Monday 25 April 2016

Me-Made-May '16: Your Pledges

(divine Jenna cardi by Crafty NH Mom)

I LOVE reading all the #MMMay16 pledges as they come in. The most popular pledge by far, of course, is the aim to wear one self-made item per day for the duration of May, which is an awesome, and hopefully very useful challenge. But other participants have been coming up with different specifics that they feel will have a more directly beneficial effect on their relationship with their self-made wardrobe.

If you are planning to challenge yourself this Me-Made-May but are struggling to come up with pledge specifics that inspire you, here area few of this year's pledges that may offer up some ideas. I've illustrated this post with some of my favourite handmade garments/outfits from last year's Flickr group pool (if you wish to share your documentation photos on this year's Flickr group, please find it here and request admittence). 

(nicely combined separates and cute compadres! By Just Sew Jenna)

I think the pledge Morocco-dwelling @janomegnome has come up with is genius and very touching. She intends to wear as many handmade clothes as possible and 'above all **to talk about them with non-sewing folk** and not skip the chance to share the love out of modesty or suchlike daft habits'. Me-Made-May is such a great opportunity to bring the handmade and non-handmade facets of your life a bit closer!

It's good to have a reminder that Me-Made-May isn't only for sewers/sewists, or people who already have a huge array of self-stitched clothes. Ninja-crocheter @salapes is pledging to wear 'all of my handmade items of clothing at least once during the month of May'. How nice, to give every garment you have made an airing during the challenge! What better way to assess and compare how you feel about the things you have made?

(some of the utterly perfect outfits by Len from Seamless blog

Debbie from 'Sewn From The Heart' has chosen the popular 'oneself-made garment per day' pledge, but added the following that I really wanted to share with you all:
'I have a number of garments I've made since I started sewing again late last year. However, almost without fail, I make them, photograph them for my blog and then put them in my wardrobe, almost never to be worn again. I find it hard to get past that 'I'll keep them nice incase I wreck them' mentality. To make myself actually wear the clothes I've made will be a huge personal challenge and I really hope that it will break the cycle I'm in and start to change the way I look at, and use, my self made clothes.' It's fantastic that she has figured out exactly what's going wrong in her relationship with her handmade wardrobe, and is using Me-Made-may to bust out of that rut. Go Debbie!!!!

On top of the 'wearing' part of her Me-Made-May pledge, Ashlee from This Seams Interesting has given herself an additional aim to sew up 3-5 pieces of fabric from her 'behemoth stash on new projects between now, April 1st, and the end of May'.

So what about you? Do you want to pledge this year but find yourself holding back? Share your quandaries... 

17 comments:

EmSewCrazy said...

I really want to pledge but I feel overwhelmed by life in general right now. I wear me mades almost every day so I'm not sure how much of a challenge that would be. I love the photography but I haven't even been photographing my makes for my own blog and the thought of taking photos of my outfits is daunting even though I know in my head I don't HAVE to take the photos.. just not sure what to do!
Advice welcomed!

Anonymous said...

What??? Not wearing the clothes you've made? That's crazy stuff. A compulsory part of mmm17 surely?!
Some brilliant pledges there, big thumbs up to the stash using one too ��
Really need to write myself one this week....

Janome Gnome said...

That's very kind of you! I've notice just thinking about my pledge made a difference and I've already started talking more to other non-sewing folk. If it crosses my mind they might think this or that, I just address it. So recently, I shared with mostly work and home town friends that I'd made a (mostly upcycled -woo!) lemur bag for my son's friend who was moving to Madagascar. And I just said I often don't share things because when I do people often assume I think that because I sew I think they should sew too, but that I don't and pointed out they may have noticed I feel no obligation to do their hobbies like running marathons. People responded totally nicely of course and I found out a friend I haven't seen in ages is also moving to Madagascar and reconnected with her. Connections are good, and may hasn't even begun yet :) have fun! @janomegnome

AshleeOfCourse said...

Thank you so much for the shout out! I'm so thrilled and excited if I inspire other stash-busters as well. This weekend brought me up to a total of 4 fabrics used. Which is great, but you know I was naughty and bought more fabric when I was in New York recently! So we shall see how far I get...

Unknown said...

I got all my handmade clothes out and ironed them this weekend in preparation. They are now sitting nicely at one end of my wardrobe so I can see them easily and separately from the rest of my wardrobe. Just doing this made me so proud to actually have a mini section of my wardrobe that I could say I had made - it was also more than I thought too. I guess there are some things I've made that I just don't consider wearing on a daily basis.
H.

BLD in MT said...

Those are some great pledges! Good ideas!

Elizabeth Duke said...

Hi here! I'm Elizabeth and I'm so excited to participate in my first "Me-Made-May" 2016. I have been sewing since childhood, and teaching all ages how to sew for over 15 years. Fabric dyeing and embroidery are also two of my other fabric related obsessions! I am looking forward to posting at least twice a week during May to show off my new "makes". Also can't wait to see what the other makers are up to!

Sara in Stitches said...

I'm planning on pledging, but hadn't yet thought of what exactly to pledge. I was thinking I'd finally go all-in and do only me-mades, but it turns out there are plenty more creative options. Time to plot and plan...

Unknown said...

I am in! I Louise of seamsoddlouise pledge to wear an item of handmade every day of may!!! Gosh that's a big pledge for me.

Justine of SewCountryChick said...

I want to pledge to wear something me made every day again. Recently I did a huge clean out of my wardrobe and hope I have enough pieces to work with. I gave so much handmade clothing to charity.

Unknown said...

I haven't taken part before but feel ready to this year. I pledge to wear at least one me made piece of clothing everyday in May. Hopefully this will help me to see where the gaps are in my handmade wardrobe!

Anonymous said...

I plegde to wear my handmade garments at least 3 times a week!
:) haven't taken part before, so excited!

AbigailBNorton said...

I have a tendency to wear the same 4 or 5 me made dresses every week and the remainder of my makes stay in the wardrobe.
So I pledge to wear a me made item every day in May, but to also wear a wider selection of my makes.

Unknown said...

Hi! I'm Elena from sewitwithlove.com
I have been wearing memades only for many years but haven't had much of chance to sew as many garments as I used to in the last couple of years. I pledge to sew at least 2 if not 3 new garments during May as well as alter some of my old makes which are now a bit too snug since putting on some weight :/ Luckily I always leave a bit of extra seam allowances just in case! ;) I look forward to the challenge and to connecting to new sewists! Thank you for organising this Zoe! Xx

Ms Marple said...

I pledge that I or one of my children will wear something me-made every day. Let's see how it goes...

Anonymous said...

'I, Chris, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '16. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made item each day in May 2016. I also plan to make Grainline Studio's Scout Tee Shirt and to attempt to re-fashion a pair of very wide-leg trousers into a short kimono jacket.'

Anonymous said...

Can I be a late entry? I pledge to wear as much Me-made clothing as possible :) and see some new things too.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...