MMM14, Days 1-3

And then it started. 

Day 1

Thursday the 1st of May was a beautiful Autumn day here in Sydney, and I wore a new dress that I hadn't yet blogged but that I'd been showing glimpses of on Instagram (you can find me at @gabriellecorb).  It's currently my favourite make, really because the fabric is so amazing, and even though I shouldn't have put the lightest colours on my tummy... 

I snapped some outfit photos from the balcony at my old building after a meeting - such glorious blue skies! And because I haven't yet blogged this dress, here are the front AND back views:

 

Photos by me, with camera attached to a balcony railing, on continuous burst setting with a 10 second timer.

Day 2

Fridays are casual days at my workplace, so I wore my denim Moss Mini skirt. This is currently the only me-made skirt that feels like it fits reasonably well - everything else is too loose - but I can't wear denim to work most days. I'm hoping the daily outfit pics this month will help me work out which skirts / pants look too loose. 

The weather was still lovely so at lunchtime I wandered down to the MCA down near Circular Quay to look for a gift for someone. (I found it, but I can't blog it in case they read this post!) And instead of taking a picture with the Opera House behind me, I found this awesome mural to be my backdrop! I know you can't really see skirt details, but if you want to read about this make and see skirt details you can have a look at my original post here.

Photos by me, with camera attached to the other hand rail for these stairs, on continuous burst setting with a 10 second timer. Big smiles represent nervous laughter in front of tourists. 

Day 3

Last night a cold change swept through with rain and wind and mostly grey skies, and our heater got turned on for the first time this year.  My day started off pretty lazily at home, and then later on my daughter and I braved the cold to go to her netball game. 

I made and wore this long-sleeved merino top last May (see MMM13 posts here and here) from 3 coordinating colours of merino knit. I didn't properly blog it till here, last July! The pants are an old pair which I've had to darn on the backside but I love the colour and they seem to fit (hmmm, recurring theme?). 

 

Silly photo by me, with camera on tripod, on continuous burst setting with a 10 second timer.

When we went out later I popped on my Donna Karan for Vogue unlined grey wool jacket - although I whinge about the cold, an unlined wool coat was plenty today.

Photos by me, with camera (1) on tripod then (2) on a tree stump, on continuous burst setting with a 10 second timer.

And the tally so far is 4 me mades in 3 days. I'm aiming to wear 10 me mades each 7 days in May, which shouldn't be too hard if I keep my jacket on! 

I'd better upload a couple of these photos to the Me-Made-May 2014 Flickr pool now - and then I'm going to get back to refashioning this (wow - not good photos!) big old cardigan in to something I might actually want to wear!

See you soon

- Gabrielle x

But this time it'll be different...

I'm doing Me Made May again this year - my 4th year in a row, thank you Zoe!  Every year I do a lot of thinking beforehand (will I? won't I?), then sign up at the last minute! This year I've signed up to wear at least one me made every day in May. And even though that's the same pledge as I made last year, I think it'll be a challenge!

Why will it be a challenge? You've got so many me made clothes!

Yes, I do have a lot of clothes that I've made for myself, but my wardrobe isn't as extensive as it appears. Over the last few months I've dropped a few sizes and a good part of my wardrobe is now simply too big on me. For example, I now have no me made pants or leggings that fit. On the plus side, I've rediscovered a couple of ancient makes that now fit me again - just - even if they're incredibly out of fashion.

And a couple of things that I made too tight now fit (yes Elisalex, you will be worn zipped up this year). Oh and did I mention I loathe alterations? Not even going to think about it!

But at least the photos aren't a challenge for you!

Hmm, actually they are. Last year my dear colleague Marylene took the majority of my MMM13 photos for me (here, and here), with another colleague, Helga, helping me with MMM13 and blog photos when Marylene was unavailable. And both of them made taking attractive photos look easy. This year both of my work photographers are on maternity leave (Marylene, Helga - help?).  I don't enjoy taking photos of myself, and I know I can't assume friends and family members will be willing to do it for me.

And it's fantastic to meet the whole community online!

Yes, it is! You'll get no argument from me there  - wonderful, interesting sewists all over the world! But do you know what that means? Late. Nights. On. The. Computer.  Last year I spent so many hours on Flickr every night and morning admiring everyone's efforts and it wasn't really fair on my family - plus I was utterly exhausted by the end of the month!


So here's my pledge, and here's how I'm planning to do it this year:

I, Gabrielle of www.upsewlate.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear at least 1 me made garment each day for the duration of May 2014. 

• I'll try to stick to the stuff that fits and that's in current rotation. But I CAN wear stuff that doesn't fit if I'm running out of ideas or still feel half asleep when I get dressed.

• "Me mades" can include clothing made by friends or family (that way I can include those two tops my mum made, yay!)

• Did I really pledge just 1 me made a day? Hmmm. I do have some jackets, so I think I should beef that up to 10 me mades a week for more of a challenge.

• Fresh photos are not obligatory. Sorry! I know it's fascinating to get a glimpse of lives around the globe, and to see what the makes look like in the wild, but the photos are the main reason I nearly didn't sign up this year. So if it gets too hard, I will resort to existing photos to illustrate what I wore.

• I'm not going to upload my photos to Flickr or Pinterest and check out everyone else's makes every day - I'm going to try to restrain myself to once or twice a week. 

And at the end I'm hoping to have a better idea of the gaps in my wardrobe, which will hopefully encourage me to sew that sort of garment (pants, hmm?) instead of new summer dresses when it's autumn.


Hope to see you there :)


- Gabrielle xx