Let’s dive in!
May 15: Altered RTW pants and a Santa Fe top I made last summer. My feet were bugging me so I”m wearing particularly orthotic shoes! 😛
May 16: Another Santa Fe! I liked this pattern a lot last summer but packed them all away for winter… I’m happy that they are back in rotation and I still like the style! The cardigan in RTW, and the pants are Ginger Jeans made with some great stretch twill from a shop in Toronto. Why is it so hard to find bright colours of stretch twill, people? (Oh, and my camera wasn’t focusing properly, and I didn’t notice!)
May 17: More summer clothes making it back into rotation as the weather improved this week! (OK, it was still bloody cold some days!) This Groove dress is a favourite from last year – although I was surprised when I put it on how much slimmer the a-line shape is than an Ebony dress!
May 18: Sallie jumpsuit with RTW cardigan! I got several compliments on the jumpsuit from co-workers… and a Syrian refugee girl I work with said, “I like your pyjamas!” A+ for using a sentence and the vocab you know, girl, but I promise it’s real clothing!
May 19: This weeks new make! Since the Comino Cap pattern was the star of my outfits for the first two weeks of MMM, I decided to make a classic version. Except then I lengthened the skirt, added a cut out, and decided on the fly to add ties… so I guess it’s a hack after all!
May 23: For some reason, I love this outfit! I picked the sweater up second hand on the weekend after my new dress reminded me how much I enjoy wearing cobalt blue. The tank is a heavily-modified Itch To Stitch Lago tank, which I pattern tested (I didn’t like how it was designed to fit in the larger sizes, so I won’t be blogging about it!) Jeans are RTW that I altered this winter.
May 24: The weather got cold and miserable, so I dressed in layers with another recently-thrifted cardigan, Espresso leggings, and Concord t-shirt dress!
May 25: Remember I said it got cold and miserable? Check out the gust of wind in the first pic – I just had to keep it in! It was a lot harder to take nice blog pics on overcast days. This outfit is my newest pair of Cone Denim Ginger Jeans, a Concord tee, and a Concord cardigan! Gotta love those TNTs!
May 29: Back to warm weather! This is another new dress, made with deep stash fabric! Why did I wait so long to sew this up? The bodice is a lined Jalie tank, and the skirt is the Sallie from Closet Case Files. As I drove to work, I realised I had a retirement dinner to attend that night – and my first thought was, “Well, at least I look good!”
May 30: Speaking of looking good, I felt great in this Cashmerette Washington hack all day… but I’m not sure the pictures agree? Maybe if I pulled down the centre front waist… Hmm. Oh well! The cardigan is RTW and gets worn so much that it’s sprouting holes! I need to colour match this grey and recreate it!
May 31: I couldn’t let MMM end without wearing one of my favourite dresses! This was from my first round of projects for Cali Fabrics last year (as was that floral striped Concord a few outfits back), and I feel happy every time I wear it! The bodice is a Comino Cap, and the skirt is another Sallie maxi. Cardigan is RTW.
PHEW! That’s a lot of pictures to look through, so congrats if you stuck through it!
How about some data for a change?
I tracked my outfits using a Google form, and here’s how it played out:
- I wore MM loungewear (aka pyjamas) for 9 days. I chose not to dress up just to take a picture – this is real life, folks!
- On days when I did get properly dressed, I always wore Me-Made bras and underwear. I’m going to keep sewing some more and get rid of the old RTW!
- I wore RTW cardigans 14 days out of the month – I find cardigans easy to thrift and they last for years!
- I wore dresses 13 days, and pants 9 times. That’s very seasonal-dependent, I think – it finally got warm enough to wear bare legs, so the second half of the month was all about the summer dresses!
- I’m glad I took proper pics with my DSLR. By the end of the month, I could bang out close, medium, and full-length poses in about 10 shots and under a minute. It ended up being faster than asking my husband to take a picture each day!
I learned that I love cobalt blue and fuschia purple, and need more of both in my life. I felt a lack of me-made lightweight summer sweaters, so that is a gap to fill. I made a bunch of new garments, and got caught taking pictures by my neighbours at least 5 times!
Overall, I love my wardrobe! These are the outfits I wear to work, but also what I want to wear on the weekend if I’m leaving the house. (I love pyjamas, what can I say?) My goal this Me-Made May was to capture what I really enjoy wearing everyday, and I feel like I’ve succeeded in that.
Next, I’ll back back with a post about using MMM pics to prompt a colour palette – but you knew that was going to happen, right? CLOTHES! COLOURS! RAINBOWS! It’s my happy place. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Crafting A Rainbow 
As a larger size myself, I would love to hear your feedback on the Lago (which I have printed and assembled but not cut out)! I really love your new Comino Cap and the windowpane check dress. Great outfits!
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It’s definitely worth sewing up your Lago and seeing how it fits on you! I found the armholes WAY too deep, so I shortened the tank 2″ from the back and 1″ from the front, without affecting the neckline… and tightened the bands even more than that 3″. Kennis did identify the issue, and made a 1/4″ change, but I would have wished for a much bigger change! People seemed to have luck with choosing a smaller size and doing an FBA, but it’s a free simple tank – I don’t want to have to do all that work, when other tank patterns fit me fine out of the packet!
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Haha I JUST downloaded the Lago myself so I had the same question as Masha. I’ll watch out for the armholes. I did have great success last weekend turning the Deer & Doe Plantain into tanks (tank dresses specifically). The arm hole depth was fine as is after taking off the sleeves and really the only change (other than making them dress length) was to take the outside shoulders in at least an inch then draw a new curve down to under the armpit.
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If you check the Lago against the Plantain, you should be able to see right away if you’ll need any adjustments! I hope it works well for you!
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I’ve really enjoyed following along with you this month, and I especially dig the collage and stats at the end. Wardrobe planning posts *might* be my favorite thing to read, and it’s so cool to see when it has paid off!
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Yay, I’m glad you enjoyed it! I think some people find posts like this incredibly boring… sometimes I love reading other people’s MMM summaries, and sometimes, i admit, I skip through! 😉 I like to have it recorded for posterity though, so I can look back in a few years and see what I liked wearing at this point.
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I realized that although I didn’t take any pictures, I wore something that either you or I made every single day in May as well. I wasn’t specifically trying, I was just wearing the things I wanted to wear on any given day, so that just shows how much handmade clothing pervades my wardrobe! Thanks, lady!
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Ooh, that’s awesome! ❤
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This post must have taken you some SERIOUS time to put together Gillian! Loved every bit of it 🙂 Pictures and your descriptions of clothing you’ve pulled out from last year that you’re so glad to see and wear again – that was fun 🙂 I’ve been eyeing “tent” dresses and I do really like your Groove dress! They used to call this style of dress back in the ’60’s “trapeze” (I know LONG before your time 🙂 ) and Merchant & Mills has a pattern (available at the Workroom in Toronto) called the Trapeze and does seem to be in that classic shape. I’ve been cautious about that silhouette because my body shape is so top heavy (36F) and not so much as your eye drops – sort of like an inverted triangle (on sticks 🙂 ) But that didn’t stop me from buying Heather Lou’s Ebony! I don’t know how long I’ll end up making that though..maybe just the shortie version which I really like too.
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You know, when I made the Groove last year it felt like quite a bold silhouette… now after wearing Ebonies all winter (which is definitely more trapeze shaped) my Groove felt positively A-line! I think you should give some variation of the silhouette a go – so fun to wear, and so breezy for summer! 😉
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Haha, “I love your pajamas.” So sweet. You had a great May!
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🙂 Thank you!
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Your wardrobe is so bright and cheerful and perfectly put together!
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Thank you! I think spring is the best season for my wardrobe – If MMM was any other season, it would look quite different!
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I love that last maxi dress. Oh, and I love your “pajamas”, too!
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Thank you! 🙂
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Looking good ☺️ please can I ask which bra pattern (s) you use? I am interested in sewing my own, but unsure of patterns for those who, require an FBA, shall I say! A blog post would be great when you add more to your collection. Sorry if you have already blogged loads about this!
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Ooh, welcome to the dark side: bramaking! Personally I find it expensive, time consuming and frustrating… but dammit, when the bra fits, it fits so well! I’ve got a link in my header to my bramaking posts – you can check them out here: https://craftingarainbow.wordpress.com/bramaking/
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May 23 is my fave!
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I love those Santa Fe tops and your maxi dresses. The fabrics are so colourful and the dresses look like they could really be dressed up and down as needed.Such lovely versatile garments. I really love your wardrobe. Xx
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You’re amazing! (I’m starting to sound fan-girly, I think). Really like the print on the May 29th outfit!
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