Me Made May: Origins, Pledge Inspo and a Peppermint Challenge
- Words by Peppermint
It’s May stitchy friends! And you know what that means… Me Made May! What is Me Made May you ask? In its essence, it’s a personal sewing challenge, encouraging makers and home-sewists to get creative by styling and wearing their handmade garments while exploring their relationship with their handmade wardrobe.
Born out of a desire to see just how far her handmade wardrobe would stretch, in 2010 Me Made May creator Zoe Edwards set herself a challenge: a pledge to only wear me-mades for the month of May (aside from basics, socks and underwear). She put a call out on her blog So, Zo… to see if anyone else might be interested in taking part. As it turns out, a handful of sewists were very interested and now, over 10 years later, Me Made May is a hotly anticipated sewing event, attracting thousands of makers from around the world!
So how does it work?
Participants decide on their own particular flavour of challenge and pledge to live it out for the month of May. While it’s not a photography or social media challenge at heart, each consecutive year has seen participants gathering on Instagram in greater numbers to share and document their me-mades.
Should you go down the Me Made May rabbit hole (and we recommend you do!), hashtags like #MeMadeMay #MMMay21 and #MeMadeMay2021 reveal a world of handmade wardrobes, styling inspiration, new sewists to connect with and pattern labels to discover.
What should I pledge?
If you’d like to join in the festivities, there’s no requirement to share a formal pledge and definitely no need to panic-sew a whole new wardrobe – it’s your Me Made May after all, so you do you.
A personal pledge could look like:
- Wearing at least one me-made item every day or every week
- Wearing a full me-made outfit once a week or only on the weekends
- Taking the month to re-evaluate your handmade wardrobe
- Re-working old pieces or styling them in new ways
- Documenting some or all of your me-mades on social media
- Sharing none of your me-mades on social media
- Wearing every item you’ve made at least once during the month
Still need some ideas? We invite you to take inspiration from the global sewing community; from first-time participants to seasoned Me Made Mayers, these sewists have made Me Made May work for them.
https://www.instagram.com/p/COVR_4eMWr2/
“Almost a year ago, I bought a secondhand sewing machine and decided to say no to fast fashion. When I was lurking in this community, I was in awe of everyone taking part in last year’s #memademay. I’m so excited (and also kinda proud of myself) to be involved this year, to show off my makes, get creative and hopefully inspire some fellow sewists.” – @storyofstitches
“I love this month and seeing so many other makers in their creations is one of the main reasons I was inspired to share my own! This May I’ll be trying to wear at least one me-made a day to continue appreciating my existing pieces and use the occasions to try and document more of them.” – @nitahug.makes
“This year I will be going through my older makes to figure out what needs to be re-homed. I look forward to discovering new sewing accounts, meeting like minded people and perhaps even finding some new pattern labels I need to try out.” – @sleepless_in_bavaria
“In addition to wearing something me-made everyday, I want to focus on finding joy in my body, my clothing, and my making. I feel in need of an infusion of joy right now, and I think this yearly IG tradition will do the trick. I absolutely love seeing everyone’s makes and always find myself engaging more with other sewists online in May. IG sewists are the best!” – @all.the.lace
PEPPERMINT ME MADE MAY CHALLENGE
This year, we thought it’d be fun to throw our own Peppermint Patterns makers challenge into the mix! Throughout each week in May over on our Instagram we’ll be announcing a theme and giving away a Peppermint prize pack featuring a magazine, a set of sewing labels by Kylie and The Machine, a tote bag and other delights.
Keep an eye out on our socials as we’ll be announcing a winner and new theme each week, as well as featuring our favourite makes! Entries are open worldwide and there’s no need to snap a new pic (although we love it when you do!), feel free to tag an old photo that fits the weekly theme.
If you haven’t sewn up one of our patterns already, what are you waiting for? Head over to Peppermint Sewing School, download a free pattern and get stitching! We can’t wait to see what you create.
TOP IMAGE: KYLIE AND THE MACHINE
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On the 14th of April 2013 the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, tragically killing 1134 workers and injuring over 2,500 more.
Every year we commemorate this devastating and avoidable loss of life and advocate for better working conditions for all during Fashion Revolution Week, which runs from 22nd-28th April in 2026.
This year there are different themes for each day of the week, with the annual Mend In Public day falling right in the middle, on Saturday 25th April.
This is your cue to gather your community, settle in and commit some time, attention and creativity to mending your clothes in the pursuit of extending their life in your wardrobe. Be it patching, embroidery, sewing or stitching, there are many ways to resolve structural and aesthetic issues in your garments that will see you donning them for years to come!
If it’s a bit tricky to get mending on the day itself (it will be ANZAC Day here in Australia) then fear not. Any time is the right time for mending so if you need to take needle in hand on another day that will do just fine!
Comment below if you know of any events you`d like to share happening in your community.
Learn more and get involved:
@FashionRevolutionAustralia
@Fash_Rev
FashionRevolution.org
#FashionRevolution #WhoMadeMyClothes #MendInPublicDay
“This is just a reminder to you to go for your big dreams! They might just work out.” ❤️
And we’re so glad you did, Emma!
From @CinnamonDaisyStudio:
No biggie, I’m just in a really cool magazine 🥹
When @Laura_The_Maker reached out to me last year to ask if I’d be interested in being featured in @PeppermintMagazine I didn’t hold back. I 100% fan girled 🤣 it was obviously a yes!
Getting to talk about the positive impact sewing your own clothes has on your body image is the BEST. I started sewing my own clothes because the standard doesn’t fit me. But I wasn’t expecting to heal my body image at the same time. What a wonderful byproduct ❤️🩹
So this is just a reminder to you to go for your big dreams! They might just work out ❤️
Mother`s Day Chocolate Treats Subscription Special! 🌟
This very sweet subscription offer comes with some glorious goodies, thanks to our friends at @TheOriginalCocoaTradersCo!
Our lovely community manager Em, runs us through the offer.
SUBSCRIBE FOR $79 AND RECEIVE:
🌟 1 x 12-month Peppermint Subscription!
PLUS!
🌟 Vegan, gluten-free, 43% cocoa, Certified-Organic Taming The Jackalope Drinking Chocolate from @TheOriginalCocoaTradersCo
🌟 Vegan, gluten-free, 70% cocoa, Certified-Organic Ship To Wreck Chocolate Flakes from @TheOriginalCocoaTradersCo
🌟 Issue 64 (includes a free code for the #PeppermintDaisyDress digital sewing pattern!)
🌟 A5 art card of our exclusive ‘Together We Rise’ Issue 60 cover design by @LukeJohnMatthewArnold
🌟 All wrapped in fabric from @DoopsDesigns
Price includes postage! This special offer is available to Australian addresses only. Don`t miss out – there`s limited numbers!
🌟 Link in bio!
#PeppermintMagazine #MothersDay
Calling all brands who give a damn! 📣
Bookings for our wonderful Sew&Tell digital issue are now open – if you are an awesome creative brand that fits right in with Peppermint`s ethos of style, sustainability, sewing and substance, get in touch. Or if you know of one who might be keen – tag them below. We have packages for budgets both big and small, but spots are limited, so don`t wait too long to get in touch!
Drop us a line at Mandy@PeppermintMag.Com for a chat with Mandy, our lovely advertising manager – she`ll help you find the best way to share your good work with our awesome audience.
We`d sew love to work with you! ✨️🧵✨️
#PeppermintSewAndTell
💛 BFF GIVEAWAY 💛
Generous, messy, creative, spiky, warm, enigmatic… our best friends come in many flavours. But they all have one thing in common: they make the world a far better, more interesting place to be.
Inspired by Sam and Sadie’s complicated ‘forever’ bond in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by @GabrielleZevin (a firm Peppermint fave ‘friendy’ read), we’ve rounded up some iconic fictional duos from books, movies and TV - the ride-or-dies, bosom buddies, chosen family, the ‘you’re-my-person’ people.
They all remind us that the non-romantic kind of love is always worth the effort (and it’s often the kind that lasts!). Think Anne Shirley and Diana Barry, Calvin and Hobbes, Snoopy and Woodstock, Eloise and Penelope… Head to the link in bio to read the full story and meet them all!
We’ve got two copies of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow to gift to one lucky Peppermint reader and their bestie, thanks to @PenguinBooksAus.
To enter:
✨Follow us and @PenguinBooksAus
✨Tag your best friend in the comments
✨Tell them why they’re so darn great!
Because as Sadie tells Sam: true collaborators in life are rare. And very much worth celebrating.
Winner drawn Tuesday 21 April 2pm. Australian addresses only. Good luck! 📖
#BFF #BookGiveaway #TomorrowAndTomorrowAndTomorrow
Mother`s Day Chocolate Treats Subscription Special! 🌟
It`s almost time to celebrate that special person in your life who has motherly energy – mum, aunty, single parent, queer parent, grandparent, caregiver... or maybe just someone who happens to love getting chocolate treats (and hey, maybe that someone is YOU!).
This very sweet subscription offer comes with some glorious goodies, thanks to our friends at @TheOriginalCocoaTradersCo!
SUBSCRIBE FOR $79 AND RECEIVE:
🌟 1 x 12-month Peppermint Subscription
PLUS!
🌟 Vegan, gluten-free, 43% cocoa, Certified-Organic Taming The Jackalope Drinking Chocolate from @TheOriginalCocoaTradersCo
🌟 Vegan, gluten-free, 70% cocoa, Certified-Organic Ship To Wreck Chocolate Flakes from @TheOriginalCocoaTradersCo
🌟 Issue 64 (includes a free code for the #PeppermintDaisyDress digital sewing pattern!)
🌟 A5 art card of our exclusive ‘Together We Rise’ Issue 60 cover design by @LukeJohnMatthewArnold
🌟 All wrapped in fabric from @DoopsDesigns
Price includes postage! This special offer is available to Australian addresses only. Don`t miss out – there`s limited numbers!
🌟 Link in bio 🌟
#PeppermintMagazine #MothersDay
