31 May 2018

Me Made May 2018 - Why I loved it, and why I didn't


Wow,  as if you weren't sick enough of my face I had to go blog about it too!

Those that have seen my instagram will be acutely aware I took part in Me Made May this year. This is something that has been going on for a number of years on instagram but this year was the first year I felt I probably had enough clothes to get me through the month - which I thankfully did. The base concept is to wear handmade clothes through the whole of May, this can take on various guises but I took it in its literal form. 

I just wanted to document how it went for me; my thoughts, why I found it really useful and why I actually hated parts of it. I'm going to cover what I learnt about my style and my sewing, my favourite outfits and also your favourite outfits. Its more of a record for myself than anything but I am pleased its given me enough drive to return to my blog.

Selfies - all the selfies

This was the reason I hated this concept. Honestly, I got bored of my own face so I can bet my bottom dollar you did too (so you know i'll just write a blog and fill it with me again!). Then there was the orchestration of it all. Do I have someone to take the picture for me, or do I have to prop my camera/phone up somewhere precarious, how many pictures do I actually need to take to get a decent one, loading them on to my phone, sorting through them, making a post etc etc. It was honestly exhausting so I'm very happy to be back to posting on my own schedule. 


My style 

Over the past month I have discovered for the most part I have 3 distinct styles which I am going to call;
Rockabilly
Goth as fuck 
or 15 year old

I'm not sure they gel perfectly well together in terms of having a 'capsule wardrobe' or whatever that is because a lot of it depends on my mood and what I am doing on that day. Obviously rockabilly works best for formal and work, Goth as works best on a night out and the 15 year old is just me trying to chill in something a bit more quirky. It does feel a little bit like I lack direction sometimes and I should just pick one but I don't want to do that, this is me and that's how I like it. Does anyone else find they don't really conform to one style? what influences what you wear?



I also noted that I have a definite preferences for paler colours up by my face and darker on my lower half. I think a lot of that is down to my hair being paler now so wearing black higher up washes it out a bit. This lead me on to have a good think about the types of colours I think work with my skin tone and the kinds of patterns I liked (note a distinct lack of floral!). Making sure I keep this in mind for my future sewing I'm hopefully more likely to make clothes that I LOVE rather than just being a little meh. 

My favourite outfits:


You can see a selection of my favourite outfits below. The reason for picking these was largely based on 2 factors: How they made me feel and how easy they were to wear. 


From left to right: 

Bettine by Tilly and the buttons in Atelier Brunette 'like a dandy', Another Bettine in some emerald viscose (this creases so bad but its soooooo comfy), A very altered Megan Nielsen maternity skirt in gold spot ponte roma (top is from collectif clothing).

Simplicity 8342 in some old lightning cotton jersey, Colette Zinnia skirt in flamingo cotton lawn, Lilou dress from Tilly first book in some houndstooth viscose

Your favourite outfits:

These were the outfits that got the most likes during the month. Sorry the third picture is not the one from instagram but I can't find the original (I've gone through 3 phones this month, my photos are all over). 

I can definitely see why they are some of your favourites they are all very striking outfits. especially the fabric in the middle one its so pretty. 


From left to right:

Kim dress from By Hand London in some llama print Robert Kaufman cotton, Another Bettine in some stunning crepe from Sew Over It, Wren dress by Colette patterns in some blue lightning jersey from Stof & Stil

So where does that leave me?

The one thing I did realise is that I don't have many great clothes for super hot days. I HATE not wearing tights and having bare legs. Even in a knee length skirt, if its a flared skirt and there is a slight breeze i'd still rather have tights on. I need to address that in my handmade wardrobe and i'm thinking some maxi skirt/dresses might be a nice way to go.

I also realised that a lot of my outfits just felt really uninspiring. Some clothes, whilst plain, can just make you feel great but I found a lot of my clothes just lacked lustre. With this in mind I am going to try and pay more attention to what I make and give it some consideration before I jump in. This starts with fabric and pattern choices but also what can I wear with it, can I bling it up a bit, does it need accessorising etc. Generally I need more sparkles in my life!

Overall it was a very helpful experience. I don't think I will do it so publicly again but it certainly came at the perfect time when I'm just getting back into personal sewing and it has motivated and invigorated me. Hopefully I can use this drive to take my sewing and style to the next level.

As a final side note the blog is very broken. I accidentally let me domain name lapse just after having little Miss Fox and now they want to charge me extortionate rates to have it back so it has changed to a .co.uk domain. This means all my internal links are broken, not the mention all my pinterest ones which just makes me want to cry. So I will be quietly trying to work on that and get this thing going with a bit of gusto again.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my makes, I really enjoyed everyone elses and got some great inspiration so thank you to everyone that took part and took the time to like my posts. 
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