Me Made May has wrapped up for the year and personally I am calling it a big success. Consciousness was raised!I I really loved participating in it, but more than that I loved sticky-beaking at other peoples wardrobes via the ever wonderful instagram hastags #mmmay15 and #memademay. Totally inspiring - and showing that handmade can easily be everyday.
I wrote about my participation in Me Made May in this post. My pledge was simply to wear handmade everyday; as I wear homemade nearly everyday anyway I didn't think it was going to be any big deal. And really it wasn't. I took it a tiny step further, in that I aimed to wear my whole handmade wardrobe. I didn't quite wear everything as there were a few summer things that weren't weather appropriate but I tried. I didn't have a total repeat until Day 23 - which means that I was right in my post the other day when I talked about the idea of "enough". I'm there*.
The thing was, I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to get out of it. I hoped for some awareness on what I really liked and didn't like in my wardrobe. And then maybe a little more consciousness around what I already had and more specifically, some consciousness around what I had, but didn't like. What I clarified is that over the last 2/3/4 years I have slowly but surely developed a wardrobe I really love. A handmade wardrobe that I wear nearly everyday without thinking about it. That fits my life and makes me feel good.
Day 1 through to Day 9.
That said I also discovered a few other things
1. I have few things I don't like and therefore don't wear. For each the things I don't like there is a very simple fix - I've been being lazy. I'll get to them when I get home in July.
2. I discovered there were some holes in my wardrobe, that became clearer through the wearing.
a. I have a huge jacket sized hole. When I return to Australia the Morris is going to be tackled and won, before my kids have recovered from their jetlag*.
b. I love frocks. Love them. Just peruse my pinterest board and you will find a wealth of frocks. In reality I only have two that I own and wear. Fixing this hole is my sewing goal over the next year or so. I aim to hunt down and perfect some frock patterns that fit and make me feel the joy. I have two ready-to-wear frocks I love, so I am thinking I might be doing some copying, in terms of size, shape and fit. I know I have been avoiding this as it seems easier to just bang out a top than to make a frock. This is a declaration of intent lovely people!!!
c. Some of my clothes are getting a little thin - like my favourite Liberty tank dress - and will need to be replaced over the next year.
Day 10 through Day 21.
3. I also discovered something (quite liberating) about my handmade wardrobe limits!
When I was looking at the "bottoms" section of my wardrobe I realised that I had only one or two handmade garments and they annoyed me. I am a classic pear with a set of rounded saddlebag bits on my outer thighs. That make pants/skirts trickier to fit and so I would much rather be able to try the thing on as a finished garment. The idea of fiddling with a pattern to get something to fit without being even 20% sure I would get something wearable at the end is not at all appealing. My heart feels constricted at the mere idea of looking for a pattern.
So my realisation?? - That in making my handmade wardrobe I do not want to make pants or even really skirts. In the future I might have the brainspace but I currently don't have it in me to fiddle with the fit. And so I am just going to cross that whole category off my sewing list. Letting go = happy days.
Day 22 through Day 31
All details for all patterns etc are on instagram. If you don't have an instagram account then go to http://instagram.com/thecraftsessions - just click on the individual photos for the details.
I'd love to hear what you learned, and what you loved, from this year's Me Made May.
Felicia x
*Last time it took those little tigers 6 nights. SIX nights before they were sleeping between the hours of 12pm and 4am. This time I might need to resort to herbal sleeping remedies?
