I know it’s well past a week of #mmmay being over and I’m just now getting around to posting this. In my defense, the baby has had an ear infection and then the antibiotics stopped working so the infection came back 🙁 It’s been terrible. He’s on new antibiotics, so fingers crossed this knocks it out!
So, onto what me made may taught me. I wanted to write this post because I had never participated in #mmmay before and felt like I grew a lot throughout it. In the past years I didn’t really have enough me made garments to be able to pull off a whole month. I also had the excuse that I was pregnant and basically wore the same few things over and over. The year after pregnancy I was still thinking I would lose the baby weight and was not able to sew much because I hadn’t figured out how to balance motherhood and sewing (or anything else me-related for that matter). Once I figured out that I didn’t have to entertain the baby 24/7, that he could very well sit in his gated play area by himself with toys and be just fine (obviously with me supervising), I started sewing again. I got really into making garments I would wear all the time, the basics mainly. Before baby I was obsessed with making dresses but honestly I rarely wore them. So I swore that with the limited time I had to sew, I would make things I would definitely wear.
So here is my full month of May – no garment repeats (many pattern repeats though):
WHAT #MMMAY16 TAUGHT ME:
Some makes are actually great
There are a lot of things I make that I don’t end up wearing. I’m not 100% sure why but usually I feel like the fit isn’t perfect, or where would I wear it? I have 101 excuses but this forced me to actually wear what I’ve made. Turns out, I really like the things I thought I hated! The biggest one for me was on May 26, I’ve never worn that top because I thought it wasn’t flattering. That day I had found my belt and decided to use the belt to cinch the waist and wearing some black leggings. That outfit looked great and I had someone compliment how thin it made me look. Now that’s in my rotation.
Mirror selfies are THE WORSE
I really am not a fan of 31 days of mirror selfies. Yes, I could have waited until my husband got home (which I did on at least one of the days) or had someone else take the pictures, but I always wanted to post in the morning and that meant mirror selfies. It’s also awkward to have so many pictures of myself on my Instagram. I know my non-sewing followers had to be totally confused as to why I was posting so many low-grade images. Side note: I really should have cleaned the mirror beforehand.
Dresses rock!
Like I said above, I made all these dresses and never wear them. My reasoning is mainly because in the summer everywhere I go has freezing cold A/C and then my legs get cold. The other reasoning is that I feel like my legs are too pale, too bruised and mosquito-bitten. I feel like I look a mess – but you know what? That’s just insecurity. During #mmmay16 I concluded that dresses are a must and make me feel pretty, who cares if I look pretty – they make me feel pretty. SO I’M WEARING THEM!
Toys everywhere
My house is always cluttered with toys in my pictures and you know what?! I don’t even care. I obviously try to teach him how to pick up and we pick them up for him, but overall I’m not ashamed. I have a 1 year old, he makes messes, oh well. I’m blessed to have that messy little ear infected 1 year old!
Networking
I LOVED connecting with other sewists on Instagram. I was so excited to check the #mmmay16 hashtag and see what everyone was wearing, how they styled it, what they made, etc. I found so many great new people to follow and added a lot of patterns to my already long “to-do” list. I’m honestly missing the daily outfits.
It’s cold forever in Ohio
On May 21st I was wearing a trench coat because it was in the 50’s as a high and raining. I kept thinking how I seriously needed to relocate to Florida.
Showing Off
By wearing me made garments every day, when I would talk to people in public settings and mention I sew, I could actually show them something I’ve made. Typically it’s like “oh yeah I sew, I’m not wearing anything I made, but I usually do…” and it just doesn’t seem as creditable as “Yeah, I made this awesome trench coat”. I know bragging and showing off is bad but when you invest that much time and money into something, it’s fun to show it off and lets be honest, compliments make all that effort seem so much better.
GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR:
I don’t really have a lot for next year but here are a couple:
Better Pictures
I’m going to have to get a tripod for the phone (or I could always use the good camera, import the pictures, etc, etc – lots of work) and try to take better pictures. No more mirror selfies! I’d like my photos to look quality, so you can see what I’m actually wearing and how it looks in everyday real-life.
NO REPEATS WEEKLY
While I was amazing at not repeating a garment, I did repeat the same patterns over and over. I say weekly on this one because it is good to show everyone that yes this pattern really is amazing and I do wear it nonstop, it’s a great investment. At the same time I don’t want to bore you with the same shirt (or leggings) every day but just in different colors.
That’s my 2 cents about #mmmay16. I’m so glad I participated and am sad it’s over. It has pushed me to wear my me made items and I love that!
Leave me a comment and let me know what you learned from #mmmay16 or if you plan on participating in 2017!
Hey Amy! Wow, you really did get a lot out of MMM16. I approached it as a tool to practice making outfits, ’cause I stink at that and to see what’s missing. I got out of it what I wanted but man was I tired of taking daily pictures. Thankfully by next year, I’ll have forgotten the tedium and will likely do it again.
I’m not so great at styling and hope to get better. I don’t wear jewelry so I feel like that is the biggest issue. I think you did great on outfits!