So, since I’ve already been quietly getting on with it for the last month and it’s actually been successful so far! I think I can finally officially announce that I am doing this thing; my Year of Handmade.
For a period of one year; I will wear ONLY clothing and shoes that I personally have made with my own two hands.
Long term readers may remember how I’ve dreamed of emulating Natalie Purschwitz’s Makeshift Project, a yearlong project in which she wore only clothing and shoes made by herself… I’ve been a long term admirer of her project and idea, periodically I even go back and browse through her blog and admire the clothing and shoes all over again! and for aaaages I’ve really wanted to have a go and see if I could do the same myself. During 2013 I did wear only clothing made by myself, but allowed myself ready-to-wear shoes, since at that stage I hadn’t made any. Well, now I have made a nice little supply of self-made shoes and am in the process of building up more, and so I’m starting to feel cautiously confident that I can do it!
So, it’s on! I’ve made a little button in my sidebar that links to my project outfit pictures in my dedicated Flickr album; Year of Handmade. Actually I think I’ve held off announcing it on my blog all this last month not just because I was scared of failing at winter shoes yet, but also because I hadn’t thought of nor made a button yet! ha!
I started on 22nd February, and so I will keep it up until at least 22nd February 2017.
I’m going to keep the project mainly in the Flickr album, although periodically I may write an update here on how I’m feeling about it as it goes along. Consequently, my thoughts for the first month;
It’s not surprising to me that I have plenty of clothes to see me through this thing, plenty; and that shoes are my biggest restriction. I am a beginner shoemaker, and while I am pretty happy with most of my handmade shoes, I still have to turn out a winter shoe that I am 100% satisfied with. SO far, the project has sailed along pretty smoothly because I’ve been able to wear my summer shoes, and I’m really happy with ALL of those. My 2-tone caramel/ivory sandals and my denim shoes are very satisfactory to me; I LOVE wearing them and am super happy with how both pairs turned out. It helped that they are both pretty simple style of shoe to make, and so I hadn’t encountered any of the challenges associated with making a closed-in shoe yet… though I have now!!
I’ve found that colour-wise and style-wise, both these pairs of shoes go with practically every item of summer/trans-seasonal clothing that I have. Cannot stress enough how useful this is!
On a morale point of view, it feels so SO great to be able to go forth wearing a 100% self-made outfit in which I still feel halfway stylish. In fact, that feeling is one of the most rewarding things ever, from a maker’s point of view. Every now and again, as I’m out and about, it occurs to me; how many other people out and about would be wearing a head-to-toe outfit 100% made by themselves? Not many, that’s what. It’s a hugely satisfying feeling, HUGE; and one that so far keeps me motivated to keep going for the year.
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