Me Made May 2018 Wrap-up

Hurrah! Another Me Made May in the books!

Me Made May Mid Month Menagerie

Halfway through the month and I've got a Me Made May update for you, if you're into that type of thing...

Me Made May 2018: My Pledge

It's almost that time of year again: Me Made May!

Me-Made-May 2017: End of Month Roundup

Hey y'all! Here's the second half of my Me-Made-May for 2017.... check out my round-up of the first half of the month here.

Me-Made-May 2017: Mid-Month Roundup

Here's the mid-month update on my Me-Made-May pledge (in which you see how infrequently I bother to dry/do my hair in Bangkok's heat)! I've been sharing daily in Instagram stories, but here is the first half of the month all in one place.

Me-Made-May 2017

It's that time of year again... Me Made May! Creator Zoe describes it as follows:

"Me-Made-May'17 (#MMMay17 for social media interaction) is a challenge designed to encourage people who sew/knit/crochet/refashion/upcycle garments for themselves to wear and love them more."

A post shared by Zoe Edwards (@sozoblog) on Apr 2, 2017 at 5:15am PDT

Me Made May: Week 3 Round-up

Me Made May Week 3 round-up... tried to do better on taking daily photos this week! They're pretty terrible (blame it on extremely poor light in my closet where the full length mirror is, combined with an inability to take selfies), but they're photos.

Me Made May: Week 2 Round-up

Week 2 of Me Made May 2016!

Me Made May: Week 1 Round-up

Here's my wrap-up for Week 1 of Me Made May!

Me Made May 2016

It's that time of year again: Me Made May! This is my third year participating in this fun event (check out past posts here!). I love seeing how everyone wears their hand-made garments in different combinations that I never would have considered. It always sparks me to try new things, new patterns, and take a hard look at my me-made wardrobe.

I pretty much wear me-made everyday already, so I have been trying to think of a way to spice up my pledge... Looking through my over-stuffed wardrobe, it occurred to me that I need to do some culling. While I do not plan to go all Marie Kondo on things, I'd like to pull out at least a few items for donation and/or refashioning throughout the month.

As such, I pledge to wear one me-made item every day for the month of May, but I will use MMMay16 as an opportunity to re-wear some deep cuts from my me-made wardrobe to assess whether they should stay or go. I'll wear two deep cuts per week and make a decision about their status. 

In past years I've had more than a fair bit of selfie fatigue throughout the month of May. So while I may take daily photos, I'm not planning on posting them anywhere on a daily basis. I'll save them for a weekly round-up here and on Instagram.

How about you? Are you participating in Me Made May this year? What's your favorite part of this exercise?

Me-Made-May Wrap-up

Here's my second and final Me Made May wrap-up!  I stayed true to my pledge to wear something me-made every day. Many times I wore more than one me-made. I did discover that, in addition to more me-made pants, I could use a couple more basic, solid layering tops to go under cardigans and blazers and/or tucked into skirts. I'm on it.

It's been really fun seeing everyone's makes in action/in the wild! However, until next May... don't expect any more selfies from me! #selfiefatigue

Mid Month Me-Made-May

Woot! Halfway through Me Made May! Sick of selfies after like 3 days, but trying to keep up the documentation regardless.

I've been adhering to half of my Me Made May goal in the sense that I have been wearing at least one me-made garment a day for the past 15 days. Many days more than one... I've not documented several items worn just for dinner or to bed. I definitely reach for me-made more than not, I've found, which is great. Pants are still a problem area, though, which is less great.

I have not been keeping up with my "make do and mend" goal- the one where I promised to mend/alter 5 me-made garments to make them wearable.  Check back in after this weekend, though!

Details on my first 15 days below... follow me on Instagram for the day-to-day updates if you'e so inclined:

Bonnie.

Plantain. 

Belcarra.

Ilsley.

Southport.

Sureau.

Scout.

Sutton.

 Summer Jazz.

Hudson.

Simplicity/Lisette 1666.

Oakridge.

Coco + Mabel.

Belcarra.

Camas.

Me Made May 2015 Pledge

It's that time of year again! Me-Made-May! The brain child of Zoe from So, Zo... What Do You Know?, Me-Made-May is a challenge designed to encourage people who sew, knit, crochet, refashion or upcycle garments for themselves to actually wear and love them.

 

My Extended Me Made May Challenge: Me Made Living

Welp, I've completed my extended Me Made May challenge, which was to wear hand made for the first two weeks of my new job.  Success!  I'm going to categorize my extended challenge as an exercise in #memadeeveryday and #memadeliving

This was pretty fun for me since I got to wear many of my me made garments for the first time... and there really wasn't a dud in the bunch.  I was particularly happy with my dresses, Sureau and Emery... comfortable, quick and easy to throw on in the morning (no matching!).  Good stuff.

Holes I found in my professional handmade wardrobe: solids.  I need basic solid pieces, bad.  In particular, a solid black top, some solid pants to wear with all of my printed blouses...  And while I'm at it, I might add a few more work-appropriate dresses, too.

Week 1

My batik New Look 6808, plus bonus cat:

My floral Sureau:

Japanese poplin Josephine:

Digital Datura blouse, plus bonus Tim:

Forgot to take a photo on Friday of Week 1, but I wore my ikat Victoria blazer.

Week 2

My polka dot Josephine, plus cat lurking in the background:

My navy Emery:

My Simplicity 1666/Lisette Attache Blouse:

Ikat Tiny Pocket Tank under the blazer:

Red polka dot Simplicity 1542, plus bonus cat:

Me Made Made: Update #5 + An Extended Challenge

So, my first Me Made May is over, and I successfully wore a handmade garment every day for the whole month! The photos from my last week of outfits are below and the earlier updates are here, here, here and here.

Wearing my handmade stuff everyday was really fun (taking selfies daily: less so), although it definitely showed me that I need more me made pants and skirts in my life. And perhaps a couple more casual dresses.  I started filling in those gaps a little bit, though, by making a couple Mabel skirts throughout the month.

I had been hoping that the start date for my new job would be mid-month so that I could wear both my casual and work-appropriate clothes, but that didn't happen: my start date is June 2.  As a result, I am extending my personal Me Made May challenge into the first two weeks of June: for the first two weeks of June I will endeavor to wear a me made garment every day!  This way I can show off some of my dresses, blazers and dressier blouses as I head back to work in an office, and maybe also assess my work wardrobe for holes while I'm at it.

May 27 and 29: Photo fails. Oops!  I think a month of selfies wears thin and I purposefully forgot to take photos. Sorry I'm not sorry.  But I didn't fail on wearing me-made... I repeated my vintage fabric Painted Portrait blouse on the 27th with jeans and my neon popcorn Plantain on the 29th.  That Plantain may have to be retired because it is irrevocably stretched out horizontally (and yet too short vertically??)... zero recovery on that knit fabric, apparently!

May 28: A two-for... Balinese ikat Meghan blouse plus my french terry Mabel skirt:

May 30: Plaid Belcarra blouse for an outing to get my nails did, then for a drink with the Timster:

May 31: Ending the month with a bang. A trifecta of me-mades... first my color-blocked Scout for running errands in the morning, then one of my batik Anda tunics as an afternoon poolside cover-up, then my not-yet-blogged Vogue 8904 for evening beers!

Cheers to a month of me-mades!!!

Me Made May: The Fourth Update

May 20: I wore my neon striped Plantain again, but totally forgot to take a photo of it.  I blame it on martial law being instituted in Thailand that day. Ok, martial law was instituted that day, but it had no immediate effect on my life or my ability to take selfies... or any of Thailand's ability to take selfies, for that matter.

May 21: Jorna tank (soon to be blogged!!) and leggings:

May 22: Thailand's martial-law turned military coup can't keep my Me Made May down.  My polka dot Hawthorn peplum blouse worn out to lunch with my new boss and then to the Jim Thompson factory outlet for some fabric shopping (PS: if you ever find yourself in Bangkok and are in the market for silk fabric, do hit up the Jim Thompson outlet for high-end stuff at [relatively] discount prices. Take BTS to Bang Chak, exit 5, walk down a block to Soi 93, turn right and it's a couple blocks down on your left.):

May 23: More polka dots; this time my polka dot Tessuti Suzy pants:

May 24: A Staple Dress (soon to be blogged) for a jaunt out to our neighborhood market:

May 25: My ikat Anita ponte pants for a trip to the BKK Farmers Market:

May 26: My Made by Rae Washi top with lowered neckline for a Memorial Day movie outing:

Me Made May Update #3

May 13: Trying to find a better way to take outfit selfies since my full-length mirror is so poorly lit. Not sure this is any better. Wearing my faux-ikat Tiny Pocket Tank (with no pocket).

May 14: Going super casual in one of my first me-mades, a Grainline Scout:

May 15:  A real ikat (from Bali!) Tiny Pocket Tank, paired with leggings:

May 16:  My By Hand London Polly tank, worn out while fabric shopping in Bangkok's Yaowarat/Chinatown fabric district.  Is it weird to wear clothes made from fabric you bought at a store to that store?  Well, I did it at Belleboo, so that's that.  But look at the new additions to my stash!:

May 17: Hanging out/sweating profusely in the gardens at the Jim Thompson House here in Bangkok.  Jim Thompson is the rejunvenator of the Thai silk industry who disappeared mysteriously... read up on him, he's a pretty interesting guy.  Anywho, I was wearing my brand new Belcarra blouse:

May 18: A repeat of my green Plantain, but paired with my brand new Colette Mabel skirt.  Unfortunately the french terry I used for the skirt got quite stretched out after walking around for a day in Bangkok's humidity.  Next time I would use something with better recovery for Mabel:

May 19: On the way out for a casual dinner in one of my original me-mades, a Tiny Pocket Tank: