolled collar, and breast pockets I had in mind would turn out looking like the real thing. Then I reached for my bodice sloper and got to work on making the jacket pattern.

What did I do?