Me Made May 2017 Review — Becca Made That

Hi friends!

It's been about two weeks since Me Made May 2017 ended so I thought it was about time for me to share a bit of a review and what I learned from this year's challenge :D

I'm proud to say that I completed my challenge (minus 1 or two days where I was migraine-y so I'm giving myself a pass there). I set out to wear at least one me made item each day with at least 1 complete me made ~look~ or outfit once a week. Thanks to my new ginger jeans obsession I often had more than one me made outfit per week! It was super satisfying to have so many me made items to choose from everyday, and it really helped me see how far I've come on this me made wardrobe journey.

May started off a bit on the chilly side so I often found myself leaning on two of my newly finished cardigans, the Marylebone cardigan and my Earnest cardigan. I finished both of these earlier this spring (however I still need to update my revelry notes :S). The Marylebone is an amazing Bristol Ivy pattern which I splurged and bought Brooklyn Tweed Quarry for. SOOOOOO worth it! Quarry is a really lovely 'fluffy' bulky weight yarn, by fluffy I mean that it's very loosely spun and airy so you get the thickness of a bulky yarn without the weight. It is a bit tricky to seam with because it is so loosely spun, but so long as you give yarn a good extra twist as you go you should be fine. I haven't put the pockets on it or buttons, I'm still debating if the pockets are really needed or not...as for buttons I bought a bunch to add but I'm second guessing my decisions....by the fall I'm sure I'll have a decision made ;)

The second cardigan that I wore a lot was my Earnest cardigan by Joji :) This was knit in Spud & Chloe's fine sock yarn and it was a beast of a project! Because it was such a fine weight of yarn and it's mostly knit in double seed stitch it made for a very long, but so worth it, project. I actually started this shortly before traveling to Mt. Robison last year and knit part of it while on the trail :D To speed up the process I also knit the sleeves two at a time but this was difficult because of the double seed stitch pattern, I had to keep untangling the yarn.....but it was all worth it in the end! I love layering this cardigan for the days that are just a shade too cool, or at work where we've been having heating and cooling issues :S

What I seemed to reach for the most over the month was for one of my many Cheyenne tunics (Hey June patterns), Datura blouses (Deer and Doe), and my two Scout tees (Grainline Studios). The photo one image up has my fave Datura blouse, sewn for last years me made May, in a rayon blend stripy fabric, this guy has seen a lot of wear over the last year! The beach photo show cases one of my most popular Cheyenne tunics, by most popular I mean the one I get the most complements on at work haha! I was inspired by this post by LLADYBIRD where she made an archer shirt in the same flannel. Archer and I haven't really gotten on in the past, possibly because it was something that I tried to sew early on and couldn't get the fit right, but the Cheyenne tunic and I get along real well! I pretty much exclusively sew the popover version, no clue why but that's what I like :

One of my two scout tees, the first is shown in the first photo in that amazing Rifle Paper Co. fabric!

With my two scout Tees (one featured in the very first photo and the other right above) I found myself constantly wishing I had more. I have two cut out waiting to be sewn, and a third fabric choice waiting to be cut, but they keep getting bumped on the sewing list for more 'exciting' patterns. Patterns with more frills like collars or interesting design details instead of 'just a shirt'. It's ironic because what I do need more of are just straight up causal shirts that I can wear to work without a second thought. June's mission is to finish up these scout tees! I just need to remind myself that not everything has to be a challenge, I can just enjoy sewing up a simple top that I know I'll get a ton of use out of :)

New pattern that I can't get enough of is the Kalle shirt dress! I sewed up this stripy/bird-y one for my 31st birthday and I LOOOOOVVVVEE it! It's such a wardrobe staple kind of top, I can wear it to work and then dress it up a bit to go out later. I'm already sewing up at least two more, one again in the tunic length popover style, and the second as the cropped top version! (I have my eye on some high waisted ginger jeans to wear with that one ;) ) When I first finished this shirt I was seriously undecided.....I had shortened the torso by my standard 2 inches but the back of the shirt was SOOOOO long, like it kinda looked like I was wearing an old school night gown (probably because of the stripes) I had to cut off around 3 inches off of the 'tail' of the back before it didn't make me look super short (and by that I mean shorter than my already short personage)...

Despite starting off the month with 3 new pairs of ginger jeans AND starting/finishing a 4th pair during May, after looking back on all of my photos I noticed that I really didn't take many photos where you could actually see them! They've become such a staple in my wardrobe that I sometimes forget that 'yeah you made those' and 'yeah you should take pictures where you can see them'. With plans to make a few more, including maybe some more 'funky' versions, I'll have to make sure I document them well :D

As usual Me Made May was a fantastic start to spring/summer! It made me really pumped to get sewing and knitting! I had tons of new ideas from seeing all the different posts! I love being constantly inspired by the amazing #maker community on Instagram and in the sewing/knitting blogger-verse. I also feel like I personally grew a bit, I was able to let go more and be less stressed about taking photos of myself. I even posted makeup-less photos which is kinda huge for me and I think is huge for a lot of women who feel the need to present the most polished and perfect version of themselves when on social media. Don't get me wrong I still had photos where I had my make up all done for work or for a night out like my birthday, but it was really freeing to also just take some photos while camping and at the beach and not be stressed about it. By the end of the month I felt like my daily photo session became more of a 'oh yeah I need to do that, I'll just snap some now' instead of something I was dreading to do. What more can you ask from a challenge than to inspire you and help you grow? :D