Time Capsule + Summer of Basics
From April 2014, my 4th ever blog post on Thistle & Bean.
Isn't this the beauty and glory of aging? Getting to know ourselves? Becoming aware of my own life and habits is like figuring out an intricate mechanical contraption that does something sort of alchemical and fantastic... my teens were a time to play. My twenties were a time to experiment. My early 30s were a time of getting serious about cutting things away and clearing a path for myself. As I prepare to enter the second half of my 30s, I feel like it's all about self-care and self-knowledge. This is a peak time. My mom always says - "the 40s are glorious!" I am getting ready. I am getting ready for my goal of being the best me I've ever been when I turn 40. I have 5 years to get ready. For my year of turning 40... right before I do that, I would like to do the Me-Made May challenge (if it is still even a thing!) and have 5 years worth of garments that I love in my closet along with accessories and basics that pair well with my hand-sewn pieces. Who knows, I may even knit something plain in an impossibly small gauge that I like to wear.
I wrote this over 4 years ago as I was just starting my sewing blog. I was cleaning up the labels for Me Made May and was surprised to see this aspirational post to participate in Me Made May right before turning 40. Guess what?!
Me Made May is definitely "still a thing" and I did it! (Sadly #menditmay didn't fare so well.)
I didn't even remember this was my goal from 2014... but I decided to tackle wearing a me-made and taking an instagram photo every day for 2018 and I happily completed my goal for #mmm18. In 2016, I also completed #mmm16. I also knit some fine gauge cardigans.
I'm certainly still working on that part about being the best me I've ever been.
I actually think I am the best me I've been - in most given moments, these days - but not the same way that I thought I would be a few years ago. I'm just always learning new things and adjusting to how life unfolds - I try not to worry as much as I used to... and slow down to enjoy the process of being alive because I have so much life left, yet a lot behind me too. It's a feeling of equipoise, approaching the official place where you can't escape, by any rubric, being "middle age".
There's a certain wonderful balance between feeling old enough to have some life-perspective and not care about a lot of things I used to worry about... and young (or shall I just say healthy) enough to be able to do things I care about doing and be relatively comfortable most of the time.
And since this is a maker-focused blog... I'll loop back around to that to say that I feel my making is shifting as I am shifting - it takes so long to figure things out. We're always tinkering, refining, reflecting, learning... I have always been making, but not always making things that I truly loved or that stood the test of time... but with 5 years of on/off sewing and knitting, I'm starting to get more of that perspective about what items stand the test of time and will make into the 30 Wears club & beyond.
The New Look hack I tried from the 90s 6305 pattern has been the most surprising TNT champion of all my makes - it is so forgiving in fitting and, without any closures to go bad, it's easy to maintain. My favorite one (this thrifted dark tapestry print rayon one) has had mends to the armpit and where the skirt attaches to the body... and it's too short to be worn without tights/jeans by my taste any more - but it still gets lots of wear. (I always wished it was longer - barely eeked out the length I got on it since I was working with a thrifted piece that was under the recommended yardage.)
I have 5 of these dresses, if you count the original muslin one, which I actually recently brought back into rotation for Me Made May 2018. Still not in love with that print, I wear it mostly as a house/garden dress now.
So, in honor of my 40th birthday and the #summerofbasics make-along - I want to make at least one more New Look 6305 - this time, a plain black one. I might also make a plain burgundy one, with some rayon in my stash.
I'm waffling on the other 2 basics to pick... but I definitely want a solid black New Look 6305 hack dress.
Short list (I have patterns/fabric for all these possibilities already):
Isn't this the beauty and glory of aging? Getting to know ourselves? Becoming aware of my own life and habits is like figuring out an intricate mechanical contraption that does something sort of alchemical and fantastic... my teens were a time to play. My twenties were a time to experiment. My early 30s were a time of getting serious about cutting things away and clearing a path for myself. As I prepare to enter the second half of my 30s, I feel like it's all about self-care and self-knowledge. This is a peak time. My mom always says - "the 40s are glorious!" I am getting ready. I am getting ready for my goal of being the best me I've ever been when I turn 40. I have 5 years to get ready. For my year of turning 40... right before I do that, I would like to do the Me-Made May challenge (if it is still even a thing!) and have 5 years worth of garments that I love in my closet along with accessories and basics that pair well with my hand-sewn pieces. Who knows, I may even knit something plain in an impossibly small gauge that I like to wear.
I wrote this over 4 years ago as I was just starting my sewing blog. I was cleaning up the labels for Me Made May and was surprised to see this aspirational post to participate in Me Made May right before turning 40. Guess what?!
Me Made May is definitely "still a thing" and I did it! (Sadly #menditmay didn't fare so well.)
I didn't even remember this was my goal from 2014... but I decided to tackle wearing a me-made and taking an instagram photo every day for 2018 and I happily completed my goal for #mmm18. In 2016, I also completed #mmm16. I also knit some fine gauge cardigans.
I'm certainly still working on that part about being the best me I've ever been.
I actually think I am the best me I've been - in most given moments, these days - but not the same way that I thought I would be a few years ago. I'm just always learning new things and adjusting to how life unfolds - I try not to worry as much as I used to... and slow down to enjoy the process of being alive because I have so much life left, yet a lot behind me too. It's a feeling of equipoise, approaching the official place where you can't escape, by any rubric, being "middle age".
There's a certain wonderful balance between feeling old enough to have some life-perspective and not care about a lot of things I used to worry about... and young (or shall I just say healthy) enough to be able to do things I care about doing and be relatively comfortable most of the time.
And since this is a maker-focused blog... I'll loop back around to that to say that I feel my making is shifting as I am shifting - it takes so long to figure things out. We're always tinkering, refining, reflecting, learning... I have always been making, but not always making things that I truly loved or that stood the test of time... but with 5 years of on/off sewing and knitting, I'm starting to get more of that perspective about what items stand the test of time and will make into the 30 Wears club & beyond.
The New Look hack I tried from the 90s 6305 pattern has been the most surprising TNT champion of all my makes - it is so forgiving in fitting and, without any closures to go bad, it's easy to maintain. My favorite one (this thrifted dark tapestry print rayon one) has had mends to the armpit and where the skirt attaches to the body... and it's too short to be worn without tights/jeans by my taste any more - but it still gets lots of wear. (I always wished it was longer - barely eeked out the length I got on it since I was working with a thrifted piece that was under the recommended yardage.)
I have 5 of these dresses, if you count the original muslin one, which I actually recently brought back into rotation for Me Made May 2018. Still not in love with that print, I wear it mostly as a house/garden dress now.
I'm waffling on the other 2 basics to pick... but I definitely want a solid black New Look 6305 hack dress.
Short list (I have patterns/fabric for all these possibilities already):
- a black gauze Tina Givens Annabelle Slip & a black Madeline slip to wear under it.
- a chambray Dottie Angel Frock
- a black "Kelby" (Brumby-Kelly mashup) or possibly a Colette Zinnia Version 1
- a Metamorphic dress from thrifted black-with-white-nubby-bits rayon (both layers)
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