Me Made May : The Final Round Up

It’s all over and this year’s Me Made May has been a really positive experience. Life is a bit difficult at the moment and the challenge of creating a daily outfit from my me-made wardrobe has been a great distraction!  I managed to wear at least one me-made item every day with minimal repeats and I enjoyed wearing all of them.  I have to confess that I failed on the second part of my pledge which was to try two new patterns during the month but that was largely due to the life being a bit difficult situation!

Here’s what I’ve worn since the last blog post.

Day 22

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 28

Day 29

Day 30

Day 27 was a bit of a cheat because I wore my crazy new, pom-pom embellished Esme dress on the evening of Day 26 but as I had it on past midnight I decided it could count as that day’s outfit and I wanted to make sure it got included!  The fabric was from a vintage fair in Chichester and was allegedly French.  It cost me £10 and although it was a long length it was quite narrow so I only just managed to fit the dress onto it.  It frayed like mad and it has taken several goes with the hoover to pick up all the threads that have spread around the house.  Not sure why I decided on the pom-poms and I don’t know whether they will be a permanent feature – they are only sewn on by hand so easily removed if required.

The Day 30 skirt is a new make from a previously used pattern, Simplicity 2343, which has nice front tucks and pockets and is pretty much a perfect fit straight out of the packet – which is why I like it so much.  The fabric is a lovely unbleached organic cotton which I think I bought from The Village Haberdashery a couple of years ago.

The striped top on Day 28 is also a new make from a Love Sewing magazine pattern (I’m reliably informed by their comment on IG that it was Issue 17). I’d lost the instructions but managed without them.  This top was a rescue from a striped disaster which I won’t go into, suffice to say that it had been thrown into a corner and abandoned.  I managed to cut some of the new pieces from it and had some fabric left over for the rest.

Day 29 was an alteration.  The original sailing-related skirt had in-seam pockets which made my hips look a funny shape so I sewed them up, cut them off and I’m much happier with it.  I made my boss some cushions with this fabric so I wouldn’t sit on his sofa whilst wearing the skirt!

I’ve also been giving some more of my handmade bags an outing.  The knitted ones are all from a pattern I bought from Laughing Hens. It came as a kit (Day 25’s version) and I then made two more.  They are all lined in fabric to prevent them losing their shape once filled with purse, phone, keys etc.  My favourite Anya Bag designed by Zoe, the creator of Me Made May, also made an appearance on Day 26, as did a shopping bag made from a huge piece of charity shop fabric.  I have enough of this to make about ten of these bags but there may be a skirt in due course.  The bag is from a pattern in Selvedge magazine about nine years ago.

All in all I was very happy with the contents of my handmade wardrobe and the challenge did encourage/force me to wear some things that may otherwise have been ignored and they will now be in regular rotation.  I’ve certainly felt more confident about what I’ve worn as the month has gone on.  I may cut back on the stripes for a while – there do seem to be a lot of them – and might step up the florals as I’ve decided I rather like them.

What I do need to do is make more tops – which is why I bought another skirt pattern at the weekend!

A big thank you to the lovely Zoe for creating and continuing to run Me May May.  Long may it continue.