Category Archives: Me-made May

Me-Made May wrap-up

I thought I’d wrap up Me-Made May with another update of some outfits from the second half of the month. After basically only wearing me-made trousers for the first half of the month, I did make a slight deliberate effort to wear some different silhouettes in the later half. This led to digging out some older makes which made me fall back in love with them a bit, like my Ronja dungarees and a Closet Case Fiona sundress, which I made as a wearable toile and is indeed very wearable. The weather also got nicer which meant I could ditch the RTW knitwear and my new jacket was a late-entry winner.

It’s clear to see I stuck well within the colour stratosphere I defined for myself last update:

I’m really glad to have a palette I know I feel great in – however I do miss prints sometimes and would like to find a way for them to edge back in a bit. I also have a good sense of what I want to make next to keep building on this really nice foundation wardrobe I’ve got going. Here are a few things on my to-sew list:

  1. Another pair of McCall 7445 in powder blue needlecord
  2. A couple of Wiksten midi length shift dresses – a solid and a print?
  3. Another pair of TPC12 in sand/tan denim from Cloth House
  4. Silk/cotton summer tops in blue, lilac and white – I love this vintage New Look pattern

As Zoe says in the MMM kickoff post, “Hopefully, by the end of the month, you will have learnt a whole load about yourself, your style, how you feel about your wardrobe, and how best to spend your clothes-making time going forwards.” and I certainly feel like I have this year.

Me-Made May update

It’s nearly halfway through Me-Made May! I didn’t make a specific pledge but I’m following along sporadically on Instagram and taking it as my usual opportunity to look at my wardrobe and personal style with an analytical eye: What do I really wear? What do I feel my best in? What are gaps that I can fill with a new sewing project?

Well, one obvious answer for a start is I wear 100% me-made trousers…

Week 1: Philippa pants, M7445 pants (twice :D), and Ginger jeans (from 2015!)

Week 2: Trend TPC12, Ninni culottes, Lander pants, Philippa pants

I ‘ve also had one of my big semi-annual wardrobe clear-outs, in particular of my tops which are generally more RTW than me-made. I don’t buy a lot of new clothes or sew as prolifically as I did when I was learning, but things still seem to stack up: generally through items I’ve hung onto for nostalgic reasons or me-mades that didn’t quite work out and I’m on the fence about keeping, altering or recycling.

As I batched my things back onto their matching hangers, it was interesting to see that there are fairly clear groupings around colour theme, both in the hue – I only need five different hanger colours to cover almost all of my tops – and the specific tones within. I started to divide the colours into groups based on frequency in my wardrobe and tangential thoughts about how often I wear each hue and how good I feel when I wear it. I counted up each group and this is what I came up with:

My categories seemed to be:
Neutral: The basics: black, greys and cream/white. Stuff to wear when I don’t feel like deciding what to wear, or as a background to the other colours.
Primary: The colours I wear the most as accents and usually feel great in. I’m pretty sure these are the colours that suit me best and they all happen to work well as crayon-style all-over colour blocks too.
Secondary: A bit of a riff and extension of the primary palette with perhaps slightly quirkier or more fashion-led tones: lilac, chocolate, olive and sky blue.

I then pulled these colours into this little palette, which I think will be a very useful thing to keep pinned to a Pinterest board or even to physically print out and carry with me when I shop for fabric or clothes to guide purchase decisions.

Finally, my friend happened to post this little colour meme on Twitter which I posed on Instagram, and it was interesting and probably non-surprising to see that most of the answers that came through were firmly within the same colour themes: blues, browns and neutrals. Funny!

And, more importantly, all useful info to help me keeping making sure I choose to sew things that have longevity and high likelihood of regular wearing. Is anyone else using Me-Made May as a chance for a bit of wardrobe introspection?

Bye MMM, hello NYC

Wow, it’s the end of me-made May already. It really zipped by – probably because I’ve been working so hard! The good thing is my me-made wardrobe saw me through the late nights, somewhat variable weather, and usual cycling round town. Here are a selection of outfits from the last couple of weeks.

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Jeans and tops, jeans and tops. Clockwise from top-left, a BHL Polly, a new Paprika patterns Onyx top, hand-dyed silk noil zippy top and silk zippy top. Some with Ginger jeans, some with RTW Uniqlo jeans.

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Outings for two pairs of Burda 7017s as a slight variation from the skinny-jeans-and-top silhouette. I actually made a new pair of 7017s during the month, I’ll share them soon.

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Frocks! Old Liberty print zippy dress and a new Plantain hack knit dress (which turned into a bit of a nightmare project as it needed underlining = two layers of differently-stretchy slippy, curly knits = PAIN. But I love this dress soo it was worth it.)

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My brand new cloud-print Ilsley skirt has already seen two outings – definite wardrobe winner.

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AND this self-draft dress saw two wears in varying degrees of weather – another firm favourite that I need to replicate.

Overall my MMM was definitely a success – I really like where my wardrobe is at now and it’s usually extremely easy to get dressed in the morning. I didn’t even get to wear some of my favourite me-mades before the month was out.

Brooklyn Diana

In exciting news, the beginning of June signals that my trip to New York is finally nigh! This was my birthday present from Josh back in January and included a Mood voucher, so more fabric shopping will definitely be happening. I hope to hang out with some NY sewists too! Can’t wait. See you in a week!

Me-Made May Week 5 and reflections

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The home stretch, and back to work with a bump. If what you wear shows your mood, I sure am grey and blue this week. I’m so tired after Ecuador and a tough week of work that I had to cancel all plans for this weekend and have a rest at home instead, boo. I was also slightly running out of both clean clothes and ideas by this point, hence the rather dull and repetitive outfits… here are my last few days of #MMM14:

Me-MadeMay

May 27th
Me-made: Wool jersey raglan
Other: Gap jeans, eBay boots, Datter necklace
Comments: Sad sleepyface. Back to work in the rain with a commute out of town to face first thing definitely called for a faithful cosy top.

Me-MadeMay

May 28th
Me-made: Tulip Scout
Other: Forever21 jeans, Madewell cardigan, ASOS shoes, Ecuador necklace
Comments: If in doubt, wear a Scout! Not much to say about this, easy and comfortable.

Me-Made May

May 29th
Me-made: Rose jeans, Julia cardigan
Other: Gap tee, Next loafers, Ecuador necklace
Comments: Another grey-tee-and-jeans day, and I’ve worn this entire outfit already. Definitely running out of options…

Me-Made May

May 30th
Me-made: Plantain tee
Other: American Apparel skirt, ASOS shoes, Datter necklace
Comments: I so nearly wore jeans-and-a-tee again so decided to mix it up with a very old jersey skirt. Wearing this reminded me how much I like the Plantain pattern; must make more. It also reminded me that I should wear/make more skirts as it immediately looks like you’ve made more of an effort than jeans.

Me-Made May

May 31st
Me-made: True Bias Hudson pants
Other: New Look tee
Comments: These are a brand-new make that I squeezed in during the evenings this week – I’m testing out Kelli‘s soon-to-be-released pattern. Spoiler: I love them! Perfect for a much-needed lazy day at home and wander round Stoke Newington.

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Just for fun, there’s my whole month of outfits! (Less two where I was travelling: I did wear me-mades but I’ll spare the jetlag-face photos.) I’m so glad and proud that I completed my pledge to wear at least one me-made every day. It really demonstrated what I aim for in my sewing: to replace my everyday RTW clothes with high-quality unique handmade versions made to my exact spec. I’m especially pleased at the cohesion I’ve slowly managed to achieve, blending my me-mades with my favourite RTW pieces to make my favourite colour combos and silhouettes. On a whole the month made me confident that I should continue to invest in quality fabrics and construction methods, because those makes are the ones that I feel extra-good wearing.

Of course it also identified plenty of gaps that I need to work on: more knit tops, plain non-jean trousers, a casual light coat/jacket and possibly a casual skirt or two are some additions that spring to mind immediately. I’ve amassed a load of lovely fabrics in my stash recently to make these happen: just need some time to sew!

Finally I must say thank you for your comments as I went along, they were really encouraging and it’s nice to see that the way I feel I dress is reflected on the outside too. The community aspect of MMM has been really great to follow along with. Vive le sewing!

OK, now let’s get back to normal, and I’ll share some of the new finished garments I’ve been wearing but haven’t blogged yet. Might need a quick break from the selfies for a while first though…

Me-Made May Week 4

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Hola! This week’s MMM comes to you from beautiful Quito, Ecuador, where I spent all week on a blogging press trip – in fact, I’m posting this from the airport while waiting for my flight home. Packing for this trip was quite a challenge as I had no idea what the weather would be like at the tail-end of the rainy season. Turned out it was much hotter than I expected, and I did kid of run out of appropriate me-mades – but I stuck with it anyway! Here’s my jet-set week of outfits… the backdrops this week beat my messy bedroom, eh?

Me-Made May

May 19th
Me-made: Elizabeth top
Other: Gap chinos, espadrilles from Tel Aviv
Comments: First day here, exploring Quito’s beautiful old town – it was HOT! I was too warm in these long pants, but the Elizabeth was nice and cool. The crossover front is tucked in a bit awkwardly here as it was breezy up on this vantage point. These pants are on my ‘to copy’ list as I wear them tons in spring/summer and looking at this photo I think they’re quite slimming on the hips (no pleats); I’ve bought the Named Alpi Chinos pattern for this purpose.

Me-Made May

May 20th
Me-made: Feather sleeveless Hemlock
Other: Gap jeans, scarf was a gift.
Comments: Sporting some nice sunburn, care of that heat yesterday. It was a bit cooler today, especially as we took a trip to 4,100m above sea level in a cable car, which was as spectacular as it sounds. This photo is taken on the Panecillo with views over Quito in the valley behind. You can barely see my top; it’s the same one I’m wearing here.

Me-Made May

May 21st
Me-made: Burda 7017 trousers
Other: Cos tee & necklace, vintage shoes
Comments: At the official middle of the earth, with one foot in each hemisphere. My me-mades really are seeing the world! These have gone a bit baggy unfortunately, I might take them in as I love them otherwise.

Me-Made May

May 22nd
Me-made: Self-drafted smock dress
Other: ASOS leggings, Cos necklace
Comments: Had no photographer/guide today so a selfie in my rather nutty trompe l’oeil hotel room. Second outing for this dress; I was too warm in leggings scampering round the new town, but it’s too short without and I felt like wearing it anyway. Check the tan coming along! As you can see by the desk, I bought some edible souvenirs and caught up on blogging today.

Me-Made May

May 23rd
Me-made: Tee dress
Other: Necklace handmade in Salinas
Comments: Today was an epic train ride between the northern towns of Ibarra and Salinas; stunning scenery along the way and Salinas is as pretty as a film set. I actually dressed weather-appropriately for once – it was hot hot hot! I bought the lovely necklace from a shop in Salinas where everything in made in the community.

Me-Made May

May 24th
Me-made: Polka dot jeans
Other: Topshop tee, Salinas necklace
Comments: Run out of warm-weather me-mades in my suitcase and was far too hot in these jeans. I would have preferred to wear some RTW shorts, but I couldn’t fail the MMM challenge at such a late date. The spray from the beautiful Peguche waterfall behind me cooled me off a bit! We also visited the amazing Otavalo market.

Me-Made May

May 25th
Me-made: Franken-Anna
Comments: Last morning in Ecuador :( Just time for breakfast and a quick walk in the sun to say goodbye to this beautiful country. I changed into some sweats and a me-made grey raglan tee for the journey home.

I’m really pleased I was able to keep up with Me-Made May while away, even though I did have to adapt what I’d be most comfortable in at times – wish I’d brought more me-made shorts and t-shirts. Just a few days of MMM left now! If you’re interested in what else I got up to in Quito I’ll be writing about it all on my other blog – and I also have a fabric shopping post for here…

Me-Made May Week 3

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Hi! My #MMM roundup is a day early this week as I’m flying to Quito, Ecuador, in the middle of the night tonight (on a press trip for my other blog)! I hope to keep up with #MMM while I’m out there, though I have no idea what the weather will be like – it’s at the end of their rainy season with temperatures hovering at 17-19C, so quite similar to home I’m assuming. I’ve packed everything from shorts to a raincoat, so hope I manage to keep up.

This week has been a bit mad with work and evenings out as well as gearing up for my trip, and I feel like it came through a bit in my outfit choices: they don’t seem as cohesive as in previous weeks. I was feeling in need of some breathing space today so cancelled all my plans, even including the epic #NYLon sewing meetup (so you know it’s SERIOUS). I’ve managed to do a bit of sewing as well as packing and tying up some loose ends so it’s been nice despite the feeling of FOMO.

Anyway, here’s what I wore last week…

Me-Made May '14

May 12th
Me-made: Stag Belladone
Other: Primark tights, ASOS shoes, forever21 cardigan
Comments: This frock hasn’t seen many outings; it’s really a summer dress but I wore it even though it was bucketing with rain. I dressed down the rather outlandish print with a cardi and dark tights. Still I felt like people were looking at me more than usual – especially children when I walked past a primary school! – but that might have been in my head. I felt good in it anyway and hope I can keep it in rotation after MMM. The main reason I wore it is we threw a surprise Spoolettes ‘hen do’ for Roisin, so we were all wearing our Dolly Clackett-inspired finest in her honour. Super fun night, though a bit too much booze for a Monday!

Me-Made May '14

May 13th
Me-made: Lace Coco
Other: Gap jeans, Primark boots
Comments: Feeling a bit delicate after last night, so an easy, comfy outfit.

Me-Made May

May 14th
Me-made: Rose jeans, Julia Cardigan
Other: Gap tee, Dorothy Perkins necklace, Next loafers
Comments: Thank gawd I made a lot of jeans, they’re keeping me afloat in MMM. Actually saw some sun today, but it was another 7am start so quite a boring outfit.

Me-Made May

May 15th
Me-made: Vintage Roses dress
Other: ASOS shoes
Comments: Finally the rain has buggered off and it’s got warmer here – though I confess I chickened out and put on some tights on those pasty legs after taking this photo just in case in turned again. I was at work, and in the evening went for a fancy dinner with Josh – good comfy yet smart frock to take me through the day.

Me-Made May

May 16th
Me-made: Knit skirt (unblogged, self-drafted)
Other: BDG tee, very old sandals, Cos necklace
Comments: Still sunny = bare legs out for real this time. This skirt is just a quarter circle with elastic waistband, made from a Rolls n Rems remnant. It looks weirdly similar to a skirt Andrea made recently! Quick and cheap win, must make more of them.

Me-Made May

May 17th
Me-made: Burda 07/2011 pants
Other: forever21 tee
Comments: Sulking that I’m missing #NyLon, but packing for Ecuador and doing lifeadmin at home in a slobby outfit. I’ve got another comfy me-made outfit picked out for the long plane ride tomorrow but not sure I’ll get a chance to photograph it. See you on the other side! I’m off to Google to fabric shop situation in Quito…