Me Made May 2019

It is that time of year again!  Zoe from SoZo blog has been hosting MeMadeMay now for 10 years!  The idea is to wear Me Made clothes all month.  Lots of sewists join in posting on Instagram (#MeMadeMay2019) and blogs etc, making all sorts of pledges to wear more of their home made wardrobes.  I am linda.pierce.5623 on Instagram.

I have taken part a couple of times before, and have generally pledged to wear at least 1 item of Me Made clothing each day.  This year I wanted to change it up a bit and try to wear items that I don't wear very often, my skirts and dresses. 

Before I started sewing my own clothes again, I hardly ever bought a dress or skirt.  My measurements just don't coincide with RTW skirts and dresses - I am too pear-shaped!  This is one of the reasons I started to sew again, and the reason I go to classes each week.  But, even though my me made dresses and skirts fit Ok (most of the time!) I still don't wear them. I am happiest wearing jeans and a top.   I want to try and find out why that is.

I love this skirt and have worn it quite a bit in the autumn and winter.  The shape lends itself to boots and pleather jacket.  The pattern is Kwik Sew 3877, and I have made it several times and will definitely make it again - maybe in a plain colour.

Another Kwik Sew 3877.  I bought this fabric from Fabric Land, and tbh it is not very good quality.  I originally made it shorter but recently lengthened it.  I inadvertently scorched the fabric a bit with the iron so I think this skirt will go to the charity shop now.  The jumper is a bit small and has joined the skirt in the charity pile!

I love this pinafore dress!  I feel quite cool and trendy in this (LOL!).  The fabric is a printed baby cord, and has lots of colours I can pair it with.  In fact, I bought an orange-red top and a cream top today, both of which will look OK.  Here I am trying out a new look (to me), wearing my sneakers with a dress!  The pattern is the Cleo dress fro Tilly and the Buttons.

Off to my niece's hen party - dinner at a local Italian restaurant.  I decided to wear this red crepe fitted dress with the unusual jewel neckline.  Somehow the neck doesn't sit quite right , and I find it really difficult to pair with a cardigan.  I can't say I feel very comfortable in this - not really me!  But it was nice to wear to the hen party dinner.  Pattern is Simple Sew Loretta jewel neck dress.  Below is a selfie at the hen party with my Mum.

Back to my Cleo pinafore - can't you tell I prefer something more casual?  This time paired with light grey tights and brown ankle boots. In the past, I have worn this with black jumper, tights and boots, or with a t-shirt in the summer.  It is very versatile.

This is my latest make, a shirtdress in this gorgeous embroidered denim.  I have made the waisted version of this a couple of times and feel very grown up in them.  This one is a little more casual.  I don't usually wear blue, except for jeans!  I was a little apprehensive both because of the colour and the loose fit with a belt - would I look like a sack tied in the middle?  Looking at this phot, I am pleasantly surprised and am thinking that I will wear this alot, both layered and on it's own in the Summer.

Finally, this long autumn leaf print skirt.  I love the fabric, but hardly ever wear it!  I am wearing it now as I write, and have realised that there are several things I don't like about it:
*it is too long on me
*it is a bit small and sits too high on my waist
*hence I feel frumpy in it
*it crumples too easily and needs ironing all the time

By the way, the pictures were taken as selfies on my phone in my conservatory, in my garden, in the spare bedroom, and the last one in my bedroom.


One week in I already have some thoughts:
*I need to make some items out of plain fabric to go with the myriad of patterned items of clothing I have!
*It's been really cold this week, and I find tights and shoes a real problem!  It's OK if my boots go with my dress/skirt, but I just don't know what shoes I should wear.
*There is a certain length I feel comfortable with - it is just about knee length.  Some of my dresses and skirts are a bit short and some too long.

Slow Fashion - Top 5

Having read a few books on the subject of 'Slow Fashion', I became quite concerned at the amount of Fast Fashion consumed, not only for the cost to the planet of using up resources, pollution and adding to greenhouse gases, and therefore climate change, but also the poor conditions of the workers.  I started looking at labels in my clothes to see where they were made - India, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan.   It didn't seem to matter whether they were bought from Primark or Marks and Spencer, our clothes are now mostly made in third world countries with very much third world working conditions. 

This got me wondering what I could do as an individual.  I decided to have a year of not buying any new clothes.  It was quite an adventure!  I have been sewing my own clothes for a few years now, and this year had enough 'me-made' items to properly join in with 'Me-Made May'.  Here's my blog post about it.  But I had not really ventured into buying second hand clothes much before.   I am not much of a 'rummager', I find it a bit embarrassing!

However, with the plethora of charity shops locally, I gave it a go and had some successful buying trips.   Notably, this coat.  It is an Eastex coat, and hardly worn.  It is lovely quality wool, and very comfortable to wear.  It cost me £10, just in time to wear to a day out in London in March.

 Other successes include jeans that fit!  These jeans have not got a label in them, so I am assuming they would have been quite cheap brand new.  I wear them all the time!  This jacket was an ebay purchase and I added the embroideries as embellishment to try to bring it up to date.

I wore this combo of cream trousers and top a lot in the summer.  I really love this top! 

I bought this orange t-shirt because I loved the colours.  I altered it as it had elastic around the hem which I didn't like.  It means that the t-shirt is a little short, but I still wore it a lot in the summer.  Here it is with some black linen trousers that I previously bought from a charity shop and altered to fit.

I did buy new shoes and boots, a new handbag, and new underwear.  I am sure I could find shoes and boots in charity shops, but I am not too sure about wearing second hand shoes yet!  I have noticed lots of handbags for sale, but they tend to be rather old fashioned.  I also must confess to buying a couple of new items - a brand new faux leather jacket (because I love the look!) and some new black trousers to wear at Christmas (because I didn't have time to make trousers to go with the top I made)

I would like to carry on not buying new clothes, but I don't think I will be so fastidious about it in the future, although I must admit that I am out of the habit of shopping for new clothes now!

My goal originally was to learn about global warming and climate change.  But I found that it was such a big subject that I didn't know where to start!  By starting with learning about the fashion industry, and Slow Fashion, I am inspired to live a more sustainable lifestyle in more areas of my life.  My goal for 2018 is to reduce the amount of plastic that I use.

I will be back to show you my Top 5 makes soon! 

Reporting on Me Made May

I participated in Me Made May again this year .  I wore Me Made clothes each day and shared pictures of myself on Instagram.

I am a bit late, but here are my thoughts on a fantastic month of wearing, photographing, Instagramming my me-made clothes.

I love using the selfie timer on my phone!  I staged my photos in several venues:

my bedroom

outside in the garden

in the kitchen

I wore mostly different clothes each day, really because I wanted to try everything I have made rather than that be my normal routine.  There were things I wore more than once (Cleo pinafore dress and brown shorts), and there were things I didn't wear at all.


I made lots of connections on Instagram.  I am now following lots of 'new-to-me' sewists, and have new followers myself.  I love Instagram!

May is a great month to choose for a 'Me-Made' month as the weather usually improves through the month, and here in the UK we are putting away our Winter clothes getting out our Summer wardrobe by the end of the month.


Looking at me 'Me Made Wardrobe' I realise that I sew with lovely colourful patterned fabric.  I am really happy when I open my wardrobe doors now and see the colour in there.  But... if I want to wear all 'Me-Made' I should sew some plain coloured basics, eg jeans, skirts, t-shirts to go with it all.   I know that I am not alone in this - I see this in most reviews I have read!




I have had jeans on my to-sew list for a while, in fact, the brown shorts are a toile for a good fit.


I show cased my most recent makes, my second Tiramisu dress from Cake Patterns , and a maxi dress from New Look 6280



I also wore some refashioned and pre-owned items, such as these brown trousers (bought from a charity shop and altered to fit) and this corduroy jacket from eBay.

I can't wait until next year!

Me Made May 2017

I am joining in with Zoe's Me Made May again this year.    I love that Zoe picks the month of May to do this, as hopefully we will get some nice warm days later in the month and we will be able to wear Summer clothes as well!

I am pledging to wear either an item made by me, or an item refashioned by me every day during the month of May.


During this month, I am hoping to:
*wear all my Me Made clothes
*wear different combinations, and discover new outfits
*identify clothes I don't wear and why
*discover 'holes' in my wardrobe and plan to fill them with Me Made clothes
*celebrate that I have enough Me Made clothes to wear every day!
*learn how to use my phone camera on timer (DONE!  See day 2 photo below)
*learn more about my new Panasonic camera, especially how to use it on the timer

I have decided to add in 'refashioned clothes' as I am pledging not to buy any new clothes this year, but am allowing myself to buy and refashion preowned clothes from charity shops and ebay.

Here's a look at what I wore for days 1 and 2:

Day 1 I wore the top I made with Kwik Sew 4026.  I have made 2 dresses with this pattern.  You might see at least 1 of them later this month.

Today I wore a top I bought from a charity shop and refashioned.  It was the simplest refashion, I simply took the elastic out of the bottom!  It is a great top for this time of year, loose fitting, and cool, but covering up enough for cooler days.

Me Made May–The first half

Here are some of the items of Me-Made clothing that I have been wearing this month. It’s a great project for me, as it has made me think about how to wear my Me-Made items, and what other items in my wardrobe will go with them.

First up are my Style Arc Barb trousers.  I made these from stretch cotton bought from Fabricland.  I must admit to not wearing them much until now, but I found them so comfortable the day I wore them!  I increased the 'rise' so they really do sit on my waist and there's no 'muffin-top' on show!  I have some black ballet pumps on in this pic which I thought looked quite good, but they are a bit small and very uncomfortable.  Perhaps I will get some more in a bigger size.

Second is the Tova top from Wiksten.  This is made with really cheap polycotton from the market!  But it is quite thin and has a nice drape for this top.  It's a good top for this time of year.  I quite like it with brown leggings and boots.

Third photo is my brown jacket made from Butterick 5623
I love this jacket!  It’s just right for this time of year when a coat is too much.   I’ve worn this a lot just recently.  Here it is worn with grey jeans and red suede ankle boots

Fourth photo – a skirt made from a pattern in the second Great British Sewing Bee book.  I recently had to re-do this as I had sewn the zip in the wrong side!  The fabric is quilting cotton I bought at a quilt show!  It’s got a nice weight to show off the box pleats.   I really like how this looks with the brown jumper (from Next) and brown boots.  The yellow necklace was made by my friend Burnice. I don’t usually wear skirts, but I did find this very comfortable, and can see this skirt being worn a lot.



Fifth photo – Sewaholic Renfrew made with off white knit fabric that came in a big bag of scraps!  I love this pattern, it fits well, and is dead easy to make, although the neck is a bit wobbly where I stretched the binding.  It’s just about wearable!  Think I could do with a bit more practise.  Worn with the grey jeans again.

Sixth photo – Black Deer and Doe plantain top.  I took this in a little bit at the sides, but I think I might shape it a bit more after looking at the photos!  It’s a bit warm for this time of year unless we have a cooler day as it is made from Ponte, which is very warm.

I'm hoping that the weather will continue to warm up in the second half of the month so that I can wear some of the summer stuff I have made.