Every May lots of people take part in Me Made May. What this exactly means is different for each person that signs up. Some people undertake to make something new every day, some people undertake to wear something handmade every day, some people undertake to seriously scrutinise their handmade wardrobe to find what they maybe don’t wear so much and what they maybe need to make more of to fill gaps.

We (or is that just me?!) can get so carried away making the same fabulous dress over and over, or making things in all the crazy flamingo fabric we find, that we may not every really stop to think whether we actually wear all the wild prints or whether we actually consistently grab the plain ones. Y

I myself have pledged to fill the gaps in my handmade wardrobe. In 2015 I didn’t buy any clothes apart from underwear, socks and tees, and even then, I learned to make bras and knickers and knitted some fabulous pairs of socks! It was a great year, I learnt so much and loved every moment of it. I’ve let things slip in some departments, all my handmade bras are kaput or too small now, and I have been too tired/ busy/ reluctant to pick up the patterns and books again and make more. It took about 8 goes to get the pattern to fit me perfectly and I suspect now middle age spread has well and truly set in, I may need to re-do a lot of the pattern to achieve a good fit. But I may not have to, and I won’t know until I make one! I have a huge stash of bra making fabric and really no excuse at all. I have been busy teaching and also took on an allotment in December so time is precious and I more often than not curl up on the sofa with knitting and Netflix rather than get the machine out in the evenings but I am promising myself I will make at least one well fitting bra this month.

Today I am wearing a Sew Over It Ultimate Shift dress in a fabulous cherry print. I’ve not worn this much at all, it kept being overlooked for baggier dresses and today I realised it just needs some tweeking. The neckline is super high which doesn’t suit me nor does it feel very nice, and it is pretty short (and rides up), so I am going to alter the neckline and maybe add a funky ruffle for length. And maybe some waist darts to make more of my D cup (it’s a bit shelf like in this dress, also because of the high neck). So it’s good to examine my me made clothes and refashion ones that I don’t love quite as much, fix ones that may have sustained some holes/ tears, and fall in love with all my handmades again. I must say I wear handmades all the time anyway, I reckon half my dresses are handmade. I made leggings in the summer but they fell down within hours of wearing them and life is too short to make leggings which don’t fit so well when you can just buy some in Tesco’s for £6 as I did this morning (yes I know…cheap fashion, someone pays for it…)

Here is a link for you to sign up: http://sozowhatdoyouknow.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/me-made-may-18-sign-up-here.html

Check out all the blogs, Instagram posts etc under the hashtag #MMay18!