Me Made May 2015 Round up!

Hi all,

Today I am back with a round up of all of my Me Made May outfits. I have to say I started this challenge thinking I would just enter the odd day here and there when I could but in the end, I wore me made clothing every day for the month of May. It was however a challenge and I will get to that later. First lets do a round up, the fun bit, with photographs, yay!

Ok outfit one was my Tartan Linden sweatshirt, which I really enjoyed wearing layer over a shirt, this worked for me.

Outfit two was one of my Dungaree dresses that I drafted from a RTW dress, this gets worn a lot, and I love it.

Outfit three is my Grainline studio alder shirt dress layered with a jumper, I think I prefer it like this as the neck is a little large so the jumper helps hide this a little ;)

Outfit number four were my Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers in a paisley pattern, super comfy like a stretch jean and also get a lot of wear because of that. 

Outfit number five is a chiffon tunic dress, self drafted, that has a silk yoke made from a scarf, I used to wear this for work a lot (with trousers, not leggings, fear not) but I think I have fallen out of love with it....

Outfit number six, I think is up there with my favourites, my self drafted polka dot vest and my By Hand London Victoria Blazer in a navy crepe?

Outfit seven is my Grainline studio Alder shirt dress shirt refashion which you can read more about here. 

Outfit eight is a self drafted boxy top made in some striped stretch satin viscose, this was made to wear to work but still gets a lot of wear now. 

Outfit nine is the same self drafted top as outfit eight but in grey chiffon and with a faux black collar and back neck keyhole detail, again this is old now and used to get a lot of wear to work. 

Outfit ten is my Tilly and the Buttons Francoise dress which you can see here.

Outfit eleven is another pair of Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers, this time in a stretch cotton featuring a tile print.

Outfit twelve is my Grainline studio Linden dress hack which can be seen here.

Outfit thirteen is my Parrott party frock or Emery dress if you like. I love this dress, it would have been better with ought the tights but it was way too cold!

Outfit fourteen is another self drafted boxy top in a really cool digital printed chiffon I picked up earlier this year and made during selfish sewing week, read more about that here.

Outfit fifteen is my Ikea fabric house print dress in a self drafted pattern. I loved this dress when I made it but looking at it now I am not so sure.

Outfit sixteen is my self drafted vest again, this has proven to be so useful to layer up between seasons.

Outfit seventeen is another dungaree dress in navy cotton twill, nautical is my favourite. 

Outfit eighteen is my third and last pair of Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers in a Tartan cotton. 

I skipped one day of Me Made May, well I didn't, I was still wearing my super comfortable snowflake Linden but I had come down with tonsillitis and wasn't feeling the selfies so I had a few days of accessories and stand ins to get me through.

Outfit nineteen is my latest and most favourite newly knitted bobble hat, I can't remember the yarn I used but it is wonderful.

Outfit twenty is my mustard scarf, which technically isn't me made at all, but Mum made. She made a piece of batik cloth for me with polka dots on it the hemmed it to make it into a scarf, it is the softest thing ever and rather dear to my heart. 

Outfit twenty one, Mr. F stood in for me and modelled one of the bow ties I made him for Christmas, it is a favourite of mine, I wish I had a matching party frock of the same fabric!

Outfit twenty two is my Carolyn Friedlander Nest Egg Tote which double as a handbag. 

Outfit twenty three is my Peter Pan vintage fabric emery which was also made earlier this year during selfish sewing week.

Outfit twenty four was my newly drafted t-shirt style top with cuffs, soon to be blogged. 

Outfit twenty five is my Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress in a cotton lounging leopards print. 

And that about sums it up, I have left out any repeats, as I am pretty sure seeing twenty five selfies of me is enough to last anyone a lifetime! 

I didn't think much of it when I signed up the this challenge, I just thought, hey, this will be fun, I might get to meet some new people and get some inspiration. It was so much more than that! 

When I have looked back though my photographs of the month I can honestly say there are very few outfits that I am really happy with. So I decided I needed to analyse this and do something about it. 

I took a look at the outfits I really liked and tried to narrow things down a bit. 

And as it turns out, this is it. Twelve out of twenty five and I am still not sure about a couple of these but I think that has more to do with fit than anything else. 

I looked at what I was left with and it still didn't fill me with joy, it wasn't a whole wardrobe of garments that I could piece together to make outfits. 

The other outfits that didn't make the cut were just, not me anymore, I think it is a combination of poor choice of colour and just out growing a style. 

So here are my findings from my Me Made May challenge.

I do not make enough me made comfortable clothes, I tend to make clothes for occasions, dresses mainly, this is ok, but I am at home a lot at the moment and party frocks just won't cut it! 

I do not have a colour palette so my me made clothes do no coordinate particularly well, this is fine for individual garments such as dresses, but for separates, it would be nice to be able to coordinate my pieces. 

I do not make many warm items of clothing, so, when the weather is bad I am often left wearing RTW items that I am not happy with.

So, I have decided I would like to do a bit of a wardrobe overhaul and reassess what is missing from my wardrobe. I can then draw up an action plan of how to fix it. 

In my next blog post I will go into more detail about my plan to make my me made wardrobe work for me! 

Lastly I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone that took part this year. I have met some amazing, inspirational people through this challenge, people I would not normally have had a chance to chat to, everyone has been so welcoming and supportive. The sewing community really is a great thing to be a part of. 

If you have taken part in Me Made May this year and have found it helpful, I would love to know why? 

Has it helped you identify gaps in your wardrobe? 

Has it made you realise which are your favourite me made items of clothing and which go largely unworn?

Or have you just seen people's entries into the Me Made May challenge and are inspired to join in yourself next year?

Let me know in the comments below...

~HJF~