Reflection: Me Made May 2023
Author’s Note: This post discusses weight and body image. Read with care.
An Introduction
I’ve been sewing all my life, but only kind of.
Between a tote bag I made at nine years old and two knee-length skirts I painstakingly gathered in 2019, I had completed maybe 3 projects and begun around 50.
a hideous-by-design robot-monster I made in high school
And then, just before Halloween of 2022, I felt a new sewing phase blow in like a chilly wind. Something was different this time. I started sewing again and for the first time I wasn’t crying over my bobbin or swearing about the tension. My notches were lining up. By the end of the year I had made three dresses for my young daughter, a gift for a friend, a patchwork dress for me and two grownup jackets.
So, it was a thrilling shock to me that I was able to participate in Me Made May this year! I’d seen the posts on Instagram before, but it had always seemed laughably lofty for me, given all the abandoned projects over the last twenty years.
There’s a video of Ira Glass talking about the creative process that I have watched every six months or so for the last 12 years. In it, he describes this universal experience of creative people who want to do interesting work where we have killer taste and yet make things that disappoint us. To close this gap between work and taste, Glass’ prescription is pretty simple: to do a lot of work.
And so, I’m doing a lot of work.
Me Made May
M7969 Blouse: I was already in the habit of wearing my me-made wardrobe to work, but I was excited to observe how I felt in and about each item. I started May with one of my very first makes: an M7969 blouse made from vintage Ralph Lauren bedsheets. None of the seams are finished inside but it washes and dries like a dream and I like how it looks and feels. Love a dramatic sleeve, and although I typically prefer a visually shorter torso on myself, this piece is kind of magic to me and I reach for it often. It also ticks off the Surplice Blouse requirement on my Make Nine 2023!
I started strong and liked the photo I took in an empty conference room. This month is going to be so easy and fun, I thought. Oh, Kam from a month ago, you sweet summer child.
Winslow Culottes: I had just finished these palazzo pants (another requirement from my Make Nine!) the weekend before, and I was so excited to wear them to work, especially to our monthly all-staff meeting. I carried my tropical canvas Fennel Fanny Pack and styled the look with my green glasses and beaded green earrings.
I quickly realized that something about the crotch curve makes the fabric absolutely disappear into my butt crack and I have to pick a wedgie every ten steps or so. I was also immediately very self-conscious that it looks like I’m wearing a floor-length skirt. I found myself taking enormous steps to show that they are indeed pants, a technique which greatly exacerbated the previously-mentioned wedgie issue. After the meeting, I found an empty room with a large window to take a photo. All the pictures I’d taken the day before were pretty cute, and I was feeling great about my outfit, as long as my feet were far enough apart.
I took about 25 photos in this room and hated every single one. I took photos in every empty room I came across that day, and I hated every one. I had a friend take photos of me and hated every one. I took photos at home and hated every one. Suddenly, I was very worried about the month ahead and what it might be like to observe how I feel about and in each of my makes. On day two, I really wondered if Me Made May might be a huge mistake.
Cielo Top: I discovered in May that on Wednesdays I wear overalls. I’ve made a relatively unmodified Cielo twice, and this is the second one. I feel pretty neutral about this blouse but it’s by far my most-worn me-made item – I wore it at least 5 times in May. As usual, I paired it with my trusty Fennel Fanny Pack. The Cielo fulfills the Simple Top requirement for my Make Nine!
Amy Jumpsuit: When I made this lime green cotton jumpsuit, I absolutely loved it. Over time, I’ve become really self-conscious of how large it is. It’s slouchy and oversized and never quite lays right – it looks at least a little funny in every photo I’ve taken of it. More sloppy than breezy. I think I’d be willing to try it again and size down, but I think after Me Made May I’m feeling kind of tired of experimenting with silhouettes and being disappointed by them. This one is kind of a disappointment.
At this point I’m feeling very weird about taking photos as if I’m a fashion influencer in clothes I don’t really like. (This piece fulfills the Jumpsuit or Pinafore requirement for my Make Nine.)
Cielo Top Hack: This is barely a Cielo.
I watched a lil video on Youtube about the slash and spread method to add volume to sleeves. (I can’t find the video I used which was more thorough, but this short video illustrates what I did.) This was a first experiment in a sleeve redraft, combined with my first major neckline redraft. This piece actually hung in my closet for about a month before I finished it in the first week of May, hemming the sleeves and adding the bias tape tie. The tie around the neckline is really what it needed to go from something your substitute teacher found at Old Navy in 2004 to something I wanted to wear. (No hate, sometimes those categories converge.) The fabric isn’t something I would usually choose – more thrifted bedding – but I had it on hand and I don’t mind the color. My major gripe with this top is that the interfacing I used along the neckline is too stiff and it buckles in a weird way when the tie is pulled tight. This piece fulfills my Top with a dramatic sleeve requirement of my Make Nine!
Dresses in May
Picnic Dress: This was probably my favorite thing to wear in May, and It’s a shame I didn’t get any really good photos of it this month. It is so swishy, so twirly, so happy. It has pockets. The bodice is borrowed from the dreaded Amy Jumpsuit with straps modified to ties, and the skirt is made from three gathered tiers of alternating rectangles of random widths. I made it for Easter and have worn it 1) over nothing 2) over a RTW knit t-shirt 3) over my M7969 blouse, and 4) over this RTW top from Target.
I love it. I hope it stays that way.
Self-Drafted Patchwork Dress: I think sometimes beginners do interesting things because they don’t have any concept of what their limits should be. This was the first thing I made myself this fall. It is fully self-drafted and made from curtains, a two-sided duvet cover and placemats I found at Goodwill in October. There are no closures and no darts. It’s charming in its own way. This is kind of a weird one and is a little shapeless on me, but I like it. On its second wear this month, I wore it over the coordinating flutter-sleeve not-Cielo. Weird? Sure. Do I like it? I dunno, I guess?
Sherbet Dream Dress, aka the 48 Hour Dress (M7969): It’s a recurring theme – when I first made this I adored it. I wore it everywhere. I wore it with sandals and clogs and tennis shoes. I wore it dressed up and dressed down. That Copenhagen Fashion Week trend was going around and I was styling it with chunky knits and balaclavas and giant bags and my quilt coat. We were in love. Over time, I’ve become self-conscious of how much visual space I take up in it. I feel huge. It’s huge. It’s a bright color. I’ve got huge hips and I’ve got huge hair. This dress is made in my favorite colors and there’s so much about it that I should love. I wish I still loved it. Maybe I do.
Bluey’s Big Play
These three items were the only things I started and finished in May. My family bought tickets to the Bluey live show a year ago, and I had a vision of us Disneybounding as the Heelers. (Did I use that correctly?)
First, the Anne Wrap Blouse: This puff-sleeve wrap top is a fun, simple sew! However, I happen to have an incredibly long torso and I think this is probably on the short side for an average-waisted person. I really have to work to keep it from riding up and falling just below my bust. I wore it to Bluey with my brown Winslow Culottes, wedgie and all. Imagine me pulling and adjusting my clothes with every step. I did really like the way it looked!
Cameron Button Up: This was my second Cameron that I’ve made for my husband – third if you count an unfinished toile, but you probably shouldn’t. I started cutting these pieces about four days before the show, and had it mostly finished in the next two days. I finished the collar, pocket and buttonholes the night before and sewed on the buttons that very morning. He looked just like Bandit and got some compliments from other dads at Bluey’s Big play. Millennial dads are so cool.
Jasper Dress: This was my first time using this pattern. I took the day off from work on the day before Bluey and sewed like the wind. Like, for me. For you, it might have been more sewing like a snail or like a beginner sewist adult just doing her best. I did take a major detour on this process and ended up having to rip out two hours’ worth of work (small meltdown) but I got there eventually! If you count just the work that was productive, I spent about 8 hours on my girl’s Bluey dress.
I didn’t take a picture every day, and these aren’t all the photos I took.
I began Me Made May expecting to feel accomplished and proud by June. I was surprised to end the month feeling disappointed.
Taking photos of myself each day was difficult. I looked at myself in the mirror much more than I usually do. I didn’t always like what I saw. I don’t know what to do about that, really.
I was so intentional about noticing how each piece made me feel and what I like and dislike about my me-made wardrobe, and it turns out that my work doesn’t live up to my taste – just like Ira said. In a way, that’s good news. My expectations are still high, even if my skills have a long way to go.
More good news: I know how to get there.
