Polka Dot Shift Dress
For the last few weeks, I have been going to some dressmaking classes nearby. I thought it might be useful for learning how to adjust and adapt patterns, as this is something I don’t do very much of.
#mmmay16 – Me Made May and the versatile wardrobe
Me Made May is an event created by Zoe from So Zo… ‘What do you know?’ to encourage people to wear the clothes they make, whether this is through knitting, crocheting, sewing, weaving, etc. It’s designed to motivate crafters to celebrate their achievements and confront any perfectionistic thoughts which may be keeping some garments in the back of the wardrobe!
There’s no pressure to wear something everyday, or to charter your progress through social media. The challenge is an individual one set by you.
I didn’t officially sign up this year (mainly because I didn’t read the post properly to see that you needed to add a comment to sign up) but went along with it anyway. The challenge I found with #mmmay16 was that I have made a lot of summery dresses and May in the UK this year has been quite cold at times! I did set an achievable goal – to wear something me made on a couple of days each week in May – but I found that the most versatile garment in my me made wardrobe is the knitted cardigan I made 3 years ago in double knit weight yarn!
The second garment I wore the most was the top I made as part of #miymarch16 for the knit material day. This top was great as I could layer it up depending on the weather!
Other items I wore was the dress I made during #miymarch16 and the wrap skirt, which was good for the warmer days of the month!
This challenge has made me reflect on the type of garments I make. I can see that although it took a good couple of months to make my knitted cardigan, the pattern was a good one and I wear it a lot. Also, I have tended to stick to simpler patterns with easy to use fabrics which are more suitable for hot summer days in my dressmaking experience.
As a result, it looks like I need to diversify my dressmaking challenges. here are the ways I am going to do this:
- Make more tops in knit materials
- Make more tops in specially selected materials
- Make more items for all year or in particular Autumn, Winter and Spring
- Learn to make fitted trousers
- Make more knitted cardigans!
It will be interesting to take part next year and see if there’s any progression!
