Spaceship Earth

Not long now before a long-planned trip to Disney World with some girlfriends! I’m super excited, and have been madly planning and sewing for months now. So with apologies to my bike-y reflective fashion followers (and perhaps many more of you), here’s what I’ve been sewing for my trip.

In my last post, I shared my Spaceship Earth tunic. Spaceship Earth is not only one of my favorite rides, but the iconic feature of EPCOT. I’m really looking forward to wearing this not only because I love it and enjoy its subtle nod to the ride, but it’s not quite cotton lawn tunic weather here in Northern Virginia, and I haven’t gotten to wear it yet!

Style Arc Lennie Overshirt

I just made this fun Maleficent skirt to wear to the Villains After Hours party the last night we are there. I’m not normally one for the Disney villains but if I’m going to their party, I feel like I should dress respectfully, amirite? I had planned on downloading a skirt pattern from an independent company but they are on vacation and it wasn’t available. So I dug around in my pattern box and found this McCalls out of print pleated skirt pattern I bought ages ago. This is the perfect opportunity to test the pattern – if I don’t like it, I’m probably not going to wear a Maleficent skirt often, so it won’t matter if I don’t like it!

McCalls 7253 skirt pattern

Turns out, I love the pattern! And I love the skirt. The pleats are flattering and create the skirt fullness I love without making my hips look *huge*. I added some flame stitching, in homage to Maleficent (no dragon stitch on my machine, alas). Next time I will add pockets, since the pattern doesn’t call for them. Cause there is definitely going to be a next time for this pattern! Speaking of digging around in my stash – despite planning on wearing jeans with the tops I have made, I realized the weather might be too warm for jeans, and I might need shorts. Expect I don’t love the shorts I own. So I pulled out a knit skirt pattern that I have made multiple times for a friend but never for me, then discovered a big enough piece of navy blue knit fabric to squeeze out the pattern pieces. And voila! A new skirt that will actually be perfect for many, many casual occasions, even if I don’t wear it at Disney World.

I’ve also bought a few things for the trip that I probably could make on my own but didn’t want to work out with limited time. These clear vinyl zip bags are perfect for zipping (as it were) through the security lines on the way into the parks. I ordered one each from two different Etsy sellers, both of whom have fun options. But I really love the Mary Blair style of the one first one, and the calm parks scenes of the second one. I may be sorry I bought the smaller sizes; I have such a hard time packing light!

Clear vinyl pouch by Amy’s Small World/Etsy

Clear vinyl pouch by CYFCreations/Etsy

Another clever Disney trip thing I ordered from Etsy is this fun turquoise glitter Minnie Ear holder. The carabiner makes it easy to clip to any bag, purse, or belt loop, and the Mickey snap fastens easily around the headband’s bow. I should now, I tried all four of my ears on this! It also means I can take a smaller bag into the parks with me, since I won’t need to worry about fitting the ears into a bag when I opt not to wear them (they do squeeze my skull after a while!).

Minnie Ear Holder holding my silver Minnie ears on my #memade silver glitter purse

Going further down the Etsy-Disney rabbit hole, I found these *adorable* Hidden Mickey rose pins, and ordered a mystery pack. These will be so cute pinned to my tops or jackets!

Don’t worry, I will share my outfits with me in them after I get back (or you can follow along on my Instagram account)! Sewing projects never look the same on a hanger as they do on a body, so I do apologize for the lame photos.

MeMade Disney sewing – some subtle prints, some not-so-subtle prints!

Of course, once this trip is over, I need to start thinking about sewing for the next trip.! I’m all about the planning, haha! The Mechanic and I are going to Costa Rica with his family this spring, and although I don’t have much planned for that, I do have two garments that I want to make before we go. I’ll *try* not to over-plan that trip the way I clearly have this one though….

Really, I need to clear my table – literally and figuratively – to FINALLY make my reflective tweed jacket. That is a big project and I need to clear my head so I can really focus on that. I’m not good at slow sewing, but really want to do a good job on this.

Just because Cinderella’s mice friends made her a ballgown quickly doesn’t mean I need to make a tweed jacket quickly! Although if my fairy godmother would like to come along behind me to clean it up, that would be okay too : )

It’s a new year, and a new decade, and it seems like *everyone* has been busy posting goals and resolutions and predictions for both the year and the decade. But it seems to me like rather than “New Year, New You” resolutions, everyone really sees the new date on the calendar as the opportunity to return to their pre-holiday season selves. “Eat healthier!” – we were all doing that before Halloween. “Work out more!” – even the best intentions somehow fall aside during the last few weeks of the year. So rather than set resolutions, I’m simply going to return to where I was before the holidays.

But let’s be honest – it gets tiring after a while, the same ole, same ole. The Mechanic and I were discussing goal setting, and how really, there are BIG goals and little goals, and they should be categorized differently. He objected to my Bronze-Silver-Gold level goals idea, so I suggested Cheese-Chocolate-Champagne instead. This sounds much more fun, doesn’t it?!

The Cheese goals are the smaller ones, like “Doing 15 minutes of yoga four days in a row,” or “Biking to work RT once a week.” And yes, that means I earn cheese for achieving these goals. The Chocolate goals are a bit bigger, like “Biking to work four times a week (or RT twice – I’m splitting my bike commutes with the bus these days),” or “Blogging once a week.” Champagne goals are, as you might now guess, The Big Goals. I’ve included in this category “Not buying any fabric in a month” as well as “Not buying any clothing in a month.” Ad yes, I am creating a big ole giant spreadsheet to track all this.

Not buying any fabric in a month might seem a bit radical to you, especially knowing how much I love to sew. But I have such a long list of lingering projects that I want to finish, and need to finish, before starting anything else. The other reason for this goal is the fabric buying spreadsheet I started in June. I was curious to track when I was buying fabric, and from where, since I couldn’t keep it straight. Then I noticed that not only was I spending a ton of money on fabric (not even expensive fabric!), I wasn’t making the planned garments as fast as I was planning.

And really…. I don’t *need* any more clothing. Well, I always need pants. I can’t seem to find pants I like, #memade or store bought. But I have plenty of shirts and sweaters and skirts and things. So anything I make now is just for fun, “frosting,” if you will. Of course, this is why I sew, because it’s fun, but this past year, I was really trying to focus on things I need to have a more complete #memade wardrobe. I don’t think I’ll ever achieve a 100% #memade wardrobe but it is SUCH a satisfying feeling on the days it does happen.

That being said… I have several trips in the first half of 2020, which means sewing for them. Doesn’t everyone do vacation sewing?! First up – a girls’ trip to Disney World; then a trip to Costa Rica with my husband’s family; then a trip to Germany with my mom and aunt in August. Naturally I have sewing plans for each of them! A glitter vinyl crossbody bag, a Spaceship Earth-inspired tunic, and a Maleficent skirt for Disney World; a shirt and skirt for Costa Rica (from some of the fabric I bought in West Virginia); and most likely pants for Germany. I’m not making any plans for that trip for a while, though!

So circling back to my goals – finishing up these projects are definitely Champagne goals! Thank goodness for some long weekends in January and February to crank out some easy projects. Of course, there are many more goals on my list for this year, but I feel like setting them out this way, with things I enjoy as the rewards, will make it much more fun. Have you made goals, set resolutions, or ignored the whole “new year” thing?