Me Made May 2025: The First Week

 Days 1 to 7:  

The first week of Me Made May arrived and there are a few observations that I can make.  

1. I feel like I am working with a new wardrobe as there were a couple of pieces that I haven't been able to wear the last couple of years.  The red floral Eva dress (Tessuti pattern) and a plaid skirt (OOP Vogue 1378) were packed away after I gained weight.  And now these were reintroduced to the wardrobe after some weight loss earlier this year.  
2. What I chose to wear is mostly dictated by how I feel rather than what I want to wear.  Clothing choices are sometimes limited by the need to wear the scoliosis back brace.  Pullover or pull-on garments rule over zippers and buttons.  
3. If I could get away with it, I would live in pajamas.  I might want to sew one more pair.  
4. I would really like to try my hand at sewing a sports bra.  Something that I can modify to accommodate the physical changes happening to my back caused by scoliosis.  Something that doesn't hurt when I wear it.  And something that I can pull over or that has front closures.  

Stand strong, elbows up and keep sewing.  

May in Review...

Sewing

Four out of the seven projects sewn this month were for others, the shirt (McCall's 7940) and pear print dress (The Eva dress by Tessuti patterns) and the black wool cardigan (OOP 4192) were for moi.  Gifted projects were the cotton slips (Kwik Sew 3645), men's pull-on pants (Kwik Sew 3663) and dress (Simplicity 2372).    

Stash-busting

  

All of this month's sewing projects were made with fabric and notions found in the stash.  Stash busted this month:  12.4 metres fabric, 10 buttons, 4 packages of seam binding, 1 - 55 cm invisible zipper 0.2 metres of Knit 'N Stable tape and 1 metre of elastic.  

Me Made May 2022 

My MMM pledge was all about editing my wardrobe and trying to figure out what I want to do with the lesser used / loved / don't fit anymore pieces in my wardrobe.  My focus was making my wardrobe function for my current lifestyle.  Some items were fixed, altered or replaced.  

And I continued with wearing my me-made clothing and accessories everyday.  I've been working hard at trying to lose weight.  Since this time last year I have lost fifteen pounds and I would like to lose another seventeen pounds to bring myself to a healthy weight.   This year, I am wearing me-made items that I wasn't able to wear last year.  That feels good to bring them out to wear again.  But I must say, other than wearing me-made pajamas most often, the knit wrap dresses were my go-to comfortable item to put during this year's rainy MMM season.  

So, what did I learn about my me-made wardrobe.  Well for one thing, the older I get the more I appreciate easy access clothing.  Back zipper dresses are not my favourite to pull from the closet.  I'm not as flexible as once upon a time.  Give me a wrap dress or pull-over dress over a fitted back zipper dress any day.  And dealing with arthritis in my thumb, which was behind my wrist pain but that's a whole other story, makes me appreciate buttons that are not itty bitty and cute.  There is nothing cute about button struggles.   This leads me to my favourite accessory this year, a thumb brace--replacing the face mask of 2020-21 as the must-have fashion accessory.  The thumb brace is a game changer at the cutting table and sewing machine.  But it also leads me to consider picking clothing that I can fit over the brace.   My Me-Made-May 2022 wardrobe choices are all about easy access and comfort.  

Stay Safe and Keep Sewing!

In Sewing News Today...

It's day six into Me-Made-May (MMM) 2022 and so far I've rescued three items and let go of two shirts that just don't quite fit / look good anymore.  Actually, the shirts are at the cutting table waiting to be turned into part of a future patchwork project.  And the buttons have already been harvested for a possible future project.  

I'm really focused on editing my wardrobe this MMM but I am tracking what I'm pulling out to wear as well.  

These are a selection of some of the me-made items that I wore and used in the first four days of MMM.  Me-made items not shown here would be undergarments (knickers, slip and socks).  I'm still wearing facemasks when I am out around people.  I've been doubling up (me-made mask or medical grade along with a KN-95) since most people are not following mask and social distancing recommendations since they dropped mask mandates and testing.  

Now that spring has finally arrived I'm really missing a jean jacket that fits the way I like.  You might remember that I recently finished this one but it's not what I'm reaching for when I need a jacket.  The sleeves are too long and it's on the verge of hitting the editing table.  I am looking at trying another jean jacket pattern, out-of-print McCall's 5191.  

Right now I have a Palmer Pletsch shirt pattern that I am currently working on and I do like the fitting suggestions.  That makes me hopeful this jean jacket pattern will have the fit I'm searching for.  

Well, that's all in sewing news today.

Stay Safe and Keep Sewing!

Me Made May 2021: Day 10

 

Today was a long day after yesterday's announcement that schools will be moving to code red starting Wednesday.  For the following thirteen school days, students will move to remote learning for all students of non-essential workers. It certainly coloured me surprise coming from our provincial government since shopping malls will remain open and consumers can still shop for non-essentials in the latest round of "restrictions" announced on Friday.  You see, we have the second highest per capita rate of covid in the country, all four more contagious variants of concern have been detected in the province and we currently have an ongoing court challenge of Covid resistrictions.  Yup, it's a real gong show around here. No wonder my sewing mojo is nowhere to be found.  

This is also why I changed outfits. It wasn't that I spilled coffee on my outfit. Well, not today anyway. As soon as I get home, I'm out of whatever I wore to work. But there was an appointment that I needed to get to and it was a quick change and out the door. And then the final change into my pajama.  

Today's me-made tally:  Graffiti print denim shirtdress, circa 2020, OOP McCall's 7546, OOP Vogue 1503 and 8934.  Changed into the tulip dress, circa 2021, The Assembly Line pattern.  Cotton knit panties, circa 2018, Simplicity 8229.  Cork sunglass case, circa 2020, free downloadable pattern.  Sleepwear were my old flannel pajama set, the top, circa 2019, Butterick 6296 and the bottoms, circa 2018, OOP Vogue 9217.  

Stay Safe and Happy Sewing!