Akram's Ideas

Lessons Learned From Me Made May 2018

June brings us the start of summer sewing, but before we get to that I thought I’d take a quick look back at Me Made May and the lessons learned from the experience. 

#MMMay 2018

If you are not aware, Me Made May 2016 (#mmmay18) this fun social media challenge encourages sewers to wear their me made makes all through the month of May. This challenge is organized by Zoe Edwards of SoZoBlog

The goal of the challenge is to wear me-made garments throughout the month of May. You could also set personal challenges like wearing me made at least 5 days a week or something to that effect. 

A few lessons that I learned after participating in Me Made May 2018, a handmade wardrobe challenge.
I successfully participated 30 out of 31 days of Me Made May

My Goals

For this year’s challenge, my goal was to wear something me-made every day for the month of May and document it using Instagram. I also had a second goal to wear more of the garments I haven’t worn in a while or at least stay away from my most worn ( fave ) outfits. 

Overall I think I did a good job with my goals and managed to wear me-made every day and post 30 out of the 31 days to Instagram. 

What I learned

So, what did I learn from this process? I came to the conclusion that I had 4 major takeaways from this experience. 

A few lessons that I learned after participating in Me Made May 2018, a handmade wardrobe challenge.
I really have a shirtdress addiction

1. Glad this is Me Made May

First off I’m glad this is me made May and not say me made November, because if this was mid-autumn early winter, I wouldn’t really be able to complete this challenge to the extent I did. 

The reason is that I make a lot of cotton summer dresses, which work great for late spring early summer but not the cooler weather. 

While I do have several me-made denim and corduroy skirts I just don’t have enough tops to go with them. 

2. I need more Me Made Tops

As I said I really need more tops to go with my skirts. Preferably tops with sleeves that can transition into the cooler weather and be worn in layers. 

A few lessons that I learned after participating in Me Made May 2018, a handmade wardrobe challenge.
I need more cooler weather tops

Don’t get me wrong I do have a few tops but most of them are tanks. Ironically this past month I did make more tanks, but I really need to refocus my sewing and make more blouses and long sleeve tees. 

3. I’ll Never Have a 100% Me Made Wardrobe

While I do love my me-made garments I really don’t think I’ll have a 100% me-made wardrobe in my lifetime. 

Why? Because I don’t want to get rid of perfectly good clothes I already own and still fit. But mostly because I love vintage fashion and vintage clothes. 

While I didn’t wear any vintage clothes this past May, I do have several vintage suits in my wardrobe along with a few vintage coats that I just adore.

4. What Fits and What I want to Make

This me-made May really gave me the opportunity to pull out a lot of my early makes and see what still fits and what doesn’t.

A few lessons that I learned after participating in Me Made May 2018, a handmade wardrobe challenge.
I have a few sets that make great one pieces

As many of you might know, I’m currently on a weight loss journey. With that said I was happily surprised that most of my me-made clothes did in fact fit. There were only a few items that didn’t. 

I also got the opportunity to wear dresses that I hadn’t in a while and decided that I really need to make more of them. For example, the floral wrap dress I made with McCalls 6959 back in 2015, I love so much I really want to make another one. Possibly even for the #sewtogetherforsummer challenge. 

#MeMadeMayLessons – What Did You Learn

Okay, so that’s my take away from my experience in me-made May.

I’m also so happy that this is the first year that I was able to participate and document this challenge for the majority of the challenge that’s 30 days out of 31. 

Also be sure to follow the hashtag #MeMadeMayLessons on Instgram and Youtube to find out what other sewing vlogers have learned from this experince. 

Did you participate in Me Made May? I’d love to hear in the comments below what you learned from the experience. 

A few lessons that I learned after participating in Me Made May 2018, a handmade wardrobe challenge.

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Akram Taghavi-Burris

designer, writer, educator, tech nerd, crafter, baker, sewer and vintage collector, who Brings Creative & Crazy Ides to Life.

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