It’s May! And for many sewists, knitters, crocheters, makers, etc. it means Me Made May (or memademay) – a month of celebrating Memades, or anything you have made. I started sewing my own clothes in 2021 and this was the first year that I really made an effort for memademay and so far it’s been fun and I haven’t run out of energy yet. 🙂
Although the Me Made May phenomenon was started by a sewist, it’s not only about wearing clothes you’ve sewn, but also garments you’ve knit or crocheted or accessories like bags, scarfs, hats, etc. By May in Texas, it’s usually too warm for all my hand knits, but I enjoy seeing them worn and shared by others on social media and look forward to the cooler months when I can pull them out again.
What Is Me Made May?
Me Made May is about celebrating your Me Mades (aka ‘handmade’) clothing for the month of May. Me Made May (or MMM) was originally started in 2010 by Zoe Edwards, a writer and sewing teacher, who started the challenge as a way to improve the relationship with your handmade items and venture away from fast fashion.
If you search the hashtag #memademay on social media you’ll find thousands of inspiring posts from other makers! You can also read more about how Me Made May started on Zoe’s blog So Zo, What Do You Know?
I started this year (2026) with a Honeygirl Tee by Paradise Patterns, an Olivia Button Up by Sycamore Road Patterns, and Coe Trousers by Daughter Judy Patterns (see photo below).
If sewing with knits or sewing your own jeans are areas that you would like to learn more about then hopefully those articles will give you some helpful tips or inspiration!
The Challenge
In their blog, Zoe emphasizes that MMM is not a “making challenge” but a chance to try and wear memades for the whole month and this will look different for everyone. Depending on where you are in your sewing journey, part of the challenge may be not having enough to wear for the whole month and this is totally ok! It’s a great opportunity to take a look at your closet and find where you have gaps that you want to fill or maybe you want to learn how to make a specific garment.
Over on Instagram, a big part of Me Made May is sharing pictures and many sewists choose to share their memade outfit everyday. Again, this will look different for everyone and what you choose to share or how often is completely up to you. It can be overwhelming to see what everyone is sharing daily and it can sometimes stir up feelings of inadequacy. For me personally, during the first few years of sewing my own clothes, I found Me Made May overwhelming and found myself comparing my sewing journey to others. I encourage you to take a step back from social media if you need to! Or lean into it, have fun, and try not to take yourself too seriously. 🙂
I love what Stacey from The Crooked Hem had to say about the fun, but also challenging aspects of Me Made May, and gives suggestions on how to find excitement in wearing your clothes.
Make It What You Want
You get to make Me Made Made what you want! It’s a personal challenge and it’s supposed to be fun. You can choose to “participate” as little or as much as you want, post pictures or not, and you don’t have to wear Memades everyday – unless that’s part of your goal!
Below are a few outfits I wore for Me Made May 2025! I’m wearing a matching gingham set using the St. Mawes Top by Sew Hello Patterns, the Frey Pants by Emily Lightly and a ready to wear denim shirt. The Celine Blouse by Silversaga Patterns was a new pattern release and you can find details for all three versions I made in my Celine Blouse Pattern Review. The Hayes Dress by Chalk & Notch was also released in May and was so fun to make.
My Plans – Me Made May 2026
Last year I stuck to my goal of daily sharing my memade outfits through a quick Instagram story and I want to try and do the same thing this year. I realized that this motivated me to change out of my PJs, have fun putting together an outfit, and helped me to see what pieces I wasn’t reaching for. Something else I want to improve on, is to not only post the new clothes I’ve made, but also share repeat outfits or favorites that I regularly wear.
I’ll be making weekly roundup videos on Instagram of what I wore each day but I will share them here as well.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
The videos below are weekly outfit roundups from last year. It’s fun to look back and see what I was wearing!
Since 99% of my wardrobe is already memades, I don’t struggle with having enough to wear but instead I have too much to wear, ha. So another personal goal I have this month is to really take a good look at my closet and find out which garments I love to wear and which ones I never reach for. This has been pretty eye opening and I’m foreseeing a pretty big closet sale in the future!
Me Made May can be a great time to reflect on your making journey and look back to see how far you’ve come! It can also be a time to gather inspiration and make plans for where you want to head into the future. Back in 2021, The first garment I made – following an actual pattern 🙂 – was the Laurence Top and right after that I made the Orchards Dress, both patterns by Vivian Shao Chen. I made both garments in a quilting cotton and since then I’ve learned so much about what fabrics I love to sew with and wear!
Something I would like to take with me for the rest of the year, is to focus on quality vs. quantity and to work on sewing slow. I tend to rush through projects because I’m excited to wear the finished garment, but forget to enjoy the process of making.
I hope that you are having a good Me Made May! Thanks for reading and happy making 🙂
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