Author: sewTreefog

This is the first time I’ve participated in Me Made May but I have always been looking at how to get better use from the garments that I make. Back in 2018, I started a project scorecard that would rate my makes. Among the criteria was if I would get 30 wears from the garment. Over the course of May, and as I switch my wardrobe from summer to winter, I’ll be making a tally of how many wears each garment has had and what I can learn about my sewing habits.

How do you think I will go??

What is Me Made May:

MMM is a wardrobe challenge create by Zoe from So,Zo What Do You Know blog. For more details, check out the Me Made May FAQs. How you interpret it is your choice but the goal is to improve your relationship with your handmade items.. For some people, this can be a challenge to wear lesser worn items, or wear things in different ways. The main aim is to take the opportunity to learn some useful lessons that could teach you what to make (and not make) in the future!

My Project Scoring System:

Back in 2018, I started a project scorecard is a way for me to evaluate the project in a consistent way. At the time, I was making a lot of closet squatters due to poor choices.   I wanted to reduce the number of failed garments (we all make them!) and improve the quality/usability of each finished item.

For more details on the scoring system, see this post. In short, the criteria that I settled on were as follows:

• Appearance – How it looks
• Construction – How well it is made
• Outfits – How many things I can wear it with
• 30 Wears – Will I wear it at least 30 times
• Lifespan – How long it will last
• Style – Will it still be in style over it’s lifetime

My ratings are brutally honest! I’m not the type of person that tries to make out that everything I make is ‘better than sliced bread’.  An overall score of 50% or above suggests a successful project.  To achieve the top rating in a category, there must truly be something special.

This is a sample of my project report card.

30 Wears:

The 30 wears campaign (from the movie The True Cost)  is a sustainability initiative that encourages wearing clothes more often, ideally at least 30 times, to reduce waste and the impact of fast fashion.

Over the years, I’ve relied on the “30 Wears, Outfits and Style” to guide my sewing projects and fabric purchases. Often when I have a really special bit of fabric, I want to make something flashy with it. But this doesn’t often result in the garment being worn as often. I have learnt that asking the question “Will I wear that 30 times?” and “How many ways can I wear it?” results in a more conservative pattern choice but a much more loved and worn garment

How well have I done:

Over the next 4 weeks, as I change my wardrobe from summer to winter, I’m going to take a keen interest in how often a garment is worn. For some items it may not have been in my closet long enough to have 30 wears. For example more recent makes or ones like a Goretex jacket that will last a couple of decades but be worn infrequently. To account for that I’m going to mark them as a “on-track to 30 wears”, rather than just the number of wears.

• Wear Criteria:
  • > 30 Wears
  • 15-30 Wears
  • 5-15 Wears
  • <5 Wears
  • On-track to 30 wears
• Garment Categories (each further divided into Dressy, Smart Casual, Casual, Sport, Mufty)
  • Woven jackets
  • Knit jackets and jumpers
  • Shirts and Blouses
  • Knit Tops
  • Pants
  • Shorts
  • Sport specific
  • Underwear

Be sure to check back, or follow me on instagram (@SewTreefrog) to see the results.