I’ve finally limped over the line with Me-Made-May 2017. Apologies for the lateness of my final Me Made May post. I’ve been on holiday and then went straight back into a busy week at work, which didn’t give me much opportunity to sort out my photos and do some me-made analysis.
Sadly, I roamed into ready-to-wear territory on the last day with a pair of shorter length trousers (not photographed) – it was hot, I couldn’t face another day in jeans and I’d brought no skirts on holiday! I find that if I pack skirts, they hardly ever get worn, so I didn’t take one and really regretted it. All in all though, the pair of shorts and the bra earlier in the month were my only deviations from me-madeness. I’ll give myself a pat on the back for that!
So here are my photos for the last days of May:
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- Day 24 and 25
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- Day 26
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- Day 27
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- Day 28
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- Days 29 and 30
I was surprised by how much wear I got out of my green wrap skirt. I don’t think it even got worn last year. I found that my new lime green t-shirt was the perfect combination with it too!
My other favourite outfit this month has got to be the combination of my blue Wolfie jeans and my burgundy Drape drape 2 top. I wore this combination for 4 days!
Like previous years I made a spreadsheet for a bit of analysis. Here are the headline statistics from the month:
I think this year the weather was much better than last year. Evidence of this can be seen with the number of times I wore short-sleeved tops 45% of the time and even discarded an extra layer (in the form of a cardigan or jumper) on some days. I was quite surprised that I managed to wear a skirt 26% of the time, which may also be weather related. I tend to reach for a pair of jeans in preference if not checked, and wishing to wear a variety of outfits, I’ve probably worn more skirts this month than I would otherwise.
The restriction on the number of layering items – I had only one me-made jumper and one me-made cardigan, meant that some of my favourite outfits from last year didn’t get worn. I just didn’t feel I could team a teal cardigan with a brown paisley top without embarassment (should I worry much about matching garments?) But with my brown cardigan back in use in June, this favourite combination will get worn.
I also decided to keep track this year of when the clothes I most wear were made. I wanted to see whether I was still making use of my older clothes or discarding them in favour of newer items. The oldest items I wore (all from 2014) were my grey wide-legged trousers. These were the first pair of trousers I made and are still very much in use. My Be My Goth shirt and skirt also got worn.
However, I didn’t wear many of my older items, in particular my 2013 items which were my first Butterick B5357 top and my wrap dress. At the time I’d chosen patterns based on their ease of construction and not whether they fit in with my style. For this reason, I’d made a dress and I scarcely ever wear dresses! My Sorbetto tops didn’t get an airing either. However, I think I will wear them before the summer is out. I have given them an harshly critical eye lately and I’ve realized the fit isn’t great. I have adjusted my favourite Sorbetto top, giving a little more ease through the armscye, so I really should start wearing it again. In summary, I did wear a good mixture of old and new – 19% of my clothes were made in 2017, the rest from previous years including a few from 2014.
Me-made-May over for another year, I think it gives me a great record of my wardrobe (even if I’m only grudgingly taking photos by the end of the challenge). I think my me-made gaps are very obvious – cardigans, jumpers and bras, perhaps next year I will finally have a total me-made wardrobe!
Steely Seamstress 