Me Made May 2018

Hi Guys, this post is all about my Me-Made-May pledge, apologies if you’re here for the photos of my makes as todays post is pretty word heavy!  I love Me-Made-May, it is one of the few challenges in the sewing world that really makes me stop and consider my wardrobe and connect sewing with some of my other values.  I've participated in Me Made May for the last few years and generally my aim is the same, to identify gaps in my wardrobe and think about what I'm making.  However, while this still holds this May, I want to be a bit more mindful about it this year.  The last few years have been pretty hard for me and while I’ve participated in Me-Made-May, my reflection on the experience was limited and that translated into a lack of change in the way I was sewing. 

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my personal style and the way I want to dress.  I think I have a good sense of what I like to wear and what looks good but I don’t always (ever!) consider whether separate items that I’m making will go with other items that I have in my wardrobe.  When I came back from Japan, I was living out of a suitcase for 6 weeks and actually getting dressed and wearing outfits that I liked everyday was really easy because I was selecting from a small curated pool.  However, I did get really bored of my outfits in this time which told me that although I want a coordinated wardrobe, I don’t want one that’s quite that small. 

There are also some conclusions that I’ve come to which feel a bit out of sync with the ‘maker’ idea of Me-Made-May.  There are certain things that I have never been able to create such as work appropriate knitwear and jackets (although this one is mainly laziness on my part).  So I want to take this May to consider my wardrobe and identify which gaps I want to fill myself and which I want to buy some select pieces for. 

As my stress levels were high over the last few years and my sewing time was limited, I attempted to compensate by buying fabric and patterns.  This means that my stash is now huge but also as my buying was so mindless, a lot of it does not work together or with what I want to sew!  I’m hoping that having some clearer ideas of my wardrobe can direct my usage of what I have and also buy more thoughtfully when I need to. 

I wear me made clothes most days anyway but I love the photo documentation of this challenge, I find it so helpful to have a record of what I wore and what worked.  I find myself referring to my Me-Made-May photos so much over the rest of the year.  Therefore part of my pledge is to try taking a decent photo every day, this is something I have never managed and some years have been worse than others!

This year my Me-Made-May pledge is to:

Mindfully wear me-made everyday and document what I am wearing.  By the end of the month I want to have an idea of what items I want to keep, what I want to get rid of and what I want to make or buy to fill any gaps.  I want to consider colours/patterns/styles that will work in these gaps and create a list of makes that will work as a coherent wardrobe.