It’s the 1st of June today so that is the end of My Me-Made-May 2020. It felt a bit weird this morning that I could freely choose something from my closet to wear. Unlike the last 30 days when I had to choose something from the wardrobe capsules I composed for this Me-Made-May 2020.
So this weird month—I call it the one-and-a-half meter month— is over. That means I finished my third wardrobe capsule of this year. Read below how it went!
My third capsule: ‘Everything goes!’
Oops! I did it again! I managed to dress 10 days with 10 different outfits using 10 garments from the ‘Everything goes!’ capsule.
I documented my outfit every day with a photo on Instagram. Below you see them with Day 1 in the right bottom corner.
10 ‘Everything goes!’ outfits
How did I feel about the ‘Everything goes!” capsule?
I enjoyed this capsule! I had no problem finding pairings and I felt good with every outfit. The fact that it was 100% me-made capsule brought me even more joy! Also, because there were two one-pieces in this capsule the outfit choices didn’t become tedious like with the previous capsule.
New combinations?
Except for the days that I only wore my dress or my jumpsuit, all the other outfits were new combinations. How am I so sure about that? In hindsight, I think it’s because I mostly paired an older garment with a newer sewed garment.
Top sewed in 2016 paired with the mashup skirt from 2019.
My Me-Made-May 2020 Wrap
Just like last year, I loved my approach to Me-Made-May. As I wear me-made clothes for 99% of the time I need a bit of a challenge for this month. So creating 3 wardrobe capsules with my me-made clothes turns it into the right challenge for me.
I’m satisfied with how it went. And I’m even excited about the bonuses the challenge brought. * The discovery of new, and for me good, pairings. 26 days of 30 I wore a never worn before combination and I loved it. * A renewed love for garments I lost interest in. I think especially of the woolen cache-coeur and the Kabuki Tees.
New Love!
I also learned a bit more about putting together a capsule. It is important to differentiate the type of garments. Like in the second capsule I didn’t include a one-piece (a dress or a jumpsuit) and that makes the possible combinations less exciting.
The it garment: the Venus robe
When I was selecting the pieces for the third capsule I needed a layering top. I have some self-made cardigans but they are too warm to wear them in May. That’s when my eye caught the Venus robe again. It had already been in both previous capsules and I thought it would be fun to make it a part of every capsule.
Venus Robe x6
Conclusion
Although we are living in these weird corona times now I loved Me-Made-May 2020. Creating three new wardrobe capsules and trying out all these new outfits made me happy. So happy that I’m now absolutely convinced I will do it again next year. Come and see me in Me-Made-May 2021!
2/3rd of May is finished! This means 2/3 of my wardrobe capsules for My Me-Made-May 2020 are done. Just like last year, I created three wardrobe capsules for me-made-may. Below you can read how it went with my second wardrobe capsule and how my third capsule looks.
My second capsule “Blue & Brown”: it worked!
Yes! I managed to dress 10 days with 10 different outfits using 10 garments. In fact, it wasn’t difficult at all because I had plenty of combination choices. More about this later.
I documented nine outfits with a post on Instagram. Click on the links of the days. Below you see my overview starting with day 1 in the right bottom corner.
How did I feel about the “Blue & Brown” capsule?
Well, I have some mixed feelings about this capsule. First, I am enthusiastic about the mix of the two colours. Like I said when I composed this capsule I don’t naturally gravitate to blue but I was surprised how good the blue garments were combinable with the brownish. Also, the “dress like a crayon” blue outfit pleased me a lot!
Dress like a crayon 💙
Secondly however, I am not so thrilled about the capsule an-sich. More specific about the type of garments I selected. Although there are no strict rules on how you compose your capsule I experienced now that selecting only tops and bottoms makes it less exciting. The putting together of my capsule is always a quick job. I select some candidates of garments around a theme and make up some possible combinations in my head. Then, when I reach 10 I go for it. Being in the daily flow of this Blue & Brown capsule with 3 skirts and 7 tops it became a little dull. Because it was not really a challenge to make new looks and I felt like I had to repeat ( 5x the faux wrap skirt!) some items a lot! A good lesson for my next capsule: select at least 1 one-piece (dress or jumpsuit).
New combinations?
All these outfits are new combinations! I’ve never worn them before. How am I so certain about that? Because most of these garments have some kind “I am a poor lonesome cowboy”-status in my wardrobe. I did wear them in the past but always in other fixed combinations. So, bringing together “two lonesome cowboys” is absolutely the win of this Blue & Brown capsule. My favourite is wearing the Venus Robe as a top!
My third capsule: Everything goes!
For the third capsule of My Me-Made-May 2020, I made up two rules. 1. It has to be 100% me-made. 2. As I have my lesson learned, it has to contain at least 1 dress or jumpsuit.
For the top layer, I selected the Venus Robe (n° 2). I thought that was fun that this garment was part of every capsule for this year’s me-made-may.
Bonus
Again, I give myself permission to change any of these garments with a freshly new made one within the next 10 days! Unfortunately, I didn’t manage sewing something new during the last capsule but maybe now…
On the first day of my ‘Everything goes’ capsule, I wear my fresh-off-the-machine Sloppy Josephine Tee with one of my oldest A-line skirts.
In these weird corona times, it seems like time crawls and sprints at the same time. It feels like Me-Made-May 2020 only started and yet, I’ve already finished my first wardrobe capsule for this year! This means I’ve worn 10 different outfits created out of the 10 items I chose to fill my ‘A little orange 🍑’ capsule. Below, below you can read how it went and how my second wardrobe capsule for Me-Made-May 2020 will look.
A glimpse of my second wardrobe capsule for Me-Made-May 2020
Did I succeed in my ‘A little orange 🍑’ capsule?
I did! I managed to dress 10 days with 10 different outfits using 10 garments.
I documented my outfit every day with a photo on Instagram. Below you see them with Day 1 in the right bottom corner.
Nine ‘A little orange 🍑’ outfits
How did I feel about it?
It took me some time to get used to this capsule. Why? I see two reasons: 1) This is the 4th capsule I created so I had to dig deep into my closet to find 10 pieces that I could coordinate around a ‘not-used-before’ theme. Although I did a quick check when I selected the garments I didn’t feel very confident I could make it work for 10 days. 2) The month started with some cooler days (the weather in Belgium is fickle). So, on these days I had to wear several layers to keep myself warm. This meant wearing the soft pinkish-orangish cache-coeur with which I have a love-hate relationship. But due to the many compliments I received, it grew on me and I even selected it 3 times.
After a few days, I got really enthusiastic about this capsule and in my head, I was preparing a lot of combinations to wear. A thing that helps is that you put your selected garments on a separate clothing rail so that, in the morning, you see all your options in a blink of the eye.
The selected items for the ‘A little orange 🍑’ wardrobe capsule
New combinations?
Except for the 2 days I wore my one-pieces (dress or jumpsuit), all the other combinations were new for me. Really, I never wore them together before. So this whole wardrobe capsule exercise sets indeed a new eye on your wardrobe. Mission accomplished!
A new favourite combination: cachecoeur and pleather Hollyburn skirt.
My second capsule: Blue & Brown
For my second capsule of this year’s Me-Made-May, I selected 10 items within the ‘Blue & Brown’ theme. Brown is a colour I prefer but blue not so much so I’m a bit excited about the outcome. As I am the ‘master’ of my wardrobe capsule, in other words, I make the rules 😉 I selected the Venus kimono (n° 1) again. This time for its brown colour.
This capsule is 90% me-made. The short-sleeve blue top (n° 2) is the only rtw garment. But I hope to replace it with a new-made one!
Blue & Brown
Joker!
I’m allowed to replace one of the selected garments with a newly made garment during this period. I may have some sewing-time in the next ten days!
On the first day of the Blue & Brown capsule, I wore my Seamwork Astoria Top with the blue faux wrap skirt from Knipmode.
Even in corona times, a new month starts. So it’s the beginning of May and that means that the sewing community is celebrating one of it’s finest challenges: Me-Made-May. It’s the 11th edition this year and I’m happy that Zoe, the founder and hostess, decided to go through with it even if the world is upside-down at the moment. You can read what she means by a “Gentle-Me-Made-May” on her blog!
My Me-Made-May history
This is my fifth Me-Made-May (hurray!). Why do I love participating? * I enjoy wearing and sharing my makes! * I love seeing what all of you in this sewing community has been making.
Back in 2016, when I didn’t have this blog yet, I documented my MMMay16 only on IG. But from 2017 onwards you can read all about my MMMay17, MMMay18, and MMMay19 on this blog.
As I already wear at least one me-made garment every day I decided to level up my pledge last year. So, I created three wardrobe capsules to wear during May 2019. And I could only select garments out of these capsules. I loved this so much last year so I decided to give it another shot this year.
My Me-Made-May 2020 pledge
I, Wis from www.whatisew.be and @wis_g, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May 2020. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2020. I do not pick random garments each morning but I select garments out of wardrobe capsules I create especially for this May 2020.
What is a wardrobe capsule?
The Me-Made-May wardrobe capsule I use is based on the 10 x 10 style challenge from Lee Vosburgh from StyleBee. “The concept is essentially a mini capsule closet of 10 items that you work with for 10 days, creating new looks and styling your clothes in ways you might not otherwise try.”
The rules are simple:
10 pieces
10 outfits
10 days
Create 10 outfits with the 10 pieces you selected to wear the next 10 days. Just what I need to take my Me-Made-May 2020 challenge to the next level. I’m going to create three consecutive capsules with outfits to wear between 2-11May, 12-21 May, and 22-31 May. More, these capsules will be different than those from last year. Will I succeed?
My first capsule: A little orange 🍑
A “little” orange 🍑
I browsed through my closet and came out with 10 garments that could fill my ‘A little orange’ capsule. As I am the master of these capsules I can interpret ‘orange’ however I want! For the next 10 days, there aren’t that many parameters I had to think about as I am working from home. Only the weather is a little unpredictable so some warmer layers should be selected. This capsule is 80% me-made. There are two (very old) rtw tops. This no surprise for me because (solid) tops are the big gap in my self-made wardrobe.
On the first day of my ‘A little Orange’ capsule, I wear my Moneta dress and the two rtw tops to keep warm on this chilly day.
Hello, my lovely readers, I’m very thrilled to show you my border print jumpsuit.
Technically, I sewed it before the Zadie Jumpsuit but I could only reveal it to you now. This border print jumpsuit is my first contribution for the Minerva Maker Blog and it went online today.
This gorgeous border print viscose jersey was sent to me free from Minerva Crafts, in exchange for a blog post. So head over to the Minerva blog and read all about the fabric, the pattern I used, the sewing process, and more photos.
It’s the first of June today so Me-Made-May 2019 is officially finished. If you read my blog regularly then you know that I approached MMMAY19 differently this year: I made three wardrobe capsules with 30 me-made garments.
So at the end of May, it means that not only I did I finish my third wardrobe capsule but I finished my total wardrobe capsule experience. Below, you can read how it went.
Spoiler: I loved it!
My third capsule: ‘Everything goes’
The only parameter for the ‘Everything goes’ capsule was that it had to be me-made. The previous capsules contained also some rtw clothes, so this time I wanted it to be 100% me-made.
I gave myself a bonus: ‘If I would finish a new garment within these 10 days I could change with a previously selected one’.
I documented every outfit with a photo on Instagram. Click on the links of the days. Below you see my overview starting with day 1 in the left upper corner.
How did I feel about the-everything-goes-wardrobe capsule?
I must admit that when I selected these 10 garments that I was a bit skeptical that I would manage to make 10 different combinations. But I did! More, I am very pleased with the result. Of course, the new skirt— which I wore 3 times—gave me more combinable options than the Snowball high neck dress.
A second reason why it went so well is that 5 of the 10 garments were solids. That really expands the possible combinations.
New combinations?
Again there were a lot! I think it had been a year since I wore the Seafarer top and the Julia Sweater. So all these pairings were new and I renewed my love for both tops. I will definitely grab them more out of my closet in the future.
Me-Made-May 2019 Wrap
I told you already I so loved my approach to Me-Made-May this year. Not only did I wear at least one me-made garment each day of May but these all belonged to one of the three wardrobe capsules I created. Creating wardrobe capsules was new for me and I followed the guidelines of the 10 x 10 style challenge. I recommend these if you thinking about creating one for yourself.
I’m particularly proud that I was able to dress fit for all the occasions of life for 30 days and I never changed outfits during the day. There were even 4 flights last month.
Another benefit is that I discovered several new combinations I could make with my garments.
Very difficult to choose but here is my Top9 for Me-Made-May 2019. Three from every wardrobe capsule.
Conclusion
I’m a happy sewist who has a fond memory of Me-Made-May 2019!
It’s the 22nd of May and that means the start of my third wardrobe capsule for this year’s Me-Made-May. For MMMay19 I created three wardrobe capsules following the guidelines of the 10 x 10 style challenge.
Starting a new one also means I finished my second wardrobe capsule. You can read below how it went and how my third wardrobe capsule looks.
I did it again!
Yes! I managed to dress 10 days with 10 different outfits using 10 garments. I called it my ‘Something Red’ capsule and I interpreted red with major liberty!
I documented every outfit with a photo on Instagram. Below you see a capture of my grid and I love the ‘Something Red’ vibe it radiates. My overview starts with Day 1 in the right-under corner.
How did I feel about the red wardrobe capsule?
First of all, I’m not particularly fond of the colour red. It’s not a colour that I gravitate to. So I’m rather proud of myself that I could make this work and enjoyed doing it. I managed to dress with something red 10 days in a row and my dressing was fit for all the occasions of my life. Teaching, dinner with friends, lazy day, school meeting… Even the chilly weather could be attacked by wearing red tights and my cardigan. By the way, this red cardigan is the winner of this capsule. I wore it 3 times!
New combinations?
There were several! The African Wax Brooklyn skirt paired with the colour blocked Seafarer top is absolutely a winner. I also enjoyed the pairing of the same skirt with the red striped Ali sweatshirt. I’m sure I will wear these combos again!
My third capsule: Everything goes!
For my third capsule, I wanted it to be 100% me-made. So I couldn’t work around one colour, although blue seems to be a little dominant. I call it the ‘Everything goes with everything’ capsule.
Bonus: I give myself permission to change any of these garments with a freshly new made one within the next 10 days!
On the first day of my ‘Everything goes’ capsule, I wear my monochrome Seafarer top with my blue Faux wrap skirt. Who says you can’t combine black and blue?
It’s the 12th of May today, which means that I finished my first 10 x 10 style challenge for Me-Made-May 2019. You remember that for this years Me-Made-May I levelled up my pledge a little. Instead of picking a random me-made garment every morning, I created three wardrobe capsules.
Below, you can read how it went and how my second wardrobe capsule looks.
Did I succeed in my first wardrobe capsule?
I did! I managed to dress 10 days in 10 outfits that were combinations of the 10 items I selected for my Green & Black capsule.
I documented my outfit every day with a photo on Instagram. This is a capture of my grid so Day 1 is in the right under corner.
How did I feel about it?
First of all, I am a little proud of myself that I made it and at the end of the ride I enjoyed it. There was some unusual chilly weather some days and that annoyed me a little. Without my pledge, I would have worn something else these days. Here the black V-neck pullover came to the rescue. I wore this and the black T-shirt for three days. So that makes them the winners of this capsule.
My striped Nanöo top was only combinable with the grey skirt so that makes it not a very good capsule member.
New combinations?
Although I’ve worn the greenish box pleat skirt a zillion times before, I’ve never combined it with black tops before. I’m sure I will wear this combo again.
This challenge also brought back my love for the grey Seamwork Brooklyn skirt made out of a curtain sample. The combo with the very old RTW rib cord turtleneck is also new and a winner.
My second capsule: Something red 💃🏻💃🏻
So it is time to compose my second capsule. I dug in my closet once more and although it is evident to select separates—as they are easier to mix and match—I selected three dresses. It turned out an eclectic selection again, but that is my wardrobe.
Ten garments with something red in it. This capsule is 90% Me-Made. I’m glad I could increase this percentage, the Black & Green capsule was 60%. For the third capsule, I’m going for 100%
It’s the beginning of May and traditionally that is the start of the sewing community festival month! Hurray! This year it’s the TENTH year that the sewing community celebrates the Me-Made-May challenge. Zoe, the founder and hostess, describes it as a way to improve your relationship with your handmade wardrobe. You can read all about it on her blog.
My Me-Made-May history
This is my fourth Me-Made-May that I actively participate in. MMMay16 is only documented on Instagram but you can read about my MMMay17 and MMMay 18 on the blog. To challenge myself I’ve tried to increase my pledge every year. However, last year I found that I’d reached my limit pledge-wise and it didn’t feel as much of a challenge anymore. I wear my me-made clothes every day, sometimes combined with some old RTW’s. I stopped buying clothes—besides underwear, tights, and socks—in May 2015. So that’s why I wanted to level up my pledge a little, make it more challenging.
My Me-Made-May 2019 pledge
I, Wis from www.whatisew.be and @wis_g, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’19. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2019.
I do not pick random garments each morning but I select garments out of the wardrobe capsules I create especially for this May 2019.
What is a wardrobe capsule?
I got this idea of creating three wardrobe capsules for Me-Made-May from Alex from Sewrendipity. Last year she created three wardrobe capsules to wear during May 2018.
So how does it work?
The Me-Made-May wardrobe capsule is based on the 10 x 10 style challenge from Lee Vosburgh from StyleBee. “The concept is essentially a mini capsule closet of 10 items that you work with for 10 days, creating new looks and styling your clothes in ways you might not otherwise try.”
The rules are simple:
10 pieces
10 outfits
10 days
Create 10 outfits with the 10 pieces you selected to wear the next 10 days. Just what I needed to take my Me-Made-May challenge to the next level. I’m going to create three consecutive capsules with outfits to wear between 2-11 May, 12-21 May, and 22-31 May.
My first capsule: Green & Black
So I dug into my closet and came out with 10 garments that could fill my ‘Green & Black’ capsule. I found it not so simple as there are several parameters that I had to think about:
the chilly weather that is predicted for the next 10 days
two short flights
several teaching days
a long weekend at our holiday house
Nine garments are green(ish)/black(ish). I allowed my jeans jacket in this capsule because I find jeans neutral and handy for travelling and for chilly days. The capsule is 60% Me-Made. I’m a bit disappointed by this number but I know that I lack in self-made tops. I will try to increase my Me-Made percentage in the next capsules!
On the first day of my Green & Black capsule, I wear my Nanöo top and Seamwork Brooklyn skirt. 100% Me-Made!
Hello, my dear blog readers! I’m very thrilled today because exactly two years ago I published my first blog post. Though I don’t post as regularly as I want I still love blogging about my sewing encounters. To celebrate this second birthday I’m throwing a Q&A-party. So, here they come, the answers to your questions.
What’s your favourite thing you ever sewed? from Chloe What’s your favourite garment you’ve ever made and why? from Jane
Chloe’s question popped up first. Pff! That’s an easy one, I thought. Then Jane made an addition to the question and that made me do some serious reflection. At first, I thought about my recent makes but then I realized they will come up in my Top 5 Hits 2018 that I will publish shortly. So, I had to look further and delving into my archives I found not one but two favourite garments that reached the “special” status.
#1 The Brooklyn skirt from Seamwork in African Wax
Why is this skirt one of my favourite garments? I sewed this skirt in August 2016 and it was the first time I sewed with Africa Wax. I love this type of fabric so much. To fit the front pattern piece—the skirt is a half-circle skirt with a generous front box pleat—on the fabric I had to sew together two panels. I succeeded in an impeccable pattern matching. The all-around pattern matching of this skirt is the best I ever did. I put inseam pockets in it. I wore it already a zillion times and it hasn’t lost its fit and its elegance.
Impeccable pattern matching!
#2 The Vogue DKNY V1235 Dress for my daughter
I sewed it in May 2017 and it was my number one that year. Why? I’ll repeat what I wrote about it last year: “I sewed this dress for my daughter to attend the wedding of her best friend. I worked very hard on this dress: I made two muslins for it and executed my first FBA—that still sounds like a medical procedure ;). It was also the first time I sewed with border fabric. I love how the placing of the border I had in my head came out. My daughter received a lot of compliments on the dress and she loves wearing it. This makes me sew happy!”
Where do you get your fabric? from Kim
Standing in front of the Mahlia Kent store in Paris. I’m wearing my African Wax print skirt!
I do not have a dedicated fabric shop. My fabric comes from everywhere! There are some brick fabric shops in my hometown Ghent that I go to sometimes. They cover the range from established values (Artevelde, Au Pluba) to new shops (Stoffenkamer). I also buy fabric online. Girl Charlee UK is my favourite for knit fabric. The thing I love the most about fabric shopping is searching for fabric shops or markets whenever I am in a foreign city. So far I bought fabric at Goldhawk rd (London), Mahlia Kent (Paris), Montmartre region (Paris), Kantje Boord (Amsterdam), Neuköllner Stoff (Berlin),… But if you read some of my blog posts before you’ll know that my favourite fabric stall is at the market of Castel del Piano, a small Tuscan city. There is this lady who only sells remnants and I already found some real treasures there.
Checking fabric at the market in Castel del Piano
What’s a typical day for you? Do you sew/create most days? from Sarah
I don’t have a typical day and I don’t sew every day. My job as a history teacher at a university college dictates my yearly calendar. The first term of the academic year (September-December) is hard with a lot of courses to prepare and to teach. So there’s barely any time to sew during weekdays. The second term (February-June) is less hard and that leaves some time for sewing during weekdays. But one of the perks of being a teacher is having several breaks throughout the year! Then all my time is sewing time!
Teaching in my me-made clothes
Do you finish one project completely before the next one kicks off!? from Ersan
Aww, this is a tough one because it touches one of my weak points, maybe even the weakest. No, although I want to, I don’t always finish a project before I tackle a new one. Why is that? I don’t really know. The only explanation I have is that I enjoy the thrill of starting a new project. In fact, I love cutting out a new pattern. Sometimes I abandon a project because some urgent sewing with a deadline comes up: gifts, sewing community challenges, pattern testing… The result is that I now have several UFO’s and WIP’s! I don’t even want to count them. I also have some nagging children because some of the WIP’s are garments for them, that I promised them. So, I want to make this one of my goals for 2019: “Finish all (ALL!) of my UFO’s and WIP’s & don’t create new ones!”.
Already cutting out something new when I still have so many projects going!
Does the blog take much of your time and effort? from Eleonora
In fact, it does. It’s not that I don’t know what to say! The main reason for it taking so much effort is that English is not my native language. So, the writing of a post takes a serious amount of time. I’m trying to turn it into a regular routine, like writing every day for about half an hour but until now I’m not very successful at it! Which is why when I actually sit down and write, it takes me awhile. That’s why it ’s one of my goals for 2019: “Write every day for about half an hour for your blog!”. However, although it takes some time and effort, I still love it. Because there are actual people reading and following—say what 213 followers!!!—this blog. Which I continue to be perplexed at. More, it makes my sewing-heart sing when I receive comments and questions.
Sewing or blogging? That’s the question
What’s your favourite sewing technique? from Emma
My favourite sewing technique would be sewing French seams—which strangely are called English seams in Dutch—because they make such a clean and crisp finish! It became even more my favourite sewing technique after I got myself a ¼ inch presser foot. This makes sewing French seams a piece of cake!
So these are the answers to your questions. Thank you for asking and thanks for reading. If you have some more questions put them in the comments and I’ll be glad to answer them. Now, excuse me, because I have some bubbles to drink!
