Sunday 15 April 2018

My Me-Made-May'18 Pledge: Plus, A Shout Out to Crafty Businesses


Well, the sign-ups for this year's Me-Made-May (#MMMay18 for social media interactions) are coming in thick and fast. It's so fascinating and inspiring seeing how people have decided to challenge themselves for a whole month. I particularly enjoy reading the ones that include a little explanation of why they chose their specific pledge and/or what they are hoping to get out of the challenge.

So, I've been thinking for a couple of weeks about how I might be able to improve my relationship with my own handmade wardrobe, and now I'm ready to make my pledge:

'I, Zoe of 'So, Zo...' blog and @sozoblog on Instagram, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear only me-made clothing (with the exception of bras, socks, tights and footwear) with no outfit/clothing-combination repeats throughout May 2018'  

I intend to document my challenge photographically, although possibly not daily, as I've found that photos help me judge the success of my outfits. I will post weekly(ish) updates on my blog about how my challenge is going and what I'm learning along the way. I will include occasional updates on my Instagram account.   

I'd say that my current selection of clothing is about 90% to 95% me-made, so wearing me-mades and excluding my RTW won't be a challenge. However, pushing myself to create 31 different combinations within my me-made wardrobe is where things are going to be tricky. Like many (most?) people, I tend to reach for the same garments in the same combinations day after day. But I really want to make myself try out new combos to get the most out of my sewing efforts.

Last year I has a massive clear out and donated a big chunk of my clothing to charity, as both my personal style and my body shape have changed a lot since having children (not to mention what my lifestyle requires from my wardrobe - bye bye cocktail dresses!). I've been populating my wardrobe with great pieces that fit my style, body shape AND lifestyle requirements, but I don't think each piece is being utilised as fully as it could. It's kind of an extension of how I feel about all my belongings in general, I don't want to own anything that doesn't see a decent amount of use/wear, at some point during the year at least. I think this pledge will help me achieve that within my wardrobe.

On to the shout out. I've been having a big ol' think about how to celebrate Me-Made-May this year. During previous years' challenges we've hosted giveaways for participants to win clothes-making related goodies from a variety of wonderful and generous crafty businesses. However, it always seemed to me to be a real shame that only one lucky participant got to benefit from each giveaway.

This year, I thought it would be nice to encourage crafty businesses to generate discount codes or offers for customers that are open to everyone as a more inclusive way to celebrate the challenge. Participants of Me-Made-May frequently find that taking part helps them discover holes in their self-stitched wardrobe. Therefore, we'd like these discounts/offers to run for the final week of May (24th to 31st), or at least part of that week (the weekend of 26th/27th May perhaps), to help this year's participants to buy what they need to fill some of those newly-uncovered holes.

If any owner of a crafty online business would like to support and celebrate the MMMay community this year by generating some kind of offer or discount code, please email me the details (ideally by 14th May) to sozoblog (at) gmail dot com. I will publish a post with full details of any MMMay related discounts or offers during the third week of the challenge. Thanks in advance for your support!

18 comments:

jevanvelsor said...

I, Hoan van Velsor, pledge to wear some of the me made clothing lurking in my closet. Particularly the jacket I made five years ago from fabric I wove myself. It is lovely, why haven’t I worn it? I will find out. Further, I pledge to complete the retro blouse I am working on, and continue my project of me made tunics-my most flattering and comfortable top- until I have a wardrobe of comfortable, flattering,me made garments that I like and will wear.

jevanvelsor said...

I, Joan van Velsor, pledge to wear some of the me made clothing lurking in my closet. Particularly the jacket I made five years ago from fabric I wove myself. It is lovely, why haven’t I worn it? I will find out. Further, I pledge to complete the retro blouse I am working on, and continue my project of me made tunics-my most flattering and comfortable top- until I have a wardrobe of comfortable, flattering,me made garments that I like and will wear.

elizabeth said...

'I, Elizabeth Duke aka edukedesigns.wordpress.com, aka @sewist44, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear and post about the clothing I have made as often as possible for the duration of May 2018'

Jem Weston said...

I, Jem Weston of jemweston.co.uk (@jemweston on instagram), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made item each day of May 2018 as well as limiting my wardrobe to a capsule of 33 items in order to find new outfit combinations and to encourage me to put on 'proper' clothes when working at home!

Coolcookingteacher said...

I, Julie Kaine, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ‘18. I endeavour to wear at least four me-made items each week of May 2018. The clothes will be posted on @thesewinggirls on Instagram and encourage me to wear clothes I have made and I like to wear.

Anonymous said...

'I,Natascia Moi, of natysmagazine.wordpress.it (@natasciaemme on instagram), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear one self-stitched garment per day in May 2018.

Anonymous said...

I, Gwen of Gwenstella Made (@gwenstellamade), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear a me-made item every day on the weekends on the month of May 2018. I hope that this will help me re-assess my style and give me a clearer direction of where I want to go on my me-make journey. xx

https://gwenstellamade.wordpress.com

Muriel.Nahtzugabe5cm said...

Hi Zoe,

what a great plan for May. I can totally relate to your clothing combination challenge. Once I found a good combination it´s hard to think of an other matching items.

Looking forward to the discount codes end of May. This is a great idea.

Regards,
Muriel

Caroline said...

I Caroline @carolinetsewing pledge to wear at least one item of me-made clothing each day during the month of May. I'll photograph my choices and post them on IG. I also pledge to finish at least two cut out items. Thank you Zoe!

Anonymous said...

I, Katherine of @sometimes_sewist on Instagram, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear a me-made item of clothing each day of May 2018.

Katie Kimmell said...

I, Katie Kimmell of @kekimmell on instagram, sign up as a participant of Me Made May 2018. I pledge to wear at least one me-made item daily for all of May and document them on instagram. I will strive to wear a different item each day without repeating and wear items that don’t get worn often.

Megan said...

"I, Megan of 'Show and Tell Meg' blog and @showandtellmeg on Instagram, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavor to wear at least one Me-Made item each day throughout the month and photograph each day. I also want to finish 2 new clothing items during the month (hopefully more, but we'll see)."

Traci said...

I, @traci_culverhouse , sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear one me-made item a week for the month of May 2018

Unknown said...

I Amber pledge to wear at least one made item by me at least once every week in May and to make at least one item weekly to fill holes in my wardrobe.

Ruth Walker said...

I Ruth, of @ruth_e_walker sign up as a participant of Me Made May 2018. I pledge to wear at least one me-made item of clothing each day, and at least one completely me-made outfit each week for the month of May. I will also aim to wear some of my RTW clothes that haven’t been worn for a while.

Carrie Cunningham said...

I, Carrie of @endlessdznsbycarrie and sewcarriesew.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made creation once a week during the month of May 2018.

Anonymous said...


'I, Jessica (@jnacarlo), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear a different me made item each day and to have the confidence to post pictures to show how proud I am and as a thank you to the wonderful pattern designers, throughout May 2018'

Unknown said...

Hello Zoe from Cape Cod USA. I just finished listening to Love to Sew starring....you!
I want to thank you as you gave me a while lot to think about.
Especially waste in home sewing.
When I began sewing it was all that I thought about during ANY spare minute. (actually that is still true) I was so enamored with all of the pretty dresses being sewn that I made at least 3...And NEVER wore them. Turns out I am still not a girly girl even though I really appreciate seeing dresses on others.
Now I am trying very hard to sew only what I need. And if I really want to sew a dress - it is for someone else. I don't need any more clothes. I have enough tops to rotate weekly - enough Sumer and winter pants - enough skirts. I need a few more pairs of tights and leggings. And one or two more Lisbon and or toaster sweaters. But that is it! I am also working on a coat.
So now what? I don't need or want closets full of clothes. The clothes I actually wear for a season fill a small closet and that feels about right.
My style is the same since I was 4.(60 years ago)(gaaa!)
I still love to sew but I don't want to sew for no really good reason with the exception of an occasional really fun challenge. (Jeans) So there is a lot to think about. My next step is teaching children - and I will use my (sort of embarrassing) stash for that. Thank you for a great podcast!

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