Me Made May 2025 Pledge and Pattern Sale

Hello and Happy May! Otherwise known as every sewist's favorite month of the year because it's Me Made May. If you are new to MMM, you can learn all about it here.

First off, I’m hosting a Me Made May sale on single pdf patterns and printables. Use code MMM2025 at checkout to take 25% off. Bundles, classes, gift cards and Sewing With Numbers manuals are excluded. The sale ends May 15, 2025 at midnight Pacific time.

Click here to shop PDF Patterns.

Click here to shop PDF Printables.

My 2025 Me Made May Pledge

I've been participating in MMM since 2013. (Hard to believe that it's been 12 years!) In 2014, I started doing flatlay photos of my daily outfits and I really enjoyed that format. It worked well on Instagram (at that time) and it was relatively easy for me to put together. And, most importantly, I had fun doing it.

This year, I'm setting a different challenge for myself. My life and my relationship with Instagram has changed a lot over the years and I feel the need for a different type of challenge. The biggest personal change is that I now live in Seattle and work exclusively from home. So, getting dressed is very different. When I lived in Southern California and had places to go, it was a lot more fun to get dressed. My warm weather wardrobe is more extensive and more fun. These days, I wear cozy sweats inside and when I'm outside I need to dress for warmth and/or working in the garden. And, I'm ok with the functionality of my wardrobe. It's a very PNW perspective. (We are more focused on function than style here.)

This year, I'm making a different kind of pledge. Instead of focusing on what I'm wearing, I'm going to focus on actually sewing with the goal of reviving my sewing practice and recovering my sew-jo. My goal is to sew 25 minutes a day for the month of May. I considered 5 minutes, or 15 minutes or 20. And then I thought, well, we are in the year 2025, I might as well pledge 25 minutes. lol

I also really need to organize my fabric stash. I have not organized it at all since I moved a year and a half ago. So, my 25 minutes a day can be applied to cutting out fabric, sewing fabric or organizing fabric. I'm excited! It helps that I also don't have any travel plans this month so I get to hunker down in the studio and reboot my creative practice.

Over on my Substack, I'm currently working on a series of posts about drafting undies, so I will be starting off the month sewing some pairs. It's been on my to-sew list for years, so it's a great place to start. Beyond that, I don’t really have plans. I’m going to take it one day at a time. Wish my luck!

If you’d like to see some of my photos from past MMM challenges, I have blog posts linked below.

Me Made May 2019 Recap

I’ve been doing Me Made May since 2013 (before I was even on Instagram!) and I’ve enjoyed it every year. I love getting to see how people wear their handmade clothing. And now that I’ve started designing patterns, I also get to see how people wear things made with my patterns. It adds a whole new dimension to the month.

Because I’ve been sewing garments for literally decades now, it’s not at all hard for me to wear something that I’ve made everyday. I usually am wearing something that I’ve made. Often, my entire outfit is me made. So, a goal for MMM did not feel as obvious to me. As May 1 approached, I considered what I could do that would be a fruitful challenge for me. I needed something that would keep my interest and hopefully teach me something too.

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So, I looked back at my photos from previous years. (Previous MMM blog posts: 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. No recap for 2018.) I couldn’t help feeling that my outfits used to be more fun. More colorful and creative. I decided that my goal would be to have more fun with my outfits. Most days it was fun to wake up and be challenged with having fun. (By the way, I’m an enneagram type 7 so a challenge to have fun is perfect for me.) As the month went on, I did tire of the challenge; especially on days when I was just going to be working at home and wanted to be as comfortable as possible.

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Looking back at past years, I think I am wearing fewer colorful things but it’s not super drastic. I’m living in a slightly cooler climate than the first few years I participated and that does limit my wardrobe choices. My summer dresses are just the most fun things in my wardrobe. I guess a takeaway for me is that I should consider incorporating more color into my wardrobe. I did buy a bunch of colorful fabric recently so that will certainly help.

I did try to wear different things everyday which wasn’t challenging because I have a lot of clothes. That did push me to wear things that I haven’t worn in a while and reminded me how much I loved them. In past years, I’ve changed up my accessories more often than I did this year. I’m a little more streamlined now carrying the same purse everyday (this one from Lo & Sons) and wearing the same shoes a lot. It really wasn’t warm enough this month for sandals so I stuck with flats or sneakers.

As far as actual garments, I really have something me-made in every category except for slim fit or skinny pants. Part of my Make Nine list this year includes the Ginger Jeans and I have grey stretch denim. So, this will be the year that I finally make the Gingers. I feel like everybody else has already made them a gajillion times so it’s high time that I tried the pattern myself.

I kind of wish I had had a bigger realization than “oh I need more jeans” but alas. It is what it is. I think about clothing all the time. And I make tons of things so it shouldn’t be a surprise that my wardrobe is packed with the things that I wear often. And things that I am happy to be wearing. So, I will continue doing as I have been. Sewing things I’m excited to try and using fabric from my stash.