Thoughts on Me Made May

So, Me Made May is over for another year. Did you take part? Or did you just browse the #memademay2019 on Instagram and find lots and lots of inspiration?

Me Made May is my favourite challenge of the year as it has been the one which has really helped me tailor what I make to my actual lifestyle, rather than the one I’d like to have! Because I basically wear Me Made items every day now anyway, I wanted to take part but to tailor my pledge a little differently.

I decided that what I really needed to focus on this year is my shopping habits. I have more fabric than you could get through in a year and yet I keep buying more. And so, I pledged to not buy fabric or patterns for myself for the whole month.

And it was tough. Especially since there were SO MANY Me Made May offers floating about online! But I almost made it.

Why did I cave? Because I had determined that I needed a rash vest for our upcoming Florida holiday and wasn’t prepared to pay the RTW prices. I’d been doing some research and when Funki Fabrics announced a bank holiday sale at 25% off, I went for it. No regrets; this was targetted purchasing saving a reasonable amount of money which actually paid for the pattern I needed to make the specific garment. Bonus points because the pattern I picked is from Jalie and includes sizes for me and the girls which can’t be a bad thing.

And what I discovered in my month of shopping my stash was that I really enjoyed it. I have some really beautiful fabrics in my stash and they are doing no one any good sitting there, neatly folded, waiting for the next project.

Shocker, right?

I made up 9 garments this month (including one which is sitting in the naughty corner, thinking about its behaviour), removing around 15 metres of fabric from the stash and I feel really good about it. So now I just have to try and remember that next time beautiful fabric images appear on Instagram. I think for me the guilt is removed if the purchase is for something specific which I plan to make in the next month or so and which I don’t have the right fabric for already. Let’s see how that one goes!

As usual, I also joined in the photo a day challenge on Instagram and have included a new highlight section with all my outfits for the month. It’s really interesting looking at what I actually wear day to day and, unexpectedly, it’s provided me with some focus for my makes (there’s me thinking I had nothing to learn!)

So what did I wear? Well, allowing for the fact that the May weather has been pretty disappointing here, I wore a lot of blue, a lot of dunagrees, and a lot of Stellan tees!

See? Days 1 to 4 involved blue, stripes and pinafores! It saw the first appearance of the month of my Lander pants, which have been a surprise success for me. And it saw my Mila dungarees popping up, which was definitely a theme.

Days 5 to 8 involved 2 different pairs of Milas, the Lander pants again and a variety of jersey tops. At this point I was trying to find things to wear that weren’t Tilly and the Buttons patterns, because I was starting to feel like a stalker!

Part way through the next four days, I started getting migraines. I had 8 days of migraine in May, so there’s a certain amount of dressing for comfort rather than appearance going on. I pulled out an old Emery dress in Liberty print, which I felt fabulous in, so that’s one me made I need to pull into heavier rotation. Other than that, it was largely Milas again, with added Sloane comfort.

Then I started wearing my ever increasing collection of Stellan tees (I made at least three of these this month!). The first, tiger print one is the unaltered pattern length whilst the second had 4cm added to it. I actually like them both now. I also wore my Saraste shirt from the Breaking the Pattern book and, whilst I got lots of lovely comments on Instagram, I think I am going to unpick and remove the ruffles. I felt like I was going to take flight!

The next 4 days included a christening, for which I pulled out the Colette Penny dress which is made up in a Liberty print tana lawn. This dress is an absolute fail safe for me, I always feel pulled together in it. I’m not sure I need many more of this style imminently but I do love this one. And I wore one of my favourite Melilot shirts and instantly remember why I should be making more of these! I also like the way it breaks up my style a little from constant t shirts!

I actually managed to mix up my designers for the next 4 days. The Stevie cat print top is a firm favourite from last year and still feels good now. The next Stellan t is in some gorgeous Sewisfaction jersey and I feel great in it! The bunny print Hoya is a couple of years old now but it definitely still has a spot in my regular wears, I love this style. And then there’s my new Burnsides! LOVE them!

I was fighting a migraine again over the next few days and it was the bank holiday weekend, so no drastic wardrobe decisions were taken! I did remember that the blue and black striped Gable looks better under things than worn on its own; this jersey has a lot less stretch than I was used to and consequently feels rather snug!

The Landers came out again for the last few days and I definitely need to make another pair of these, they are absolute winners for me. I also finished my first pair of Flint pants and again need many more pairs!

The bonus photo above shows my most worn me made of all time, the Kelly anorak! It is still my proudest make and if you’re on the fence about making this, don’t be, just make it!

So, what does all this tell me? Well, it tells me that working from home has made my style more relaxed and, whilst that’s OK, I definitely feel better and actually work better when I feel like I’ve made more of an effort. And that could still be jeans and a tshirt, so long as I’m really happy with the tshirt. And so, 5 bags of clothes from the wardrobes went to the charity shop this week, things that no longer fit properly or get worn and are just cluttering up my house. This included quite a few me mades for the first time: I find it hard to let go of these but I need to be more practical.

As ever, Me Made May has been a fun and inspiring challenge for me. Whether you took part or not, I hope you enjoyed a month of inspiration and were spurred on to try and actually wear the things you make.

Becca x