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I don’t know where April went, and May is almost halfway over! We are going in to our third month of this Covid quarantine; it’s a little surreal that it’s gone on this long. Right when we see the light at the end of the tunnel, the darkness swiftly returns. We went from 3 weeks of isolation, to 6 weeks to…I don’t even know what week we are on now. We were supposed to be done with this by May 1st and now it’s been extended to June 19th. What will June 19th bring? Sometimes it feels like it’ll never end.
Like probably everyone reading this, I’ve gone through the whole cycle of grief, over and over. There’s the shock, the denial, the anger, the acceptance…I find myself going through these emotions continually. Sometimes weekly, sometimes daily. I would say more times that not, I feel like I’m stuck in slump. What’s the point of waking up and getting dressed and primped, just to visit my couch and backyard? At the same time, I feel so discouraged when I sit around in my sweatpants all day, so I’ve been really trying hard to get dressed and at least put on a little mascara. Some days are better than others. I have to say that I have felt a lot better since I covered up my gray roots a few weeks ago. Ha ha.
There is a challenge going around on Instagram in the sewing community called “Me Made May”. Sewists have been challenged to wear something that they’ve made every day in the month of May. When I first heard about it, I thought it sounded fun, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to join. For one thing, I don’t have quite enough clothes that I’ve made to last me throughout the entire month (I sew too much for other people! Lol). For another thing, I have been living in sweats and no hair or make-up for the past 6 weeks so the idea of getting dressed and taking pictures of myself everyday seemed daunting. And to be honest, I feel so awkward taking photos of myself; it is really out of my comfort zone! At the same time, I felt like maybe this what I needed to get myself out of my slump. I’ve been needing a reason to get dressed. I decided I would just do my best; even if I didn’t do it every single day, something would be better than nothing.
Today is May 13th and I’m happy to report that I have participated every day so far, except for 1! The only reason I didn’t on that one day was because I had ordered a shirt a month ago, and it finally arrived in the mail, so I was anxious to wear it! I don’t have enough outfits to last the month anyway, so I figured one day won’t hurt. Isn’t this shirt the cutest?
This challenge has been exactly what I needed! Not only has it given me a reason to get dressed, but it’s motivated me to start sewing again. I finally have my mojo back!! I’ve already sewn 4 things this month that I’ve worn and I’ve ordered (and received) more fabrics from some really great websites and I’m excited to get sewing on those. So far, this has been SO MUCH FUN! My goal for next year is to have a full 31 days of me-made clothes to wear. I thought it would be fun to share with you what I have worn so far. At the end of the month, I’ll share another post with the second half of my wardrobe. I will share the links to patterns as well, just in case you are interested 😉
DAY 1
I felt that it was only appropriate to share my very first article of clothing I ever made: pajama pants. This was in my college days; I found this cute fabric and somehow (I can’t remember how this got started) all of my guy friends who came over to visit started signing my pants. It kind of became a funny joke and pretty soon I had guys showing up with their friends just to sign my pants. Don’t worry, they didn’t sign them while I was wearing them. Ha ha. Needless to say, I can’t part with these pants. They have too many fun memories!
DAY 2
This was refashion that I did from a skirt that I found at Goodwill. I had a pair of heels that inspired how I wanted the finished look to be. You can see the “before” in the second picture.
DAY 3
It was our Sunday at-home church day, and I have been making an effort to dress up a little as if I were really going in to our church building. Comfort meets fashion in the maxi dress! I shared a tutorial for this maxi dress a couple months ago. The fabric came from Hobby Lobby.
DAY 4
This is the first and only pair of jeans that I have made! I made them in college and they were a little big…which is why they still fit me now! I’m thinking that I should start making myself jeans again. Maybe that will be a goal for the next year.
DAY 5
I’ve seen this cute Ellie & Mac tee pattern floating around Instagram and decided to give it a try with the leftover fabric that I had from the maxi dress (the black knit came from another project I did). This shirt was quick and easy to make and there are different variations to choose from. I will definitely be making this shirt again!
DAY 6
I received this fabric from Minerva Fabrics; I will be blogging about it on their website. Originally I wanted to make Easter dresses out it for my daughter and me, but you know…quarantine. I didn’t see much point. Once I saw the fabric, I immediately saw a beachy-type of dress. I think it turned out really cute!
DAY 7
I made this plaid shirt years ago and I rarely wear it. It was kind of nice to wear it again! The nice thing about making plaid is that you can match up the lines perfectly. I think I did pretty good on this one!
DAY 8
I made this dress with linen that I won from the “I Love Linen” contest back in December (from Fabric Store dot com…the best place to buy linen). To be honest I wasn’t terribly happy with the fit; it’s kind of baggy in the bust. But looking at it now, it’s not as bad as I originally thought.
DAY 9
My neighbor had a free yard sale a couple of weekends ago, and I picked up a striped skirt that I knew was way too big for me but that I could refashion into a summer maxi dress. I love my other maxi dress so much; it’s so comfy and it’s easy to make but it’s long sleeved and ankle length; I needed something for summer. This dress turned out perfect! I used the extra cut of the tshirt to make pockets just to give it a little more personality.
DAY 10
Mother’s Day! I decided to dress up for the occasion with this dress that I finished the day quarantine began! I was so excited to wear it to church that Sunday…and then we were put on lockdown. I think it’ll be the first dress I wear when we are able to go back! The fabric was gifted to me from Minerva.
DAY 12 (day 11 was my new shirt I ordered)
I have seen this jumpsuit on Instagram from so many sewists and I think it’s so cute! It seems like every good sewist on Instagram has made this pattern, so I had to join in the party. I just so happened to have 3 yards of lightweight denim that was given to me a few years ago and has been sitting on my shelf. This was the perfect way to use it! I absolutely love the way this pattern fits, and it was easy to sew! The pattern came from Pattern Theory Jumpsuit.
DAY 13
And that bring us to today. I am wearing the linen pants I made for the Sew Fancy Pants challenge a few months ago. They are comfy and perfect for lounging around the house!
I can’t wait to finish sharing with you, at the end of the month, all of the things that I’ve made. The other great part about all of this is that I’m testing out new patterns that I can incorporate into my sewing classes (once I’m able to resume!) There are a lot of simple patterns that I’ve found that would make great projects for beginners.
Do you have a favorite so far? I’d love to hear what you think!
You can find patterns here:
