Me-Made-May 2024 Is Approaching!

Another year, another MMM logo! It's been 15 years since I accidentally started this whole thing: the wardrobe challenge that helps you learn about your handmade wardrobe. To break it all down, here are some handy graphics. And if you'd like to hear more about the creation and evolution of the challenge, as well as how you can participate, please check out Ep. #84 of my podcast, Check Your Thread.

Here is a blank square if you wish to use to for writing your pledge. 

If you have any questions, please get in contact via email (zoe at checkyourthread dot com). I have also created a helpful (but entirely optional!) workbook to accompany the challenge. It will help you capture the lessons you'll learn about your wardrobe so you can apply them to your future making. 

If you're challenging yourself this year, I wish you a super fun and useful challenge!

Me-May-May '23!

Ok, friends.... It's time for me to launch the Me-Made-May 2023 challenge! These challenges are now in their 14th year, which I'm struggling to believe. It's pretty wonderful actually, to have created something that continues to help, inspire and unite the sewing community that has spanned the various changes in technologies over that time. 

For 2022, I gave MMM a bit of a makeover and minor relaunch. I worked hard to simplify and clarify the challenge, how you participate and why. I've never been able to explain MMM as a snappy elevator pitch, which is a weakness or sorts, but also a source of strength, because it can be what individuals need it to be. 

This year, I'm basically re-delivering this simplified presentation, both here and on Instagram (@sozoblog). Last year I also created an explanatory episode for those wishing to hear more and delve deeper to get the most out of their challenge. I'll be re-releasing that episode this week for those who didn't hear it the first time round, or would like a reminder. 

I also created two accompanying podcast episodes to help people design their pledge so it'll be most useful for them. Those episodes also included some conversations with previous podcast guests about their experiences of, and takeaways from, participating in previous years. They are:

• Episode 37: Pledges and Participants #1 with Rebecca and Meg

• Episode 38: Pledges and Participants #2 with Amy and Judith

You don't need to listen on the player that the links take you to, however. Check Your Thread is available to listen to on all the major podcast apps. 

But let's break it down here and now...

What is Me-Made-May?

MMM is a wardrobe challenge that helps you improve your relationship with your handmade items. That includes your existing items, as well as the items you might choose to make in the future. To participate you need to wear your handmade items more often or in some way differently to how you usually get dressed. The point of doing this is to give yourself the opportunity to learn some useful lessons and/or alter how you feel about those items. There is no set, single pledge because everyone is different, with different lives and different goals, so participants design their own pledge so that it'll be challenging and useful for them. The challenge happens by setting specifics for yourself that will be a bit difficult, but do-able.

You can’t really predict what you’ll learn, but by giving yourself a month to focus more on what you’re wearing, you’re opening yourself to gathering heaps of knowledge that you can take forward. That knowledge will help you make better choices for future projects. By applying the lessons, you’ll be upping your chances of your future handmade items making you feel fantastic and having long, useful lives.

What isn't Me-Made-May?

Over the years, I’ve noticed four common misconceptions about the challenge, so let’s address them now:

MMM is not a making challenge. The challenge is about wearing your existing handmade items. It’s not about accruing more things. Giving yourself a month to focus on what you’ve got will help you appreciate what you have, perhaps fall back in love with some items, and subsequently get more from the time, energy, money and resources that you’ve already put into your craft and your clothes.

MMM is not a photo challenge. All the photos of people in their handmade outfits that appear on social media during May can definitely make it seem that MMM is all about donning a cute handmade outfit and taking and sharing pictures. However, and I cannot stress this enough, those photos are documentation of the challenge, NOT the challenge itself, and photos are ENTIRELY optional!!!!!!

MMM is not a competition. 

MMM is a personal challenge, you’re not competing with anyone. You’ll have made yourself a pledge to focus on throughout the month, and it really doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing, or wearing. If you go on social media where other participants are sharing photos, it’s an opportunity to cheer each other on, and perhaps garner some style inspiration. The enemy of joy is comparison. Remember to stay focused on your own challenge and what you’re trying to achieve.

 

MMM is not about having heaps of handmade clothes

I honestly can’t stress this enough: you can participate in MMM even if you have just one handmade item. You just have to set a suitable pledge that allows you to wear that item more often or in different ways. However many handmade items you have, your pledge needs to be challenging but do-able.

So who is Me-Made-May for? 

I’ve lost count of the amount of posts I’ve read over the years saying ‘I don’t think I have enough me-mades to take part in MMM’. You can participate if you have just one single self-made item, or if you wear head-to-toe me-mades everyday already. It’s about working with what you’ve got, setting a suitable, challenging pledge, learning useful lessons and having fun.

How do I take part?

You will need to intentionally wear your handmade items more and/or in different ways throughout May 2023. Have a think about the handmade items you own, how often you already wear them, and perhaps if there are any areas of your relationship with your wardrobe that know could use some improvement. Then design your own pledge outlining the specifics of your challenge before 1st May. 

“I (insert name or username) pledge to wear (insert specifics of your pledge) for throughout May 2023”

You can keep this entirely to yourself, tell friends and family, or share this on social media, whatever you wish.

If you'd like to hear me break all this down some more, check out Episode 36 of my podcast, Check Your Thread. In the meantime, if you have any questions about MMM, please get in touch via email at sozoblog AT g mail dot com, or via IG @checkyourthread or @sozoblog.

I wish you a wonderful, insightful and FUN Me-Made-May!

Me-Made-May '22!

 

It's time for me to launch the Me-Made-May 2022 challenge! These challenges are now in their 13th year. Can you believe we've reached the teenage years?! To celebrate this milestone, this year I'm giving it a relaunch of sorts. I've clarified what the challenge is all about: what it is, what it isn't, who it's for and how to take part. Plus the logo has had a beautiful makeover. And because I have a podcast these days, I've created an explanatory episode for those wishing to hear more, delve deeper to get the most out of their challenge.  

I'm the first to admit that, because participants set the specifics of their own challenge rather than everyone following along with one single set of 'rules', MMM does not have a snappy, elevator-pitch style explanation. Plus, now that a lot of sewing community activity happens over on Instagram, the visual nature of that platform means that what it's actually about gets a bit lost. I honestly believe (in fact I KNOW because of all the messages and emails I've received over the years) that this challenge can have amazing, eye-opening effects for participants that can change the way you dress and make going forwards. 

So let's break it down.....

What is Me-Made-May?

MMM is a wardrobe challenge that helps you improve your relationship with your handmade items. It can also teach you what to make (and not make) in the future! To participate you need to wear your handmade items more often or in some way differently to how you usually get dressed. This is an individual challenge so you will decide on the specifics for yourself. The point of doing this is to give yourself the opportunity to learn some useful lessons and/or alter how you feel about those items. There is no set, single pledge because everyone is different, with different lives and different goals, so participants set the specifics of their own pledge so that it'll be challenging and useful for them. The challenge happens by setting specifics for yourself that will be a bit difficult, but do-able.

You can’t really predict what you’ll learn, but by giving yourself a month to focus more on what you’re wearing, you’re opening yourself to gathering heaps of knowledge that you can take forward. That knowledge will help you make better choices for future projects. By applying the lessons, you’ll be upping your chances of your future handmade items making you feel fantastic and having long, useful lives.

What isn't Me-Made-May?

Over the years, I’ve noticed four common misconceptions about the challenge, so let’s address them now:

MMM is not a making challenge. The challenge is about wearing your existing handmade items. It’s not about accruing more things. Giving yourself a month to focus on what you’ve got will help you appreciate what you have, perhaps fall back in love with some items, and subsequently get more from the time, energy, money and resources that you’ve already put into your craft and your clothes.

MMM is not a photo challenge. All the photos of people in their handmade outfits that appear on social media during May can definitely make it seem that MMM is all about donning a cute handmade outfit and taking and sharing pictures. However, and I cannot stress this enough, those photos are documentation of the challenge, NOT the challenge itself, and photos are ENTIRELY optional!!!!!!

MMM is not a competition. 

MMM is a personal challenge, you’re not competing with anyone. You’ll have made yourself a pledge to focus on throughout the month, and it really doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing, or wearing. If you go on social media where other participants are sharing photos, it’s an opportunity to cheer each other on, and perhaps garner some style inspiration. The enemy of joy is comparison. Remember to stay focused on your own challenge and what you’re trying to achieve.

 

MMM is not about having heaps of handmade clothes

I honestly can’t stress this enough: you can participate in MMM even if you have just one handmade item. You just have to set a suitable pledge that allows you to wear that item more often or in different ways. However many handmade items you have, your pledge needs to be challenging but do-able.

So who is Me-Made-May for? 

I’ve lost count of the amount of posts I’ve read over the years saying ‘I don’t think I have enough me-mades to take part in MMM’. You can participate if you have just one single self-made item, or if you wear head-to-toe me-mades everyday already. It’s about working with what you’ve got, setting a suitable pledge, learning useful lessons and having fun.

How do I take part?

You will need to intentionally wear your handmade items more and/or in different ways throughout May 2022. Have a think about the handmade items you own, how often you already wear them, and perhaps if there are any areas of your relationship with your wardrobe that know could use some improvement. Then set your own pledge outlining the specifics of your challenge before 1st May. 

“I (insert name or username) pledge to wear (insert specifics of your pledge) for throughout May 2022”

You can keep this entirely to yourself, tell friends and family, or share this on social media, whatever you wish.

If you'd like to hear me break all this down some more, check out Episode 36 of my podcast, Check Your Thread. If you're struggling to figure out your pledge, there will be two episodes coming up with more ideas, plus we'll hear from some previous participants. In the meantime, if you have any questions about MMM, please get in touch via email at sozoblog AT g mail dot com, or via IG @checkyourthread or @sozoblog.

I wish you a wonderful, insightful and FUN Me-Made-May!

Me-Made-May 21!

Can you believe it time to talk about another Me-Made-May challenge?! As you may recall, last year I was in two minds about even mentioning MMM because of the stresses and strains that the global pandemic was bringing to most people's lives and head spaces. However, it turns out that a gentle version of the challenge was EXACTLY what so many people found that they needed after all! 

It gave so many of us a reason to put on clothes that made us feel positive, proud and 'ourselves' each morning, rather than staying in pyjamas or chucking on grotty loungewear again. It encouraged us to re-focus a little on our love of garment making, and learn some lessons throughout the month that helped our practice going forwards. And if we chose to participate in the community aspect of the challenge by sharing and/or checking out photos of fantastic handmade garments, it helped us feel connected to other participants at a time when connection was so desperately needed. I'm sure that most participants would agree with me when I say that Me-Made-May 2020 ended up being a wonderful, beautiful, positive little ray of light during a very difficult year. 

And what of 2021? How are we all feeling a year later? We're all clearly so very far from living 'normal' lives still. What role can the Me-Made-May challenge play for the global community of makers this year? I feel that there's a quiet, gentle hopefulness about this year, and participating in MMM could be a wonderful part of that. So much has changed since 2019, and if we choose to, we can use the challenge to explore who we are now, and who we want to be as 2021 continues to unfold...

Personally, I plan to use May 2021 to consciously reconnect with my handmade wardrobe, and subsequently reconnect with myself. I want to enjoy a month-long celebration of creativity with the rest of the beautiful online making community. And I REALLY hope you'll join me. 

What IS Me-Made-May?

• MMM is a personal challenge to wear your handmade items more often, or in different ways, to help you improve your relationship with your handmade wardrobe. 
• It is entirely personal: you can set the specifications of your challenge as you wish so that it will help YOU. Think about what you would like to improve and/or learn about what you wear. 
• You do your challenge for the duration of May.
• It's entirely up to you whether you wish to keep your challenge entirely to yourself, or share some or all of it with others. If you wish to share the odd (or daily!) photo or comment on social media, please use the hashtag #memademay2021 so other participants can find you and cheer you along.

But what might I gain by taking part?

Depending on the specifics of your pledge, you may discover:

• which of your current handmade items make you feel the happiest (and therefore perhaps how best to spend your garment-making time in the future)
• which of them need to be repaired, altered, upcycled or passed on
• the colours that suit you and the ones that don't
• new combinations that may help you get more use from the items you've made
• which silhouettes and garment styles best suit your day-to-day life, as well as your body and personal taste
• new garment styles, patterns, fabrics, yarns or colours worn by others that you are excited to try for yourself
• how others wear and style the same patterns you own differently
• what different fabrics or yarns others have tried when making patterns you own
• some new online friends
• some new makers' accounts to follow that inspire you

Ok, I want some of that too, what do I do now?

You need to think about the specifics of your challenge. Think about what you'd like to achieve/improve/learn by the end of the month, and what you can do throughout the month to make that happen. Normally, I ask participants to fill out a pledge and post it in the comments of this post. If you would like to do that, awesome. If you'd like to share it on Instagram or anywhere else, then also awesome:

'I, (insert name or username here), pledge to (insert specifics of your challenge here) throughout May 2021'

So as an example, here's mine:

'I, Zoe aka @sozoblog, pledge to wear only handmade garments in unique combinations as much as possible throughout May 2021'.

If you have any questions or queries, please email me at sozoblog (at) g mail dotcom, or message me on IG @sozoblog. Please remember, if you do want to take part, be as gentle and kind to yourself as possible, in many ways the world is still broken after all. DO NOT beat yourself up if you wake up on 1st May and think, 'actually, no, I want to stay in my non-me-made pyjamas all day after all'!. This is meant to be fun, useful and affirming! 

Please take care of yourselves, lots of love xxx

My-Me-Made-May 2019: Days 16 - 22

Agh!!! This month is whizzing by and I feel like I've hardly had a minute to see what's going on in the rest of the Me-Made-May community. But what I have seen, I've LOVED!!!! So many amazing sewers, knitters, crocheters, refashioners, visible-menders and so on wearing and sharing their amazing pieces. The creativity on display is truly overwhelming. And the variety of styles and appraoches to dressing is so exciting. To say that I feel inspired doesn't even begin to fully express it. Anyways, enough gushing for now, here's my week three round up...

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18 (although this outfit proved too warm and I changed into a blouse)

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21 

I forget to get a picture, which is annoying because I feel it was one of my more successful outfits! You'll have to take my word for it that it was a unique combo!

Day 22 (I need to get m fringe trimmed)

Me-Made-May 2019: Sign Up Here!!!

This is the TENTH year of the Me-Made-May challenge, and if you're interested in improving your relationship with your handmade wardrobe, then you've come to the right place. To take part, you will need to set yourself a pledge to wear your me-mades more and/or in different ways, and follow it through out May. Hopefully, by the end of the month, you will have learnt a whole load about yourself, your style, how you feel about your wardrobe, and how best to spend your clothes-making time going forwards. Here's what you do....

How do I sign up?

All you have to do is copy the pledge below and paste it into the comments section of this post, adapted to include your details and the specifics of your personal pledge before 1st May:

'I, (insert name here), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May 2019. I endeavour to ........................................................................... during May 2019' 

Why should I take part?

The Me-Made-May challenge can help you...

• to start integrating your me-made items into your regular wardrobe rotation.
• get out of a wardrobe rut by focusing on your lesser-worn items and creating new outfits that include them.
• find out what the 'holes' in your wardrobe are so that you are able to use your garment-creating time more usefully in the future.
• begin wearing the clothes that you really want to be seen in, rather than the same old things you usually reach for most mornings.
• enjoy the excuse to finish off any lingering UFOs (unfinished objects), or to finally start a project that has been on your mind for ages.
• discover what the rest of this large community of makers has created and is wearing in their day-to-day lives, and enjoy the support, advice and inspiration that they will provide.

You just need to work out a tricky but do-able pledge for yourself that pushes out of your usual routine, and will be useful for you.

What isn't Me-Made-May?

• A photo challenge. You might have seen heaps of Me-Made-May related pictures posted on blogs, Instagram etc. during previous challenges showing participants in their awesome handmade creations. Many participants like to document and share their challenges in this way, which is obviously amazing (and if you do, please use the hashtag #memademay2019), but COMPLETING YOUR PLEDGE is the actual challenge; taking and sharing photos of what you wear during it is ENTIRELY OPTIONAL. You do not need a blog or Instagram account or any social media presence at all. I cannot emphasise this enough: you do not need to take any photos. At all. But please do, if you want to. 
• A reason to make lots of new clothes. This challenge is about wearing and enjoying the items that you have already created more often, not about stock-piling more makes. However, if you want to use the challenge as the kick in the butt you need to finally hem that half-finished skirt, or rework an ill-fitting garment, then great. This challenge is about being thoughtful about creating, not about trying to make as much as possible just to have more options to wear.
• A competition. It doesn't matter how many me-made items you already have or haven't. You can take part even if you just have one solitary me-made item! You just need to set your pledge to make it challenging for YOU, don't concern yourself about what other participants have pledged for themselves.

Ideas for your pledge...

Remember, this is meant to be challenging (i.e. NOT what you usually do), so take some time to think about how to get the most from the challenge before writing your pledge.

Many participants pledge to wear 'one me-made garment per day', but don't feel that you have to follow suit, particularly if that would currently be too tricky or too easy for you. Try to think up a pledge that will be difficult (AKA challenging!), but not impossible, and most of all USEFUL to you! There are near-infinite ways to tailor the pledge to your own requirements. Here are some ideas:

• pledging to wear things you made a year ago or more, to see if you can bring some of them back into regular rotation, or if it's time to let them go.
• pledging to only wear separates to force yourself to get creative with your mix-and-matching.
• if you'd like to wear dresses (or whatever) more often than you current do, pledging to wear each of your me-made dresses at least once during the month.
• pledging to wear each of your me-made garments only once during the month, perhaps to see what didn't make the cut and to therefore not make any of that type of garment again!
• pledging to finish all your UFO's by 31st May if the sight of your UFO pile has been weighing you down.

If you do have a blog or social media accounts, why not re-post your pledge and the logo at the top of the post there so your readers and followers can see what you are up to and be inspired by your endeavour? If possible, please include a link to this post so others can also sign-up if they are interested. If there's one thing I've learnt from these challenges, the more people involved, the better the party!

I've signed up, what do I do now then?

Nothing in particular until 1st May 2019, except let an underlying sense of excitement brew! You may decide to finish up that UFO, but please people, NO PANIC-MAKING NECESSARY OR CONDONED!!

If you are concerned or confused about any aspect of this challenge, please email me at sozoblog (at) g mail (dot) com

Let the signing up commence!!!!!

It's coming..... Me-Made-May 2019!

In less than a week, the sign-ups for the annual Me-Made-May challenge will begin! If there is anyone reading this that doesn't already know about Me-Made-May, let me explain. Me-Made-May is a month long challenge with participants setting their own pledges with the aim of improving their relationship with their handmade wardrobe. Participants usually try to do this by wearing their handmade creations more often and/or in new ways throughout the month. At the end of the month, many participants report that they learnt so many useful lessons about themselves and their creations, which in turn helps us use our clothes-making time more effectively going forwards. Plus, aside from being enlightening, it's heaps of fun! Oh, and can you believe that this year will be the TENTH year of this challenge?!?!?!

In case you have heard of Me-Made-May already but received misinformation about what it's all about, please let me clarify. Me-Made-May is NOT all about taking daily photos and sharing them on Instagram (although you totally can if you wish, please use the hashtag #memademay2019), that's just one way to document the challenge and is entirely optional, NOT the challenge itself. Plus Me-Made-May is NOT a making challenge. It is about increasing the enjoyment of what we have already made and learning lessons to apply to future projects, NOT about stock piling more makes.

You don't need to have any social media presence whatsoever to take part; you just need to come up with a challenging but do-able pledge for yourself, and stick to it throughout May. I've got a couple of extra things up my sleeve to make this year's challenge even more fun (oh, and finally a professionally designed logo! It only took me ten years...), so make sure you come back here from the 1st April if you plan to take part this year....

A Year of Stash Busting, PLUS: Dutch Label Shop Discount Code

It’s been over a year now since I begun to really definitely actually start busting my fabric stash. I wrote about my plans back in March of this year to sew up one piece of fabric or reusable garment each week, but I'd actually started the previous October. Are you interested in finding out how I’ve got on?! Well, I'm pleased to announce that, yes, I HAVE managed to keep up with this challenge! Some pieces became time-consuming projects, others became swift and satisfying makes, like these four pairs of leggings for my daughter that illustrate this post. All of these leggings/jeggings were made using the free leggings sewing pattern by Petit Boo that I reviewed here by the way, and have all these pairs been worn many times since they were completed.

Truth be told, not all of those 52 pieces of fabric or garments came straight from my stash. My stash is big, but not so big that it contains a piece of every type of fabric I might like to sew with! So I have been purchasing new pieces of fabric here and there, but only with a specific project in mind, and very often for a specific pattern that's in my possession. This accommodation has worked well, because I have been turning lots of my languishing pieces of stash into useful garments, but I haven't felt frustrated because I wasn't confined to only using stash pieces this past year.

Using one piece of fabric or reusable garment per week may sound a lot to some, and you may be concerned that I have been sewing for the sake of it, or that a lot of this output ended up not getting worn. Thankfully, I've kept a list over the last year of everything I've used and what it became so I can address these concerns. Out of the 52 pieces used, only seven were a FAIL (and subsequently were given to a friend, sent to the textile recycling bin, or put back in the stash to reuse the fabric), the rest of the garments I've made have seen a good amount of use. Obviously I have reached for the pieces of stash that I've felt most inspired to use when the right project came to mind, so things may get trickier the deeper into my stash I rummage. But not allowing myself to buy fabric on spec means that I have given each purchase or acquisition of new fabric a great deal of thought, which has reduced FAILS considerably.

Truth be told, there's still a lot of fabric and reusable garments in my stash, but visibly less than this time last year. My sewing time may dwindle a bit in the future as a number of different activities and projects I'm involved in are going to start taking up more of my free time. However, for the foreseeable future, I'm going to continue with my one-piece-per-week challenge, and see how much more I whittle down my stash by creating fabulous and useful garments.

Stash busting update over: on to the discount code! Recently, the Dutch Label Shop generously offered me some store credit for their website to order myself some woven garment labels in exchange for a mention on my social media. Coincidentally, getting some new labels for my family's clothing was on my mind at the time, having just stitched tons of onto my daughter's uniform as she started school this September. The labels I had been using for my daughter's clothes were ordered through Etsy and are very cute. However, I've found that the printed design fades extensively when laundered, so I was musing on acquiring some woven labels to use instead. 

I spent an AGE playing about on the Dutch Label Shop website, designing and redesigning with their pleasingly user-friendly label designing function. Even sticking to the 'Basic' woven label option like I did, you can choose different sizes of labels, different colours for the background and text, different fonts and from hundreds of little logos. I particularly like how clearly you can see how much the different combos of elements will cost you for different quantities before you continue with the ordering process. I managed to make my store credit extend to four different sets of labels. Ta dah!!!!

Cute, non?! I LOVE them, and they make the garments I stitch them into look extra professional (see the My Little Pony leggings above). If you would like to design and order your own garment labels, you can get 15% using the code sozoblog15 (all lowercase) when prompted during the ordering process. This code will be valid for 60 days so you've got a couple of months to go and design yourself some adorable labels, starting from........NOW! Happy label designing!