Me-Made-Made...the finish line

By the end of May I was pretty over selfies, sewing and wearing me-made, but I well and truly smashed my challenge of one me-made garment per week. Lots of repeats in here, but I don't believe in having a huge wardrobe and owning lots of "stuff"...I am the Queen of the wardrobe clean out!

Week 3

"Our Fave Top" by Tessuti - worn for a day battling the local shopping centre, ARRRGH! Next time I make this I'll use a knit with 4-way stretch as the sleeves on this could be a bit more lose/comfy.

Linden sweatshirt in my beloved fabric from Kyoto - worn out to breakfast at our favourite local cafe. Very cozy, but a bit too warm for the hot Autumn day that we turned out having.

Monday = blergh! New Mabel Skirt made from a lovely ponti from Tessuti. Quite comfy, but I think all of these skirts will be nicer to wear sans stockings as it's just too much bulk for my liking.

Casual Lady Dress - worn to work. LOVE this dress and I've finally found some ponti that I like to whip up another one soon(ish). One of my colleagues asked me a few times to make her one as she liked it so much.  If only people new a) how hard it is to sew our own garments and to get them to fit our own body let alone to try and fit a body you don't know and b) how annoying it is to be asked that and c) you "could" make this you self, you just need to learn to sew like I had to - I didn't come out of the womb with the ability to make this, rather averagely sewn, dress. <end rant/>

Hump day = I'm tired, though I am still loving my very first Mabel Skirt. Always get a compliment or two when I wear this as the fabric is quite striking. This is actually the back of the skirt - I like the pattern placement better this way so I wear it back to front.

Mandy Boat Tee - worn to work for "casual Friday" though every day in my office is casual. Still wish this top was longer...I've another half made, but the sleeves have gone pear shaped so I'm stalling on finishing it as I don't love it and I'm sad about that as the fabric was $70 AND it was the last of the fabric that Tessuti had. It's all gone...vamoosh.

Newly finished ponti Gabby Dress - worn out to dinner at one of Sydney's poshest restaurants, darling! I got lazy on this one and paid to have a dressmaker finish the hem/sleeves for me on their coverstitch machine.

Sunday - slobbing around the house in my badly made, but lovely Mandy Boat Tee.

Week 4 (and the final few days of May)

Monday AGAIN (wtf) - loving this newly finished knit Gabby Dress. Definitely like wearing secret PJs to work AND I got a compliment from a colleague on my "pretty dress". BOOM

Coco Dress - worn to work with my favourite scarf from Paris. Love the pattern on this fabric, but not really a huge fan of the Coco Dress in hindsight. Very glad I'm making the Gabby Dress work for me in knits.

Leopard Print Mabel Skirt - worn to work where I got called "Miss Leopard" by one colleague and told by another I look like the old Lebanese ladies in his suburb who LOVE themselves a bit of animal print. Ah, OK? I made sure both of them knew I made this skirt myself...can the little old Lebanese ladies say the same?

and...repeat for the end of the week!

I confess I dug this top out of the wash to wear again on Saturday. I've NEVER done that before and when I did wash this I stupidly shoved it into the drier with some other stuff and shrunk it. WAH!

Last day of Me-Made-May - I MADE it to the end. Wearing my snuggly Linden sweatshirt

June 1st - not a me-made garment to be seen.

Thoughts: a lot of people are wrapping up their Me-Made-May posts with some thoughts on what they learned from the experience.

I'm not really sure what I learned from participating in Me-Made-May. I guess I've taken away that I can wear my handmade garments out into the real world and that they look OK and they won't fall apart as I'm bending down to restock the photocopier at work with paper.

I learned that, when I have items that I like, it's not hard to wear me-made more than once a week. If I sew things I like and I find comfortable adding me-made into my everyday wardrobe is easy.

I can also see how sewing my own clothes has had me branch out into different outfits than I was wearing a year or two ago. Before this winter all I wore to work in cooler weather was dresses with tights...now I've added in skirts and pants/tops, so that's been fun.

I don't think I'll ever have a 100% me-made wardrobe and I'm fine with that. I'm still not all that confident with my skills and I'd rather buy a bra or pair of jeans or coat and just sew up simple things that are easy to make and I find enjoyable to make.

Seems like I've learned quite a lot . Who knew?

Me-made May - the half way point

We're halfway through me-May Made and so far so good. My pledge is pretty lame (just one me-made item per week) and I've already exceeded that well and truly. Before I started the month I thought it would be a struggle to wear my hand-sewn items...as I feel that they look crafty and home-made, but a few unsolicited compliments on a few items has boosted my confidence.

So far this is what I've worn:

Week 1:

Knit Gabby Dress worn on my day off work. Partook in a spot of shopping and brunch at a new local cafe. Pretty comfy dress, but I don't particular like the "feel" of this fabric, bit stiff and feels cheap and the hem is not very well sewn (needs to have been a bigger hem). I feel like EVERYONE knew I was wearing a homemade craft project...in public!

Mandy Boat Tee worn to a sewing class at Tessuti 'cos I"m a suck up....LOL. I had to resew all the seams before I could wear this as it was falling apart due to being sewn on 3 spool overlocker....result it's a bit dodgy but I still love this top as the fabric is great.

My first ever Mabel skirt worn to work. I'm not a fan of stockings with skirts as too many layers on my tummy makes my gut hurt BUT this was comfy and my colleague told me she likes me skirt. She is now my favouirte colleague (yes, I'm shallow).

Sick day = Linden Sweatshirt and naps on the couch.

Mandy Boat Tee worn to work with Ponti leggings (from Sussan). I LOVE this top but I wish I'd made it a bit longer as it's too short to be worn with such fitted pants. Still not sure if I should've added elastic to the shoulder seam or not? Fabric is from Tessuti.

Another Mabel skirt worn to work - loving this silhouette as a work outfit and it's pretty comfy but looks put together. The skirt was made during May so hasn't been blogged yet (Tessuti fabric yet again).

Saturday brunch in Surry Hills with my niece followed by a spot of fabric shopping in my new, but already beloved Mandy Boat Tee. I like this top much better with my jeans - not so many butt exposure issues as the jeans are looser than the Ponti Pants.

Week 2

A wearable muslin of Tessuit's "Our favouirte top" worn out to lunch with friends on Sunday. Not blogged yet, but a fairly successful make I think though the fabric is not very breathable so it's a tad hot.

My ponti Casual Lady Dress worn to work...pretty comfortable and the short sleeves means I don't melt now that the "heater wars" at work have started. Still desperate to find more ponti to make another of these as I REALLY like it even though the wonky neck and sleeve bands make it feel a bit....crafty.

One of my two remaining Coco dresses that I made last year. I've put on weight since last year so this one just fits (as I can stretch the fabric) whilst the other one is rather....snug! Not that comfortable at first as the ribbon stabilizing the seam bugs me but as the day worn on I forgot about it.

Thoughts: I found week one much easier than week two for some reason. I think seeing everyone's me-made May efforts as the month got going made me feel like a bit of a sewing underachiever. That said I've pumped out quite a few good garments so far this May so I'm happy that the challenged has motivated me to sew. Having put on a it of weight since this time last year is also generally making getting dressed each day a bit of a challenge. Lite n Easy starts next week! Blergh.

Me-made May 2015

I, Melanie from made-by-melanie.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear a me-made garment once a week for the duration of May 2015.

Now to you hardcore me-made May'ers this may seem like a bit of a lame self-challenge but for me it will be a big step in my sewing journey.  Even though I've had a lot of sewing fails I have had a few wins. The wins make me feel good but I still do  not wear my me-made garments.  They may get one or two outings and then get relegated to the bedroom floor; or to the charity bag. I just feel they are not as good as RTW and feel a bit...weird and conspicuous wearing them.

I've been sewing for nearly two years now but (maybe surprisingly) I don't have enough me-made garments for everyday.  The photo below shows everything that I've made that I am still on possession of (minus two Party Peplum Dresses, two Coco dress and a Myrtle that I forgot about - shame on me). I would say that I would possibly wear a third of what is shown here - just due to fit, comfort and general non-ugliness of the garment.

I also find May a tricky time of year in Sydney. Is it hot? Is it cold? Who knows what weather you're going to wake up to each day.

The only bit of prep I want to do for May is to fix the seams on the yellow + white jumper....it's my favourite make but is falling apart as I had no idea that you couldn't see a garment on a 3 spool overlocker (as there's no safety stitch). I might also make a Casual Lady Dress in blank ponti as I think that would be a handy addition to the wardrobe.

Mel x