Rose Shirt Rehab

I mended this last weekend, but haven't yet worked it into an outfit.
Maybe this week, maybe this combo.

[From last year. Still valid]

Or maybe for Fluevog Day (Wednesday, May 15) with The Fluevog Dress?
We shall see!

I got this from Suzanne Carillo's Etsy Shop, Vintage by Suzanne -- she posted it on Instagram or maybe her blog and I HAD to have it.
There were some fit issues.

View this post on Instagram

Flora and Fauna on my feet! More socks I didn't wear. COTD (colors of the day) Friday: FLORA AND FAUNA! #COTDstyle #cotdrewind #cotdthrowback Shirt from #vintagebysuzanne

A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray) on May 25, 2018 at 8:01pm PDT

[I had to check PayPal to find when I purchased this -- it was A YEAR AGO!]

The shirt has an unusual '90's sleeve, which you can't see at all because the print is so distracting, so I drew flats, front and back:

I could rip out the center back sleeve seam, remove a couple of pleats and make room for my shoulders. And that's what I did.

Here, everything is ripped out and ready to reconfigure. I used extra fabric from cutting off the cuffs for the patches.

I used a 1" thick piece of corrugated cardboard as my "voodoo" board.

Everything in position to sew, need to sandwich upper part of patch between the outside and inside collar stands.

Added another interior patch in the same location.

Done! Once I get my sewing machine repaired, I can add matching edge stitching at the base of the patch.

Whoa, that was a lot of detailed work!
Time to party!

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Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Catherine's #ShareAllLinkup

Floral Mend

I had the notion to approach Mending Mountain with parameters.
Since May is Flower Link-up Month [see end of post], I pulled all the more-or-less floral patterned dresses out of the Dress Mend box (yes, I have them all categorized by garment):

Then did a photo shoot to determine whether any were even worth the effort.

Meh. It's uncomfortable. To Poshmark it goes.

I am obviously much happier in this number.
What you can't see is the broken zipper and the 12" gap at center back at my shoulders.
It needs major work. I'll do it, later.
[And this, my friends, is exactly the reason Mending Mountain exists].

This one has the strangest interior elastic cinching situation that took me a while to figure out.
On the fence -- it IS 100% cotton
May be good for one of Anita's Poolside Movie Nights. 

This one is really mid-calf length and too small and I hiked it up for the photo.
I have nostalgia for this, but is it worth rehabilitating?

This is a creation with issues. First of all, the neckline is too wide.
Second, too long!
Third, transparent!

Shorter definitely better.
Originally sewn for a 20's themed Movie Night from a silk sari.

Seriously. Where is my wand? Or my herd of sheep!
Just cutting a neck slit in this linen tablecloth is clearly not the answer!
Something more form-fitting would look much better.
Sometimes a rectangle is not the best solution.

No easy mends in this batch. Sigh. What am I going to do for my MeMadeMay pledge this week?

[that's my pledge]

Got florals?

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Linking this up with
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Catherine's #ShareAllLinkup

#MeMadeMay Week 3, Mending Mishap

Not all my mending goes smoothly. I tried a quick fix on another tunic with a too-wide neck and here's what happened:

Weird poufs in the middle of my shoulder seams.

This is one of my rare tunics where I turned back and sewed the edges on the neckline.

I'm not claiming it's an excellent sewing job. It's adequate. 

Fixing this one will require ripping out machine stitching at the neckline and resewing the shoulder seams.
That won't be happening soon, so I will endure it falling off my shoulders for now.

Old in-phone photo collage from last September.

This photo is probably the one that helped me decide to add sleeves:

With Kelly at my art exhibition, #myshittycommute April 2016

WAIT A MINUTE! I SAW (and chased) THAT SAME TRUCK YESTERDAY!

#dailytrucks with One Orange Door
left: circa 2016 .  right: 5.23.18
#dailytruck is an Instagram series that I can't seem to stop and has resulted in two art shows so far.

And now you know how easily I'm distracted and why the I have Mending Mountain.

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday