Creating a ‘Me Made’ Wardrobe
During the first lockdown pretty much everyone I followed on Instagram had taken up a pandemic hobby.
It took me 14 months to start mine.
2020 was a strange year. While businesses were forced to move online my business took off (being a digital marketer when everyone is looking for digital was no bad thing!). I flitted between finding lockdown pretty manageable and having zero motivation for anything.
The words “I’m bored” were uttered many times to my husband. Especially when I saw friends who lived in cities having some sort of normality once things gradually started to reopen. In our small town in Fife, it didn’t quite feel the same. So I threw myself into work, got new clients, read loads of books and binged on a lot of Netflix. But the motivation to try something new just wasn’t there.
Fast forward 14 months to May 2021 and just as the world started to open up more, and hopefully for good with the vaccine being rolled out, I decided it was time for a new solitary hobby. It’s ironic, I know. Right at the point when we’re allowed to see more people I wanted to be alone!
It possibly makes more sense when you find out I’m an introvert.
I don’t really know what came over me. Maybe it was watching the Great British Sewing Bee and thinking, this needed to be the year I finally did something about learning to sew. Maybe it was the pandemic showing how life can’t be taken for granted and we just need to take the plunge to do things we enjoy. Maybe I just got to the point where I thought “who gives a f**k if I suck?”.
I saw a post on Instagram about a free challenge being run by Sew Confident, to get you starting to sew and I signed up. This was my turning point really. I got excited at the prospect of making clothes I really loved and that actually fit me! I thought about how cool ten year old Kayleigh would find it that I was waltzing about in clothes I’d made myself!
So I bought some cheap-ish cotton fabric, downloaded some free patterns, borrowed a sewing machine and gave it a go.
My first attempt was awful.
It started off so promising but then attaching the bias binding I’d made myself got too difficult. At any other point in my life, I would’ve probably thrown in the towel and declared I was rubbish never to touch a sewing machine again. But I didn’t. I persevered. I looked more into patterns and bought ones that were popular and people said we’re good for beginners.
I made my first dress over a week. It wasn’t great. But I’d made it myself so you bet I wore it!
Since I started sewing just over 3 months ago I’ve made quite a few dresses, a couple of tops, I’ve even made clothes with sleeves and I’ve definitely improved when it comes to bias binding! I’ve discovered a great community of sewists on Instagram and most importantly I’ve had so much fun and reawakened my love of fashion.
Sewing summer dresses was fun, but autumn will always have my heart style-wise. The colours, the fabric, the cute dresses I can wear with tights and chunky boots…! I’ve got my autumn ‘me-made’ wardrobe planned and have even made my first dress.
In some ways, I’m disappointed in myself for not taking up this hobby sooner. I thought I needed to save up to go on a dressmaking course. Turned out all I needed was a bit of self-confidence, patience and some YouTube tutorials!
Did you take up any new hobbies during lockdown?
