Sketching Me Made May

Hi everyone. I’m Andie from Sew Pretty in Pink. Last year for Me Made May, I set out a challenge that I have never done before. Not only did I wear me made garments all month, I also sketched every outfit. Over the years, I’ve created an entire wardrobe of me-made garments and I wear them every day. For me, Me Made May wasn’t a huge challenge to wear 3 or 4 or even more than that for handmade clothing. I wanted to have more fun with it and set out to create a sketch for every outfit using My Body Model croquis for it. Each My Body Model croquis is based on your own measurements to create the outline of your body. I have been creating sketches with my croquis for a while since I helped in the beta testing. I also chose to create each sketch digitally to make it easier to share the images. On top of that, I made themes for each week: dresses, skirts, comfy clothes, and rainbow, where I themed a monochromatic outfit with some of the colours of the rainbow. I also had a couple of days where I didn’t take a picture but I did sketch it out.

Let’s take a look at last year’s Me Made May:

https://sewprettyinpink.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190531_10100973731620499402066.jpg?w=455&h=455

Dresses

From May 1 to 10, with the exception of 2 days, I wore dresses.

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I wore Cashmerette Belmont leggings most days but didn’t always draw them in. Starting on the first line left to right: Cashmerette Turner dress, McCall’s 7624, Moxie Patterns Verity dress, Colette Moneta dress; second line left to right: Simplicity 1549, Colette Myrtle dress, Burda wrap tunic, and McCall’s 6887 with Muse Patterns Jenna cardi.

Two days during this period didn’t get documented but did get sketched:

https://sewprettyinpink.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190525_1348392880548969675333805.jpg?w=300&h=300

On the left, Made with Moxie Prefontaine shorts and a RTW shirt; on the right, Cashmerette Concord tank top and Cashmerette Belmont leggings.

I was not feeling well so I took a couple days of rest.

Skirts

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From May 11 to 17, I wore skirts. Starting on the first line left to right: Cashmerette Concord tshirt with Cake Pavlova skirt, Swoon Scarf Neck Cardi with self-drafted skirt and crop top using Simplicity 8096, modified Cashmerette Cedar dolman with Pavlova skirt. Second line left to right: Cashmerette Upton skirt with Seamwork Brit top, Burda cowl neck with self-drafted skirt, Concord tshirt with self-drafted skirt, Concord tshirt with Pavlova skirt.

This was definitely my preferred style last year. I find skirts and tops to be very comfortable.

Comfy

https://sewprettyinpink.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190525_1346184819652869439631848.jpg?w=350&h=350
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First line left to right: modified Cedar dolman and modified Blank Slate Forsythe trousers, DIBY Gabriela onesie, Concord tank top with Blank Slate Barton shorts. Second line left to right: modified Concord tshirt and Belmont leggings, Concord tank top and Forsythe trousers, Decades of Style Ophelia overalls with a Jennifer Lauren Bronte top, modified Concord tshirt with Belmont leggings.

These looks are all for around the house, sewing, going to doctor’s appointments. All worn May 18 to 24.

Rainbow

The final set is according to the colour of the rainbow. There is one repeat here due to not having much in yellow.

https://sewprettyinpink.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190531_0959174047654756357094069.jpg?w=350&h=350
https://sewprettyinpink.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190602_1841077061887290840131292.jpg?w=350&h=350

Starting on the top line left to right: modified Concord tshirt and Belmont leggings, Style Arc Cate’s Cousin top with Willow robe and Belmont leggings, modified Cedar dolman and Belmont leggings. Second line left to right: Upton dress with Swoon scarf neck cardigan and Belmont leggings, modified Cashmerette Springfield top with rtw rub-off leggings, Cashmerette Rivermont dress with Belmont leggings.

I paired each look with white, black or grey and for the most part went with solid colours. The Rivermont dress ended out the month.

Me Made May Plus 2020

It was such a fun month in 2019. Granted, the sketching and documenting took most of my attention and meant that I didn’t get a chance to sew as much but I had such a great time that didn’t matter too much.

For 2020, I am definitely going to sketch all my outfits again. My lifestyle is pretty different from last year, though, so I am interested to see how much my outfits will change. In the past year, I’ve made a ton of overalls and pants and also jumpsuits! I never thought I would love wearing those more than dresses, but personal style is definitely ever-evolving. I also work from home now. I know most people are doing that now, but I have been working from home since November and my work from home style is 100% casual wear. I wear leggings and a t-shirt most days. So this year, instead of skirts and dresses, I will be doing more pants, overalls and jumpsuits outfits. I tried to create outfits with no repeats last year and, while I will try to have something different everyday, I am okay with a repeated top or pants here and there.

Here is what I have planned:

May 1-2: Wildcard options

May 3-9: Pants

May 10-16: Instagram stories choice

May 17-23: Overalls/Jumpsuits

May 24-30: Pastel rainbow

May 31: Wildcard option

For the wildcard options, I will choose whatever I like and, if I don’t feel like taking a picture at any point, I won’t. I think pants, pastel rainbow, and overalls/jumpsuits are pretty straightforward for their themes. I am switching to pastel rainbow since my sewing over the past year was alllllll about pastel and I cannot wait to see the resulting sketches for that week. For the Instagram stories choice, I will choose two outfits the night/afternoon before and then post a poll in my Instagram stories to see which outfit you choose! I’m really excited about this one and can’t wait to see which is chosen! If you want a chance to participate in choosing my outfits or seeing my sketches, follow me on Instagram @sewprettyinpink. I’ll definitely post a roundup on my blog too. Happy Me Made May everyone!

By Andie

Andie is a self-taught plus sized disabled sewist who lives in Toronto, Ontario. Canada. In their spare time, they perform improv comedy and geek culture in the city. Their sewing ranges from costumes/casual cosplay to vintage dresses to everyday basics to bramaking. They advocate for disability and chronic illness awareness and manage the Instagram account @chronicallysewn for sewists with disability and chronic physical and mental illnesses. They are married to a wonderful man, Velvet, and identify as queer, bisexual and genderqueer, and use the pronouns they/them.

1 comment

  1. Soooo excited about your sketches next month! It was definitely my highlight of MeMadeMayPlus last year. I can’t imagin the amount of work of doing it but it’s definitely worth it

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