I have been participating in Me Made May again. Have you? This great initiative by Zoe of So Zoe encourages people who sew to wear their clothes. Although I have plenty of Me Made clothes I don’t wear them everyday.
This year I asked myself why?
I think the main reason is that they are a bit fancy. For work I tend to wear a “uniform” of trousers, shirt and jacket, with flat shoes. At weekends it is jeans and a long sleeved T and a jumper. Apart from the jumper, and the jacket most of these items are RTW.
Many of my Me Made items are party frocks or dressy items and they are not worn regularly.
So I was interested to see when “forced” by the SWAP rules to make neutrals and rather plainer garments if these items would get worn during Me Made month or not.
Here is my progress so far. I will not go through every day, just some of the “new” outfits I put together for MMM.
I found a few surprising combinations, all of which I enjoyed wearing. At weekends it is easy as anything goes, even too dressy. It is also much easier when the weather is warm. And I have found that even when I wear my work “uniform” I invariably need a sweater and now I have an absolute avalanche of hand knits.
I am on the case with dressing Me Made until the end of the month as I always learn something new. But I am now more and more convinced I have way too many clothes and maybe my next challenge is to go down to four or five interlinked capsules that reflect what I wear the most.
A thought for another day.
Do you wear most of what you make? Or do you stick with a few TNT outfits?
Catherine Daze
You look very stylish! I particularly like the outfit with the printed shorts. The colours are wonderful and the blocky print is unexpected but not overwhelming.
I am envious of your collection of jumpers, I’ve been working away at an EZ jumper since January (RSI makes me a very slow knitter) and I’m still not finished.
Anita Steiner
You look very stylish. I still have quite a lot of RTW clothes, that I mix and match with my selfmade ones. Anita
ceci
Wow, your knitting really pulls all these outfits together – I especially like the pullover with the sailor pants!
I don’t have many days in my very casual retirement persona where I DON’T wear something I have made – at the moment things are in great uproar here but I am in need of some sewing time and hope to get it next week!
Congratulations on your May outfits so far, it is fun to see them like this.
ceci
fabrickated
Thanks for your kind feedback Ceci. I can’t currently imagine how I will handle retirement when it comes along – I may go completely casual, or maybe react against cardies and joggers with more formal outfits….
Bunny
Your knitting really spotlights these outfits, very stylish! Memade works wonderfully for you. I love how your shoes, or lack thereof, make such a great accent.
fabrickated
That’s funny about the shoes….Thanks Bunny
Suzanne
These are fantastic! I love your style, and the choices of colors – you look great with colors that have blue undertones. Me? I wear my hand mades quite a bit – but mostly the skirts and work dresses. Still working on good results (fit wise) for jackets, pants, and tops. But I won’t give up!
fabrickated
Good fit is so important, isn’t it Suzanne? It’s where me made trumps RTW – but of course it is not easy to get a great fit. A life times work, probably.
Jay
Nice outfits! You have some pretty special knitwear there, and I really like the dress you drafted from Winnie, lovely colour and pretty buttons!
fabrickated
Thanks Jay. Two of the large mother of pearl buttons match and one tones. They were a gift from my daughter in law so I was particularly keen to use them.
Su
I think I wear most of what I make and if I don’t wear it it’s because it was a poor match up of fabric and pattern or I didn’t do flat pattern measurements before cutting out and it’s not the fit I expected. Haven’ t done MMM in years, but I’m learning that I too have way too many clothes, in part that I find it very hard to get rid of MM clothes even when I no longer like the style, as it’s looking dated or was too far from my style to begin with.
Less can be more – a very versatile wardrobe means a limited colour palette to make it truly mix and match.But I live where there are 4 distinct seasons and like many colours and new looks.