Feeling Beautiful Each and Every Day

Whenever we set a challenge, I think it's important to give ourselves a little leeway. After all, we aren't perfect, and then there's life. All in all, my 1 Year Challenge is going well, but I have missed 2 days. I was a little disappointed, but in the overall scope of things, this is hardly a problem. I think the most important thing is to just keep going.

Wow, how things can change in a month. I wore this outfit on August 12th. It was a super warm period in Chicago. A month later, we're having a high of 63 degrees. I actually bought the fabric for the skirt at Walmart!!! It came with the print laid out for a circular skirt. All I had to do was figure out the mathematics for the circumference of the waist. I've had this skirt for years,and I take very good care of it as I love it!  

The following day was a flight day. I made this outfit last summer. The top is the Chelsea Raglan Tee from fabrics-store.com The pants are the free pajama pant pattern from Martha Stewart. Just a nice, basic pant pattern.

I flew to Lexington, Kentucky that day. This was just before leaving and coming back to Chicago.

I absolutely love this t-shirt. You've seen it before. I had scraps of both the solid blue and the ruffles. Thought I could get a tee, and it all worked out. I used the Molly Tee from Pattern Union. 

Be sure to watch the video to the end. You'll see just how human I really am ;)

Because I love a rectangle, I wanted to give the Envelope Dress from Chris Wood a try. Super, super easy piece to do. Just 3 rectangles. It's not an actual pattern, but instructions on how to draft it out. As I said, super easy.

This little dress is STILL puzzling me. I was looking for fabric to make the Envelope Dress, and thought this would be so cute since it has a border. Pulled it out to find that I had already cut it. I have absolutely no memory of cutting it, and I have no idea what pattern I used to cut it. So, all I had was a front and a back, but I decided to make it work. Added some darts, made shoulder straps. and called it a day. So happy I found it as I really love the dress now that it's made up.

This dress has a fun story. I had gone to a luncheon. A woman 

came up to me and told me how much she liked my dress, and then asked, "who are you wearing?" I replied that it was my dress. She then said, "Oh Rhonda, I know the dress belongs to you, but who is the designer?" I replied, "Me!" She was shocked to say the least. Best compliment ever!!!

 

Another flight day. When there's a jet on the tarmac, I just HAVE to have my picture taken :) Hey, a girl can dream! I'm wearing a top that I made for my Sleeves On Saturdays series, the Square Shoulder Sleeve. I so love this sleeve in a stripe. The pants are another pair made from the free Martha Stewart pajama pant pattern.  

I made this dress back in April and I absolutely love it. It's Vogue 9112, a Marcy Tilton pattern. So perfect for a hot day. A little shorter than I typically like. I'll just lengthen it a bit next time around :) 

Another flight day, and it was cool for a change. In the video you'll see that I am wearing one of my most coveted garments, a jacket that was a gift. I'm wearing a pair of pants made from Simplicity 9017. It's just a great, basic pant pattern, and works beautifully with ponte. I paired it with a long sleeve Molly tee from Pattern Union.

I think that just about everyone who sews has made this Donna Karan Vogue pattern, Vogue 1250. It's out of print. For the life of me, I don't know why because it's just such a great pattern. One that's truly a classic.

We're finally up to August 22nd. I've had both of these pieces for quite some time. I was in a grocery store in Houston, my favorite, Central Market. I had just walked in, and was looking around the produce section when a man came up to me and said, "You are absolutely beautiful!" I stood there rather shocked. He then said that he just had to tell me, wished me a great day, and walked off. I thought, "Wow!!!, I think I need to wear this outfit EVERYDAY!!!" Truly made my day :)

The skirt is nothing more than a rectangle. I will do a tutorial on it soon. I just purchased a tool that will make doing tutorials so much easier. If all goes as planned, once I get it, watch out!!! ;)

    

So, that's it for the dog and pony show today. 

A number of you have sent notes telling me that I have inspired you to not only start enjoying your wardrobes, but I've also inspired you to do a little more sewing. Oh my goodness, that makes me so very happy. Life is so short, much too short to not celebrate each and everyday. By all means, wear your lovely makes, and allow yourself to feel beautiful each and everyday :)

Rhonda 

Sleeves On Saturdays Revisited/The Square Shoulder Sleeve

 An interesting comment was recently left on an Instagram post, you always look so happy. What's interesting is that some days, that is so very far from how I actually feel. I replied that a smile is always a good thing. 

A few years ago, I learned a valuable lesson. A dear friend of mine was going through a very difficult time. His brother had committed suicide, and his suicide cost my friend pretty much his entire life savings. He had leveraged everything in order to try and save his brother. Truly a heartbreaking story. But, what I found interesting is that even at his lowest moments, if he was asked how he was doing, his reply was, "wonderful, just wonderful." The saying of "time heals all wounds" is sadly just not true. I know that my friend still wrestles with the why of his brother's death. He always wears a Harley Davidson t-shirt that belonged to his brother under his shirt when he attends church. He told me that it's his way of taking his brother to church with him. 

Watching him go through this incredibly difficult time, and seeing how he chose to deal with it, taught me about speaking faith over my days, and the situations that some days hold. His way of speaking faith was to simply reply, wonderful, when life was anything but. When I am asked how I am doing, my reply has become, "I'm good." It's not grammatically correct(so what!), but it's my way of speaking faith over the things that I may be dealing with that make my heart ache.

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As I shared, my little 1 year challenge is going well. I have yet to miss a day of wearing a garment that I made, and posting pictures. I have recently started doing short videos as I think it enhances the garment. It's always nice to really see how a garment fits, and moves.

I originally posted the 2 tops that I am sharing today in 2014!!! Hard to believe that it's been 6 years ago. And I'm still wearing them! A little note about clothing care...I put very few things in the dryer. My laundry room usually looks like a yard sale with all of my things hanging to dry. But, the heat of the dryer can be very destructive to fibers. 

The pattern that I used for both tops is a free pattern from Deer And Doe, the Plantain T-Shirt. You can find it HERE.

The red striped top was the 3rd sleeve that I did in the squared shoulder sleeve series. With this one, I accented the seams in the sleeve with a strip of red fabric, and repeated the red fabric around the neckline, and the hemline of both the sleeves and the top. You can find my post on this top HERE.  

I was out at the airport yesterday. Whenever I get the chance, I am going to pose on the stairs of a jet!!! 

The post on this sleeve can be found HERE. The difference with this sleeve and the 1 above is that the center panel on the red sleeve is rounded, and the center panel of the black is squared in the traditional manner of drafting the sleeve. With this top, to add a little extra interest, I cut the stripe on the bias and used that to bind the neckline and the hemline.   

Hope you enjoy the video :) 

By the way, you can always easily access my Sleeves On Saturdays by clicking on the tab at the top of the blog page.

I hope that regardless of what's happening in your life, you will be able to join me and say, "I'm good." You may not feel good in the moment, but you are making a declaration that good is coming. And, it is :)

Rhonda