MMM Days 26 - 31

And it's all over - it went so fast!

Let me do a pictorial recap of my last 6 days of May for you, and then get into the me made review.


Day 26 (Saturday)

No photo because I wore exactly what I wore on Day 6 (ie pale blue merino top, scarf and jeans), and it wasn't very interesting, and the sun was not cooperating. 



Day 27 (Sunday)

Wearing voluminous orange pants, made from a fave old (80s) Vogue pattern originally blogged here. Although I originally showed them to you with a bright red linen jacket I don't really have the guts to dress like that out and about - not even in the inner city where the dress code is more varied :-). And it's cold.

Having now worn them a few times - and seen the photos - they need to be taken in quite a bit at the hips and a little at the waist (STILL not very good at getting my size right!) Anyway, a few women have commented to me on how comfortable they look - and they are. Next time around I'm definitely putting the pockets in too.

Day 28 (Monday)

 

I woke up on Monday morning feeling really uninspired. And Mondays always seem the coldest day of the late autumn / winter working week - I think the city cools down over the weekend when the office workers retreat to suburbia.

My unimpressive me made offering is a new cardi - made in May and not blogged (there will have to be a catch up post on May makes), but it's made from a warm double faced (blue on one side, black on the other) wool knit using a new Vogue pattern, V8819.  I like the seaming in the back, but overall I was disappointed with the pattern. I made the cardigan in the size 12-14 whereas I usually sew a size 12 in Vogue tops - but the sizing seems on the small, (ie too short, too tight) side even accounting for this being intended more as a summer cardigan.  If you make it, I suggest you measure your pattern pieces first.


Day 29 (Tuesday)

Wearing my blocked silk and jersey top - which I want to make into a dress (I have a ton more of that blue jersey...) but you know, that kind of sewing is in the "fixing" pile which always takes a lower priority than the "new thing!! NEW!!" pile.  Top originally blogged here. Also wearing my fitted Donna Karan V1282 skirt, first blogged here.  And carrying a heavy overcoat - it's colder than it looks!

By this stage of the game the photos are definitely getting easier - I know passers by are looking and wondering what we're up to, but I don't mind looking foolish.


Day 30 (Wednesday)

 
My V8718 linen suit, which I love to bits even though it's very crumply (being linen). I wore this jacket right at the start of the month with a red dress but had been putting off wearing the skirt because it needed to be taken in A LOT.  The photographic evidence of me made May proved to me (via another too-loose skirt) that when a skirt doesn't fit it looks dreadful, not unnoticeable :-)/. So  finally I invested a couple of minutes or however short a time period it was and voila, the suit is back in action :-). Suit originally blogged a year ago back here, presumeably before the stretch in the linen really came into its own. 



Day 31 (Thursday)

The last day! What a ditz, somehow I had convinced myself the last day of May would be on Friday - but what do you know, turns out this year there are only 31 days in the month. Ha. So my "Thank you Zoe" sign is an on-the-day scribble on the back of my work pad at an offsite.

Wearing the merino hoodie already worn on Day 18, plus jeans acquired last weekend from my mum. (I don't know how she manages to accidentally buy clothes that fit me... lucky me!) 


My Me Made May in Review

To be honest, I tarried in signing up this year. I thought it would sound like I was taking the easy road if I said "1 me made a day" but I honestly expected it to get hard. Not that I don't have plenty of me mades in the wardrobe, but that I didn't think I'd have enough cold weather stuff that I liked. And my other worry was the daily photos.

As it happened we had mostly fine, sunny weather, which meant plenty of me made options (with a coat to and from work). And my colleague Marylene turns out to enjoy taking photos and to have quite an eye for locations and angles and that sort of thing.

The hardest part of me made May for me was finding the time to really participate.  Due to computer challenges at home, in the first half of the month I was spending ridiculous amounts of time trying to upload photos from camera to computer - hours (yes, seriously) would pass and my handful of photos would still be in transit. On the upside, at least this gave me the opportunity to look through the Flickr pool and leave some comments, but I was staying up way too late on the computer. The computer problems were resolved by about the middle of the month, but by this stage I was very tired and champing at the bit to spend part of my precious late evenings sewing (or sleeping). I got a lot out of me made May, but I think to get the most out of this challenge, ideally you need to have the time to comment widely, reply to comments, and befriend fellow participants.

So what did I get out of it, you may be wondering, apart from a couple of merino tops? Well, first of all I saw so much terrific sewing and creating around the world - it was totally inspiring, and made me want to lift my game! In the last week of the challenge I realised that my me mades are no worse fitting than the clothes I've bought and wear regularly - so no need to feel self-conscious about everything. I realised that my skirts that are too big look terrible, so I need to knuckle down and fix them. I realised that I have some favourite clothes, and that by and large these are clothes that I've taken care in making and fitting because I really wanted them - so I should be more mindful in my sewing.   And I learnt that getting a couple of photos taken by a friend in public is much, much less embarrassing than taking 20 photos of yourself in public - and generally ends up with a much better photo.

Thank you Zoe for organising this terrific event again, thank you to all my fellow participants for inspiring me (I now have way too many ideas, which typically means indecision), and thank you Marylene for taking my photos!

I've probably left something important out here ... so please consider yourself thanked too.