This year was the first time I participated in Me-Made-May and it was a wonderful experience. I'm so thankful to Zoe from SoZoWhatDoYouKnow for coordinating this pledge. My pledge was, "I, Marissa, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May 2019. I endeavor to wear each me-made item in my closet, finish my UFOs, and learn about what I like to sew and actually wear to inform my future makes. This is my first time participating in Me-Made-May and I hope to document my journey!
I did wear each me-made in my closet and even ended up pulling a few of my more wearable toiles to add to the rotation. I had fun mixing and matching these pieces, especially different prints with accessories, although participating in Me-Made-May in future years, when I have even more options to choose from, will be even more fun!
I was unsuccessful at finishing any unfinished projects. Most of my unfinished projects are darker, heavier knits that will get most of their wear in the fall and I'm not feeling all that inspired to complete them at the moment, although I will the autumn, I swear!
I did start and complete a few mending projects I have been meaning to get to, making for a few more wearable items in my closet. Although I have a few additional mending projects to get to, this was a great place to start.
I learned that I prefer to wear earth-toned textiles and that have largely sewn business casual and formal wear up to this point. Most me-made garments in my closet are tops and I have very few warm-weather appropriate pieces. I also learned that if I make a toile I have rarely made the originally intended garment in my fashion fabric, even if I already purchased the fabric for it! I hope to spend the last half of the year working on these pieces as well.
During May I paid a lot of attention to the Refashion Revolution week and even watched The True Cost. I want to be more intentional about what I'm sewing in the future, not just getting swept up in the social aspects of a variety of Instagram challenges however fun those may be. I think I will focus on elevating my craft in the future, making fewer and more high-end pieces. I've already started by being more intentional about connecting with other local seamstresses and planning my future projects with the free Seamwork collection planner.
As you can see I did a fairly good job of documenting what I wore this month through pictures. I enjoyed the process, although I did spend a bit more time getting ready in the morning! There were only five days in the month that I didn't wear at least one me-made garment, one for a sick day and four for camping. I will probably also think about sewing some athletic and athleisure pieces in a future as well.
Did you participate in Me-Made-May this year or a previous year? Would you like to do it in the future? I think I will do it again!
