Tag Archives: mmmay17

My Me-Made-May 2020

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!

Me-Made-May 2020

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.

Me-Made-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:

  1. 10 pieces
  2. 10 outfits
  3. 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 2-11 May, 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 🍑

Me-Made-May 2020
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.

Me-Made-May 2020

And, how are you living your Me-Made-May 2020?

My Me-Made-May 2019

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.

Me-Made-May 2019

 

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.

Me-Made-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:

  1. 10 pieces
  2. 10 outfits
  3. 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

 

Me-Made-May 2019

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!

And, how are you living your Me-Made-May 2019?

Me-Made-May ’18—It’s a wrap!

I’ve just finished my third Me-Made-May and I’m feeling happy and a little sad at the same time. Happy because I managed to wear me-mades every single day of May 2018. A little sad because it’s over now and I have to wait another year for a new Me-Made-May!

mmmay18
Standing in front of Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror on day 30 of Me-Made-May ’18.

Me-Made-May ’18: Day 19-Day 31

I already showed my first 18 wears of MMMay’18 before, below you see my 13 last wears (blog post linked where the me-mades have been blogged).

19. Seamwork Oslo Cardigan.
20. Seamwork Brooklyn skirt and  Sew Much Ado Seafarer top; new combo!
21. Maria Denmark Rachel Wrap dress.
22. In the Folds Rushcutter dress.
23. Newlook 6106 skirt with Burda Turtleneck Top; new combo!
24. Zippy top from See Kate Sew with box pleated skirt from Allemaal Rokjes.

25. New!! Vogue 9075 Jumpsuit; will be blogged soon ;).
26. Schnittchenpatterns Chari dress.
27. True Bias Ogden Cami maxi dress.
28. How to do Fashion n°7. Vanlose trousers and top.
29. New!! Seamwork Mesa dress.
30. Skirt from Knipmode with a 15-year-old rtw top; new combo.
31. In the Folds Rushcutter dress #2

The Me-Made-May challenge

Me-Made-May is all about setting a personal challenge regarding your me-mades, you can read all about this on Zoe’s blog. So the big question is: “Did I reach my challenge?”

  • I wore at least one me-made garment every day.
  • I wore every garment only once; so I had no repeats!
  • I wore 12 garments I didn’t wear last May 2017. So I reached my challenge here as I pledged to wear at least 10 garments I didn’t wear last year. I made 3 new garments this month.
  • All my combinations of two garments were different than the previous years.

Was it hard? No, not really. After nearly 5 years of sewing clothes for myself I have a considerable wardrobe to go through each morning and make a selection. Also, a bonus was the nice weather we had here in Belgium because I have a lot of summery clothes.
So it wasn’t hard, although I have to confess that towards the end of the month I would have loved to wear something I already wore this month.

Reflections

First of all, I am proud of myself because I’m able to wear 31 different garments that were self-made and appropriate to the situation, in a row. I didn’t give this feeling a lot of consideration the previous years.
Still, there are some serious gaps in my me-made wardrobe. Where are thou: solid tops? trousers? bras? in-between-seasons coat?  And I sound like a broken record here.
So, I am going to make that my challenge for the coming year: focus on sewing these types of garments.

See you at Me-Made-May 2019!

PS. An enormous thanks to my husband who took all the photos this month. I love you, baby.

Me-Made-May ’18 ◊ I’ve signed up for #MMMay18

It’s the end of April and that means that Me-Made-May ’18 is very near. What is Me-Made-May? It’s a personal challenge to wear and to love your me-made-garments. This year is the ninth edition. If you want to know more about this challenge I suggest listening to the fantastic interview with Zoe, the founder, on the ‘Love to Sew’ podcast. Or read more on Zoe’s blog.

Me-Made-May '18 My Me-Made-May ’18 pledge

I, Wis (from @wis_g and www.whatisew), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’18.

  1. I endeavor to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2018
  2. I will wear every garment only once; so no repeats.
  3. I will wear at least 10 garments I didn’t wear last May 2017.
  4. If I wear a combo of 2 me-mades I will wear a different combination than the previous years.

Me-Made-May '18

My Me-Made-May history

My first became aware of Me-Made-May in 2015. I was reading several sewing blogs and there was some MMMay15 buzz, either in blog posts or in the sidebar widgets. I was intrigued by this and I wondered if I could meet the challenge to wear me-made clothes during a whole month.

In July 2015 I joined Instagram (@wis_g) and made a huge and very inspiring connection with the International Sewing Community. So when Zoe made the announcement on Instagram for MMMay2016 I decided to accept the challenge and make a pledge. More, I made it quite challenging for myself because I endeavored to wear at least one me-made item each day for the duration of May 2016. I had no clue if I could make it but I did. Even more, I was able to wear a different me-made garment for 31 days.

Every day I posted a picture on Instagram.  I know this is not the purpose of Me-Made-May but I wanted to document the challenge for myself. More, this was an opportunity for me to archive my me-mades from earlier years. For this, I use the hashtag #wgsewingXX (where XX refers to the year I sewed the garment; so #wgsewing18 is for all my sewing I do in 2018)

Also, the pictures made it easier to contemplate about my self-made wardrobe and sewing.

These were my observations:

  1. I was able to wear at least one self-made garment every day for 31 days in a row.
  2. No repeats!
  3. While I wore only black clothes in the eighties, I was wearing a lot of colour being 55!
  4. Taking a picture of yourself every day was quite confronting.
  5. My style is very eclectic!
  6. There are only 6 self-made tops.

My Me-Made-May’s from 2016

After my successful first Me-Made-May, I participated again last year in MMMay2017. This time I made the challenge a bit more daring for myself. Not only did I endeavor to wear at least one different me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2017. I would also wear at least 10 garments I didn’t wear during May 2016.

For the second time I succeeded and I enjoyed it enormously. To be able to wear a different self-made garment for 31 days in a row made me happy. On top of that, I was really pleased that half of them were recent makes. Though I must confess that I didn’t wear some of the older makes since May 2016, I was happy with the excuse to wear them again.

For MMMay17 I documented on Instagram and wrote three blog posts about it. (I started this blog in December 2016). Again this made it easier to reflect on my wardrobe and sewing.

These were my observations:

  1. A LOT of prints! I definitely have to sew some solids.
  2. A variety of colours.
  3. No repeats, at all.
  4. An eclectic style.
  5. At that time we had some ‘tropical’ weather in Belgium so I was happy to wear my summer clothes.
  6. Two old rtw-tops. The others I made myself.
  7. Taking a picture of yourself every day is still quite confronting.
  8. I enjoy the challenge to search my wardrobe every day to look for a new me-made!

Wardrobe-wise I made some progress on self-made tops but I’m still lacking some garments in solid colours to combine with all my prints clothes.

MMMay17
My Me-Made-May’s from 2017

Me-Made-May preparations

How do I prepare for Me-Made-May? I don’t! That’s not exactly true but I mean I don’t sew any new garments especially in advance, or even during the month of May. Of course, when I finish something for myself I will probably wear it. This happened three times in MMMay16 and only once in MMMay17.

How do I then prepare? Instead of grabbing the first garment that comes to my mind in the morning I sort of plan my outfit in advance.

  1. I go through my agenda and look if there are some special activities or parties planned. If so then I know already which clothes I am going to wear for them.
  2. How many days do I have to teach or go to school. I try to picture in my head the work appropriate garments I have and that I could wear.
  3. Are there some vacation days? Again, I make a selection for these days.
  4. I check the weather forecast as the weather in Belgium is unpredictable. I am hoping for some sunny days because then I can prepare (in my head) my summer clothes.

Be aware that this planning is not on paper. These are only some thoughts in my head and they are not fixed. It is possible that at the end of May I didn’t wear that skirt that I thought of in the beginning.  After all participating in Me-Made-May is fun and shouldn’t be a stressy business.

I am really looking forward to MMMay2018. I’m definitely aiming to wear a different me-made garment every day. Also, if I wear two pieces I am going to try to make different combinations from the previous years.

See you at MMMay2018!

 

 

MMMay 17 – It’s a wrap!

Me-Made-May’17 is finished! I am happy because I reached my goals: wearing a different me-made garment every day. More, I also pledged to wear at least 10 new me-made’s—sewed between June 2016 and May 2017. I succeeded.
I already wrote about the first half of my MMMay 17. Below, I’ll tell you about the second half and some further general observations.

Me Made May 17
31 May 2017, my husband repaired an old little bench and I am wearing me- made’s.

New garments

MMMay 17 overview

Two Rushcutters — In the Folds  //  Simplicity 1355 // Daphne Day Dress —Sew This Pattern

 

MMMay'17

DKNY Vogue 1349 // Toaster Sweater #2 — Sew House Seven // Nanöo Top and Brooklyn Skirt — Seamwork

Old garments

MMMay'17

New Look 6106 // Seafarer Top — Sew Much Ado and Versatile Wrap Skirt  — Make it perfect // Crepe Dress — Colette
Zippy Top — See Kate Sew and Skirt from Allemaal rokjes // Box Pleat Skirt from Allemaal rokjes // Rachel Wrap Dress — Maria Denmark

Some observations about the second half of MMMay

There are only little changes in my observations in comparison to the first half of MMMay.

  • Still a LOT of prints! I definitely have to sew some solids.
  • A variety of colours.
  • No repeats, at all.
  • An eclectic style.
  • We had some ‘tropical’ weather so I was happy to wear my Summer clothes.
  • Two old rtw-tops. The others I made myself.
  • Taking a picture of yourself every day is quite confronting.
  • I enjoy the challenge to search my wardrobe every day to look for a new me-made!
Conclusion

I enjoyed MMMay’17. I am thrilled that I am able to wear unique me-made clothes 31 days in a row. On top of that, I’m really pleased that half of them are recent makes. Though I must confess that I didn’t wear some of the old makes since last May, I was happy with the excuse to wear them again.

This challenge also makes me reflect on my wardrobe. There are some gaps:
*  tops
*  trousers – I only wore some comfy pants last month
*  garments in solid colours
*  an in-between seasons coat or jacket
*  bra’s

MMMay'17
My Me-Made-May’s from 2017

It was also fun and inspiring to see all the beautiful makes from other sewists on Instagram and on the blogs. Again I met some new amazing and creative people.

I am already looking forward to MMMay 2018!

MMMay 2016
My Me-Made-May’s from 2016.

MMMay 17 – halfway

We are halfway through Me-Made-May’17 so it’s time for some observations. It’s the second year I’m participating, therefore I extended my pledge. Besides wearing one me-made garment every day I also endeavor to wear at least 10 me-made garments I didn’t wear last year. I also want to wear 31 different outfits. Did I succeed so far?

New garments

Me-Made-May '17NO.7 VANLØSE — How to do fashion //  Moneta dress — Colette patterns  //   Brooklyn skirt –Seamwork  //   Walkey dress – – MIY collection

 

Me-Made-May '17

Two hour top (free pattern) — Sew Different  //   Ariadne Tunic  (free pattern) — Tanit-Isis Sews  //   Veloculottes — Sew This Pattern  //   KnipMode skirt

So far I wore 7 new me-made garments thus I am on track. Except for the Moneta dress, these were all sewed last Summer. The Ariadne Tunic is, in fact, an old make but I did not wear it last May.  I sewed it in 2014. The back is perfect but there are some imperfections at the front so I don’t wear it often.

Old garments

Me-Made-May '17

Paula pleat skirt — Maria Denmark  //  Amelia Dress — Green Bee Patterns  //  Hudson Pant — True Bias  //  Sureau dress — Deer&Doe  //   NewLook 6106  //  Julia Sweater — Compagnie M. and Skirt from Allemaal rokjes   //  Odette dress — Blue Gingerdoll

Seven days I wore clothes that I also wore in last year’s me-made-may. I don’t consider that a bad thing. It means they still fit me and that I am happy to wear them.

Some observations
  • A LOT of prints! I definitely have to sew some solids.
  • A variety of colours.
  • No repeats, so far.
  • An eclectic style.
  • All the tops—execpt the Julia Sweater—are old rtw’s.
  • Taking a picture of yourself every day is quite confronting. Also, there were a lot of grey days with bad light. A true damper on the party.
  • I enjoy the challenge to search my wardrobe every day to look for a new me-made!

How is your me-made-may going?

Me-Made-May ’17

Tomorrow starts Me-Made-May ’17. Again an exciting challenge from the sewing community. Zoe, the founder, describes it as follow:
Me-Made-May’17 (#MMMay17 for social media interaction) is a challenge designed to encourage people who sew/knit/crochet/refashion/upcycle garments for themselves to wear and love them more.”

Me-Made-May '17

To sign up you make a pledge that you post in the comment of Zoe’s blog post.

My pledge

 I, Wis from www.whatisew.be and @wis_g, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’17. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2017. I will not repeat any garment. More, I will wear at least 10 garments I didn’t wear last May 2016.

 

Me-Made-May ’16

Last year—mmmay16—I participated for the first time and I enjoyed it tremendously. These were my observations:
1. I was able to wear at least one self-made garment every day.
2. No repeats!
3. Wearing only black clothes in the eighties I am wearing a lot of colour being 55!
4. Taking a picture of yourself every day is quite confronting.
5. My style is very eclectic!
6. There are only 6 self-made tops.

My Me-Made-May’s from 2016

Are you participating?