Me Made May has come to an end – over four weeks of wearing self-made clothes on a daily basis; trying to find new and interesting outfit combinations and grinning inanely into a camera 7 days a week. Phew – I’m glad it’s over if I’m honest, much as I enjoyed the whole thing. But as with Self-Stitched-September last year, I learnt a few things along the way… but first – here’s the last round up!

Monday – Polka dot scout tee with skinny blue trews from Mango… and a cat

Tuesday – New! Portlandia dress with red wedges from Office & Primark belt

Wednesday – Knit scout tee (not blogged) with jeans and Oasis cream cardy

Thursday – Old favourite Colette Violet with (yawn) jeans again!

The good…

• That I’m SO not afraid of wearing my own clothes any more – the first time I did a challenge like this was in September last year, after just a few months of sewing. I was utterly terrified that people would point and laugh at me to begin with. Now I wear my own stuff so often I don’t even think about it unless it’s a newly created item or one worn rarely. This tells me that not only am I more confident about the quality of my creations, I’m also way more confident about my own personal style (or maybe I just don’t give a toss what anyone thinks anymore?!).
• That it’s time to really up the anti and start making some practical everyday items for my wardrobe – even though the idea of making them is scary to me. These include trousers, jeans, t-shirts, more use of jersey and maybe even underwear (gulp!). Scary, but exciting.
• That I found some great new outfit combinations I can take away from the experience – one of my faves below.

• That I must bloody love shopping in Mango. Honestly it was Mango trousers here and Mango cardigans there… at least I’m consistent! But I had no idea I had so many basic fail safe items from there – ones that I fall back on over and over again. Good huh? Or maybe I should cast my high street net wider? Hmmm…

The bad…

• That there’s sometimes nothing worse than trying to take a happy pic on a grey drizzly Monday morning when all you want to do is crawl back into bed.
• That I neglected some of my me-mades over the course of the month because I just couldn’t be bothered dressing them up/styling them which was just plain lazy. These include this,  this, and this.Sadly these babies never got worn because I just couldn;t be bovvered. Bad Joanne!
• I don’t like my Beignets anymore! I’ve gone right off them and I don’t know why.
• My waist increased by an inch or so and it ruled out wearing this and this and most of my high-waisted skirts! Ah well never mind

The fugly…

How did you find Me Made May 2012? How has it changed how you feel about your me-made wardrobe? Have you enjoyed the experience? Most importantly – will you be up for doing it again?

Finally, a massive thanks to Zoe from whom all this May madness emanates. Without this woman’s genius and passion there wouldn’t be hundreds of ladies getting down in their me-made items every year and learning awesome new things about body perception and their unique style. Viva la revolution!

Oh May, will you EVER end? But there again, with weather like this, do we want it to? Here’s my round-up of last week’s outfits (with a few newcomers not seen before in May – hooray!).

Monday: I haven’t worn it in ages and I can’t think why because it’s so sweet! The Whale of a Time blouse, here worn with grey trews and Mango cardy.

Tuesday: The pollkadot Scout tee worn with matching/clashing (you decide?) polkadot yellow scarf  and navy trews.

Wednesday: The trusty Violet makes what must be its 3rd or 4th outing this month.

Thursday:  It was so hot on this day that a tee-shirt was the only answer so I grabbed my faithful Robot bag as my me-made item today.

Friday: A quickly thrown together scout tee made from just 70cms of slinky knit fabric! Yet to be blogged.

Saturday: Ahh a night in with Gracie – in me-made pyjamas.

Sunday: A sneaky preview of Simplicity 2444 down the pub, my new favourite make and soon to be blogged about dress… watch this space!

We’re. Almost. There. May is a sneaky month… spread over five weeks like that. She’s no better than she ought to be as Mammy would say. I’m looking forward to the end but I feel my spirits have lifted somewhat after last week’s doldrums, not just with the advent of good weather, but also a few new (successsful) makes. Onwards!

Almost on the home stretch! Here’s my round-up of this week’s wears:

Yeeesss, you might notice that this week starts on Tuesday. I don’t know what happened to Monday. Either I forgot to take a pic or I’ve inexplicably lost the pic I took or I spent Monday in a coma. I’m pretty sure I was wearing me-made – I just have no idea what!

Anyway – here we are with the deets:

Monday: Blip-edy-doo-daaa…

Tuesday: So long seersuckers dress with grey cardy and grey tights

Wednesday: A Colette extravaganza! Violet and ginger with Mango cardy

Thursday: Fave outfit of the week – scout tee with Mango blazer and skinny navy trews

Friday: Upcycled cardy with jeans

Saturday: Upcycled Monsoon dress (yes that’s a knitted lamp-post-warmer right there!)

Sunday: Polkadot smock top with cream Oasis cardy and jeans

I’m getting a wee bit fed up now seeing myself in the same stuff every week, but am determined to see it through. I still feel like I’ve not quite got the hang of it this year and haven’t got the time to really put thought into my outfits. Plus I feel like I’ve worn all these things so much already (in advance of MMM) that I’m not making some extra special effort.

Ideally I’d be wearing the stuff that’s not worn so frequently – like all the dresses I’ve made. But they’re just not right for work! The weather hasn’t helped to be honest – I think we’re all feeling a little grey here in the UK – May seems to have cheated us!

How are the rest of you getting on?

Happy MMM Week 3 peeps! How did everyone do through Week 2? Can’t believe we’re already halfway through the month. Week 2 for me was a mix of success and fail. Fail because on Wednesday I clean forgot to take a picture and now I can’t actually remember what I wore on the day although I know it was me-made. Ah well. Success because I managed to wear a brand new top twice and wore one completely me-made outfit during the week! So here’s the round-up:

Monday: Teal ginger skirt with upcycled cardigan.

Tuesday: Colette Violet with TopShop Martha jeans (ever so slightly me-made as I’ve mended a massive hole in the crotch with a denim patch so they’re wearable again!)

Wednesday: Fail

Thursday: Polkadot scout tee (yet to be blogged) with cream Oasis cardy and skinny navy Mango trews.

Friday: Upcycled Monsoon dress with jersey Mango blazer.

Saturday: Whoops – another outing for Colette Violet, this time with new super skinny navy trews from Mango.

Sunday: And another outing for my new favourite top - Polkadot scout tee with cream Oasis cardy and Martha TopShop jeans.

Hmm – I feel like I’m not truly making the most of my me-made wardrobe yet. I have two Beignets which I’ve not worn yet plus quite a few dresses. But the dresses are all a bit ‘frosting’ (as Sewaholic so succinctly put it) and tbh I’ve kind of gone off my Beignets, plus they feel a bit weighty for the season. It’s a good thing I’m almost finished my Darling Ranges muslin methinks. It’ll help fill that ‘casual day dress’ hole that’s lurking in my wardrobe right now.

I’m so loving all the MMM posts that are going up around the interwebs. If you haven’t checked out the Facebook page that So Zo… set up, do it now.

Let me just dream for a sec this is really me

I’m back. And I’m head to toe in black leather with fierce red lippy and a dodgy perm to boot. Ooh isn’t ONJ just fabulous? Sigh – I’d mortally wound for that waist line.

Why have I chosen Sandy from Grease? Ooh I dunno – maybe it’s because it feels like new beginnings, a transformation, a second chance. Maybe because it feels like the summer is right around the corner and if we all flip the collective bird at the rain gods we’ll get a chance to see the frickin season.  Altogether now! We’re one of a kiii-ind like doo wop…

But onto other things. You might remember I took a month-long break from blogging, citing crazy shit happening all over April. This is true. Amongst other things, I:

1. Went home for some mama love and a cuddle with the nipper nieces and nephews which was just lovely and long overdue.

2. Celebrated my 34th birthday and received all manner of amazing sewing-related goodness from my sisters – more on that another day.

3. Went to Paris for a luxury weekend (a present from the current husband for said birthday), and (get this guys) stayed in the SAME suite that the short film Hotel Chevalier was shot in. If you’re not a Wes Anderson fan you might not recognise it but it’s at the beginning of The Darjeeling Limited. The suite was awesome and we set up the ol’ tablet to play Where Do You Go to My Lovely while we gazed at Paris from the balcony. Gorgeous. The real hotel is called Hotel Raphael.

4. Spent about three hours in Montmartre’s fabric shops and FAILED to buy any fabric. I was totally overwhelmed – has that ever happened to you?

5. Celebrated my first wedding anniversary with a yummy dinner at Moro in Exmouth Market on Saturday night, again with the husband funnily enough. He keeps cropping up at these things.

So… yeh… it’s been busy round these parts recently. I did however still lurk you all via the googleweb. But what’s that you say? Did I get any sewing done? And am I ready for Me Made May 2012? To the first I say yes, but not much – there is so much more to be done. To the second I simply say:

I, Joanne of Stitch and Witter, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’12. I endeavour to wear at least one item made or upcycled by my own two hands each day for the duration of May 2012

Let’s get to work.

**Stubs out fag under monstrous wedge shoe, winks and exits camera left***