The ambiguous nature of the challenge was both refreshing and a little confusing. Making up all your own rules and goals made it a bit vague, but I liked just picking out what mattered to me. And it's nice to feel I wasn't in competition with anyone, just myself.
I really enjoyed taking pictures and wearing all my me-made stuff. It was nice to challenge myself to get things out from the back of the closet! Here's a few of my favorites from the month.
Comparing this to my style post I'm seeing a lot that feels consistent (especially colors!) but a lot I could be working on, too. A lot of that has to do with how old most of my me-made garments are; my style goals are there to help my future decisions, too.
A few thoughts.
Dresses: I remembered why I don't wear them more. Mostly because of sweat. Summer is hot and I get sweaty. With a skirt and shirt, I can always swap out a sweaty shirt I've been wearing all day for a fresh one if needed (like if I am heading out to teach an evening class). With dresses, you have to just change everything. But I do love wearing dresses! I can work around that issue.
Skirt Lengths: Longer is better. I can do shorter skirts with leggings, but with bare legs, I get tired of my thighs sticking to chairs.
Coordinating pieces: I always feel like I have great individual pieces to wear but nothing to match. I make a lot of skirts and I don't always have a shirt that goes. I should probably put more coordinating things onto my list. Or even just buy some.
Wardrobe gaps: I definitely would like to make more blouses and shirts! In the past I've thought it was pointless to sew t-shirts when you can buy them so cheaply, but I think I'm coming around.
Me-made clothes I am tired of: It's hard to part with things I have made! But I have a few pieces that either never really clicked for me style-wise, or that I've just worn a bunch of times and now I'm sick of, and they are taking up space in my closet and making me feel guilty. I'm going to try to sell a few and give the rest to goodwill.
Closet overload: I love sewing new things all the time! But I guess I have to have limits, because my closet is already petty stuffed. Getting less emotional about getting rid of stuff I don't wear would help (see above) but of course I don't want to be wasteful either.
My Me Made May 2018 Goals (Or, How did I do?):
Wear:
Every day, wear at least one thing I have made, whether old or new. Did it!
As many days as possible, wear 2+ me-made things. Did it!
Wear every me-made garment I have at least once. Not quite, there weren't enough days!
When wearing repeat separates, mix up the combinations. Did it!
Make:
Sew or knit every day. On work days, an hour is enough. On days off, my goal is 3+ hours. Nope!
Finish at least 3 modern garments and 2 historical garments. Did it, sort of.
Try one new sewing technique. Did it!
Style:
Use my Pinterest board to think about the styles I'm drawn to. Did it!
Try a few new style elements. Eh, not really.
Think seasonally! Did it!
Share:
Take daily outfit pictures. Did it!
Blog post weekly to keep up with my progress. Did it!
I finished 5 pairs of kid pants and now I'm not sure if that counts as one thing or 5 things. I made a historic dress and bonnet for the kid and trimmed a bonnet for a friend. I knitted on my sweater a bunch and sewed about half a dress, but didn't finish them. I am surprised that mostly what I finished was kid clothes! I did not plan that!
For new techniques, I'm counting both the historic bonnet I made for The Girl and the short-row sleeve from my rosemary cardigan.
The main thing I didn't do was keep up with daily sewing. Life kept interrupting! But I do feel energized and inspired by this challenge, and that's more important than sewing an arbitrary amount of hours each day.
Weekly posts: Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
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