I’m doing Me Made May 2021

It isn’t May yet but I’m planning to participate in Me Made May again. It will be my 5th time.

Me Made May is an annual event which you can read more about here, where you wear your me-made clothes during the month of May, as a way of wearing them more often, or in a different way. It’s a personal challenge that’s meant to be fun.

Here’s my pledge:

1. Wear me-made clothes every day for the month of May, striving for “exciting new combinations and fresh interpretations of well-worn favourites”.

2. Some mending resolutions: I will mend all 9 pairs of handknitted socks so they can be worn again. Yes, 9 pairs, mostly knitted by me, all with holes in. Some are in a bad way. I used to wear these all the time, standing on cold concrete factory floors during winter. I kept wearing them when we moved to the country until I discovered my rubber boots rubbed holes in them quickly. I bought 3 pairs of Explorer socks and never looked back. However, now I wear gardening clogs outside which should let my socks last longer.

3. I will let out the side seams of my shirts so I can wear them. At least half of them are too tight and don’t fit anymore. It seems I’ve gotten eff-ay-tee over the past year and I think the new size is here to stay. Is this what they call middle aged spread? I don’t think I can blame the pandemic.

4. In addition, I resolve to take an in-depth look at my wardrobe. I may even open the doors.

But seriously, my clothes collection IS large. The hanging space barely needs to have coat hangers; things are so jam-packed in there that if I took all the hangers out it would probably hold itself up. I sometimes wonder how far the hanging rail will bend before it breaks.

It’s not that I’m a shopaholic and spend $1000s on clothes, or compulsively acquire outfits that I never wear, or anything like that. Simply, I rarely throw anything out, and stuff builds up.

Almost everything is me-made and some things are over 30 years old and still wearable. Well-made lined wool skirts, for example, never seem to wear out or look shabby. Although I’m not the same size or shape as I used to be, I’m not as far from it that my clothes can’t be altered to fit.

Things find their way to my wardrobe by chance – zero waste samples, cool gear my sister passes on, things I try out for this blog, etc and surprisingly, most things go with each other. I’m never stuck for something to wear. It’s a bit like playing a game of UNO with an enormous hand – there’s always something you can put down.

My two girls (one of whom is my size) will enjoy going through it with me.

Are you doing Me Made May?

Cheers!