Me Made May 2020: Some thoughts
Me Made May 2020 - the first year I've actually taken part. What an odd month it's been, on the one hand it's felt very frivolous and self indulgent, to be taking daily selfies and discussing colour palates and sewing plans during a global pandemic. On the other hand, it's been a welcome relief to the constant onslaught of stress and negativity and overwhelm. And a good reason to put on real clothes every day. With so much uncertainty in the world right now, it's been a way to control one facet of my every day life, to get dressed, document and discuss clothes, sewing, colours and connections with fellow sewists.
My first Me Made May experience has taught me 3 valuable lessons:
Stick to a prescribed colour scheme. I completed the Love to Sew Podcast 'Create Your Dream Wardrobe' booklet last autumn (a freebie when you sign up to their newsletter) and found the process of determining a colour scheme to be an especially valuable one. Suddenly I understood why some clothing just never got worn, or had nothing else in my wardrobe to go with. Now I pick fabrics from a limited selection of colours and find it much easier to get dressed in the morning.
Only make or thrift clothing that actually fits, or can be minimally adjusted to fit. You would think this one would be a no-brainer but I've definitely been guilty of thinking that the gaping neckline or too-tight-across-the-back top will be fine and just soldiered on, constantly fiddling and adjusting throughout the day. Well no more!
Take regular selfies as a way of assessing colour, style and fit. I was pleasantly surprised by the process of photographing my makes this month, it wasn't as awful as I was expecting and I found looking at the photos to be a really useful way of assessing whether something was working for me or not. Often my gut feeling for a piece of clothing was confirmed in black and white looking at the picture and suddenly donating that top or cardigan wasn't as difficult as I thought.
Thanks to the amazing Zoe from So, Zo... for hosting, I'll definitely be taking part again next year. It's given me a lot of food for thought and helped formulate my next batch of #make3in3 plans!