What I’m Lovin’ in May

Read on to see the short list of what I’ve been lovin’ this month!

1. My Parkside Shorts

What’s not to love about a pair of wide-band-elastic shorts…with pockets?! This pattern is so great I already have fabric picked out for my next pair!

{You can read all about my Parkside Shorts here and browse photos from some of the other testers in this post.}

2. And my Parkside Skirt!

I finally finished the skirt version of the Parkside pattern. It’s lovely. The skirt is so super comfortable. I did make a mistake and accidentally cut double BACK pieces and forgot the front piece. Because of that I had to improvise a little and add a band around the bottom to lengthen it (my mistake cost me 1.5 inches off the bottom).

I recently acquired a huge stash of fabric from someone’s attic. The striped fabric is kind of a thick shirting cotton material. It worked out perfect for the skirt – if it were any lighter I would have tried Caroline’s tutorial for adding a lining.

I love the Parkside pattern because it’s a two-for-one that is perfect: make the shorts for casual weekend attire and sew the skirt up to add to your work week wardrobe. Can’t beat it.

Oh – and: Caroline is hosting a sew-a-long for the pattern this week! I’m excited to try her tutorial to add a double welt pocket to my next pair of shorts.

3. Reading

As proven in this post, I’ve been on a reading kick lately! One of my top picks for all my fellow makers:

I just finished Sea Creatures and it was SO intense! Intense in an emotional way not in a thriller way (those aren’t my kind of reads).

Now I’m reading The Boston Girl.

What are some of your favorite books to read during summer? I’m in need of recommendations!

4. This Key Fob Tutorial from Inside The Hem

Everyone I know is getting these for Christmas. Hope you like ’em!

5. DIY Dopp Kit

This month marks our 4th anniversary! {You can our story in this post}

To celebrate, I made the Hubs a new dopp kit.

He travels a lot and the one I made him last year gets a lot of use. However, the method used involved leaving exposed raw edges on the inside which always drives me crazy (I’m a perfectionist – I can’t help it!). Because of that I’ve been wanting to make him a new one.

I’ve had this tutorial from Purl Soho pinned for a while – the raw interior edges are covered with bias binding which made me feel much better 😉

I steered from the tutorial only to add interior fabric (oh – and my zipper was non-separating). My canvas fabric was not waxed and so didn’t have a lot of shape. I thought the lining may help, but it didn’t add as much sturdiness as I had wanted – next time I’ll try adding some sturdy interfacing.

6. This incredibly quick pillowcase pattern

On our way home from our Boston road trip we stopped at Finch Knitting + Sewing Studio in Virginia where I snagged some really great remnants. I picked up some Cotton + Steel Sprinkle fabric in green and a fun blowfish organic cotton (sooo soft) with the idea of making the Hubs a new pillowcase in mind.

It took me about a month to finally get around to it, but he loves it!

I made the pillowcase one day after work – it took probably less than an hour (I didn’t check the clock). The tutorial is so easy to follow and the method used is so quick.

I may have to add these to my handmade Christmas gift list 😉

7. It’s almost #EtsyCraftParty Time!

Last year’s event was so much fun so we’re back for our 3rd year hosting the party in Columbia! If you’re local, you can get all the details on the event page on Facebook – I’d love to see you there! Even if you can’t make it, you can follow along with all the fun on Instagram and Facebook.