Do you know about Me Made May? If you're a sewing blog reader then of course you do. If you read the Guardian online then you probably do too. It's an individual challenge to use, wear and appreciate those things that you've made for yourself. Here's So Zo What Do You Know with the official introduction and the 650+ commenters who signed up properly.
I thought I'd make the effort to wear something I'd made every day and take notes of what gets worn, what doesn't and how not to create crap filler in my wardrobe. The idea of a photo each day didn't happen as the combination of bad light, bad hair days and bad or non existent photographers was all too much. Also, does the world need to know that I sometimes wear the exact same outfit two days in a row?! Some days I'd feel smashing only to see the phone photo and come plummeting back to earth. And that was not the idea at all!
So, on June 1st with the kids at kindy/school for the morning I put on everything I could recall wearing and took some photos for posterity...
1: SBCC Tonic2 in merino - got the sleeve length right on this one. great little winter top and it's brown, what can I say.
2: Lisette Continental skirt. Fabric is a DKNY cotton/linen tweed. Love this. Have fabric for another, must get around to making it.
3: Passport/Diplomat knit dress. Look at that unfortunate pattern placement! Aaargh. Still it's so easy to wear, and, you know, it's brown!
4: Carnaby cape. In this weather I could have just taken a photo of this cape every day for a month! Winter here folks!
5: Diplomat camel/settee dress. With a slip underneath it was OK to wear. Forcing a bit of rotation as this doesn't usually get worn.
2nd row L to R
1: Diplomat dress: A bit big and shapeless perhaps? very easy to wear though with tights and boots and that cape over the top!
2: Lisette Passport jacket: for warmer days when my forearms can bare to be exposed but not so warm I'd be inclined to take it off. The insides are horrid!
3: Girl Friday culottes. Some fit issues on my first ever pair of pants but they saw me through summer. Unblogged as my very elaborate blog post has never been finished...
4: Neptune tee: Not great but a black t-shirt is always useful
3rd row L to R
1: Thread Theory Lazo trousers: Pattern test - pattern yet to be released. Feel great to wear, hard to get a flattering photo so perhaps they actually do look awful. Need to work out pants fitting. Or just "work out" right?!
2: Woodland Stroll cape. When it's not a Carnaby cape day it's a Woodland Stroll cape day.
3: Japanese blouse. It's OK....
4: Modified Bento T: so comfortable and easy to wear.
5: SBCC Tonic2 modified to skivvy, merino. Perfect base layer. Sleeves a touch short on this one.
4th row L to R
1: Camas blouse. Bit big but slightly fancier than a t-shirt, so useful in it's own way.
2: Metro t-shirt with keyhole modification. LOVE this top. it's beautiful merino fleece, so warm, thick enough to hide bumps when worn and the sleeves are delightfully long!
3: SBCC Tonic2: Meant to be the same as the green one in the row above. Who sucks at laundry??? I do. Was worn during the month, washed many times until this last wash when it SHRUNK! the end for you little top!
4: Metro T-shirt in thick, snuggly cotton knit. Extreme snuggly comfort. LOVE this one too. the perfect long sleeve T-shirt pattern for me.
5: Coco. What can I say? Pattern kind of sucks, fabric is superb, very snuggly and comfy to wear with tights and boots.
So what did I learn?
I have a pretty darn conservative color palette, but I'm cool with that. You won't see me wearing pineapples (not that there's anything wrong with that!), so I have to remember not to get caught up with buying fabric that I'd never wear.
Tried and true t-shirt pattern are awesome. More Liesl and Co Metro T-shirts in my future. I'd like to lengthen one to a better fitting A -line knit dress.
Pants are hard. I have many pairs of pants that would fit me if only I got back to being a reasonable (for me) size. Maybe I need a month of exercising for every hour I spend sewing...
Obviously there are summery things I've made and liked that didn't get worn due to the weather. But there are some things that should have had their turn in this rotation and didn't. Either due to high maintenance fabric (if anyone can iron my Lotta skirt to make it presentable I'd love to know how) or just not being my style. Time perhaps to purge the wardrobe of some more things....
I really enjoyed seeing everyone else's daily photos. Including their use of "props", some of which indicated the day of the month and others just indicating they're cool with life (Inder!). Maybe next time I'll play along more socially, or perhaps we need a southern hemisphere summer version of Me Made Month.
Back to regular transmission soon with more kid's sewing and I'm working on an Oliver + S modification that I think will be great.... Stay tuned!
Hahahahaha!!! Cool with life! Yup! I'm pretty cool with life, at least once I've cracked open a cold, refreshing, super bitter IPA. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYour choices look cozy and warm and wearable! Don't start exercising (I mean, unless you want to!), I think you should instead spend that time more productively learning how to fit trousers. And perhaps I'll join you in that. Haha. I like your muted color palette. I am drawn to darker fabrics and colors generally, but especially in cold weather. Things lighten up if not brighten up in my summer wardrobe. But you can never ever have too much dark green in my book. :)
Dark green is good! I have some dark teal green ponte to make a winter version of the Skippy dress that I need to get onto one day soon.
DeleteI loved your MMMay photos. Not just the beer but the real backgrounds with life, toys, ironing and weeds all getting a look in. You really raised the middle finger to the sham perfection of social media users and for that I salute you!!
I really enjoy exercising and I've recently gotten back into weight training which I haven't done for over a decade (ever since I took up cycling more). problem is I can get strong by training (fun) but to get lean I need to eat less (boo sucks). We'll see what happens...
I can just imagine you doing a month in one morning photo shoot! When you put it all together, it must make you feel smug to have created so many fantastic things. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThose Lazo trousers caught my eye straight away and they certainly don't look awful. They are very flattering.
I may be able to participate next year in MMM if I get some more sewing done for me. I have a list which I am working my way through....
It's so much easier to do anything when you have the house to yourself, right?! I don't know what I'd be wearing if I hadn't made myself any clothes. I guess I would have had to go shopping by now! :)
DeleteThe Lazo trousers hold a lot of promise if I can tweak the fit. There's a bit too much fabric in the front crotch (and I don't have anything there to fill the "ball room") so they tend to puff out and then look drawn across the thigh. Coupled with the narrowing leg it gives me an even more hip and thigh highlight than I have with my own natural "assets"
I usually gravitate towards a wider straight leg trouser to try and disguise my big upper thighs, but I do think I'll give these another go when the pattern is released.
Oh a month in 1 morning, you are amazing. Interesting reading your comments, you are very happy with your t-shirts (except for the laundry mishap) and your cape certainly earned its keep this month and will for the next 2 at least.
ReplyDeleteOh pants, they are the bane of all our lives, one day I will get there and so will you and sorry to say but we need to sew for the bodies we have, trying to work out to get back there is so hard, keeping fit is good but that doesn't really help with pants.
You're very right about pants being tricky. I was always a difficult shape to find shop bought pants to fit. I needed a much smaller waist than hip or I'd have room to carry a watermelon around tucked into the back waistband! I guess it should be even more rewarding to sew them if I can be bothered fiddling enough to get the fit right.
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