Me Made May 2017: My Recap

Another May has come and gone, and I have an entire month worth of pictures to show for it :) I skipped photos on a few days, but those were total repeat outfits that were only worn about an hour before changing into grubby old clothes and doing lots of yard work and moving and other sweaty activities. I did manage to wear more than one me made outfit 4 days (those are the pics with a star on them), so that visually makes up for my lacking photos, lol.

So what did I learn this month? First off there's an extreme lack of dresses in my wrap up. I seriously never wear my dresses - I'm all separates these days. Skirts and knit shirts are just more comfy and practical for my life right now, and I have no problem with this. So while I like dresses in theory, I need to focus on making shirts and skirts. Some of the things I specifically needed this month are:

• new denim skirt to replace Melissa
• skirts with more body to withstand wind
• new brown skirt to replace Melissa
• knit lighter weight, cotton sweaters so they can actually be worn
• more vibrant colored tops
• white tops in woven fabric

My poor Melissa skirts are looking a bit rough these days - the jean one in particular, but the brown one is quite faded overall. I seriously wear these two skirts at least once a week, and I have since I made them. The only thing that keeps me from wearing them all the time is if they are in the wash. The jean one looks really shabby, plus given its light weight denim I tend to have occasional Marilyn moments with all the crazy wind where I live now. I love the brown version because the fabric is so sturdy it just feels nice and substantial so I don't have to worry about wind. I like my butt secured, thank you very much. Also given that it is SO.FREAKING.HOT here right now, I only was able to wear one hand knit sweater on one day. I took a photo in one other photo, but I didn't actually get to wear the sweater out because it was so hot. So yeah - I need some fingering weight sweaters with cotton in them. I'm still trying to come to terms with this need. I love knitting, but fingering weight sweaters just take me SO LONG to make. Hopefully I can get my rear in gear on that one. I also really wished I had more colorful tops several times - it's not that I don't have colors, but most of my shirts are in jewel tones (strange, lol) and sometimes a girl just needs something bright. I also really would like some white woven tops - I'm thinking something tuck-able like the Sailor Top, or other likewise loose-in-the-tummy type designs. 

What patterns did I wear most often? Unsurprisingly my Hollyburn Skirts and Melissa skirts got me through most of the month. The Sewaholic Hollyburn came in at 9 times (between 3 skirts) and the Muse Patterns Melissa came in at 8 times (2 skirts most of the time, 1 worn only once). Skirt-wise I also wore most others I have in my me-made wardrobe: Style Arc Sally - worn twice, Blue GInger Doll Peggy Skirt - 2 skirts worn once each, Self Drafted - 3 skirts one time each, Refashioned (2 skirts) worn 3 times. All of this is typical of what I wear all the time, to be completely honest. I love comfy skirts and wear them all the time. I need more to replace my shabbier ones. In the tops category, the winner is my combined Sewaholic Renfrew/Deer + Doe Plantain match up. I wore a version of this pattern 5 times this month - all different tops. I've just really narrowed this pattern down to how I like to wear it, so it fits in my wardrobe really nicely. It may not be the most exciting pattern out there, but you can't argue with a pattern that is that comfy and such a great basic to show off a fun print. The next most worn pattern is the Seamster Patterns Sorrel top (again - no surprise there). I'm actually surprised this pattern didn't get more wear, but I haven't felt as cutesy this month as I have in the past, and most of my Sorrel tops are very cutesy fabrics. Other tops I wore are: Christine Haynes Patterns Marianne top - worn twice, Fancy Tiger Crafts Sailor Top - worn twice, Go To Patterns Parisian Top - worn once, Indygo Junction Gathered Back Top - worn once, Cecelia Theresa Designs Boogie Retro Top - worn once, New Look 6150 - 2 tops worn once each. I love comfy knit tops.I only wore one dress, and it was Simplicity 2444. I did love this pattern, and I have a lot of fabrics that would make great versions, but I really want to get a shirt dress going. I also find it interesting that I wore items involving a refashion 10 times this month. Some were total remakes that I used a new pattern for, some were greatly altered to fit me but be a similar style, and some were just used as elements for a new item when combined with other fabrics. I find that pretty neat :) I could go further if I added up how many of these involved thrifting in some way, but if you've read this blog for any amount of time you already know my love of thrifted materials. Yay for repurposing AND saving money at the same time :)

Another interesting realization I had during May - if it's not hanging in my closet, I won't wear it. I've kind of known this, but this month really made it obvious. I have several other shirts that I could've worn, but in my rush in the morning I go completely from my closet. Does this make me lazy? Probably by some people's standards. But I just need to get the things I want to wear into my closet so I can get things worn.

Conclusion - So that's it for Me Made May this year! I can't lie - I'm excited to not need to take pictures of myself everyday, lol - but it was also fun to participate with everyone. And I did notice some wardrobe gaps (or quickly developing ones like my worn out skirts), so it was a great exercise. It's not difficult for me to wear my me made items anymore, but it's still nice to have this visual proof of just how much they get worn. I really didn't feel burdened by my lack of clothing choices like I have in past years, so that's proof that I'm getting better at making things I like to wear. Yay for personal growth!

Did you participate in Me Made May?