Sew a Rainbow with Peppermint’s Me-Made May Makes
- Words by Peppermint
It’s the most wonderful time of year – Me-Made May! A time when the internet comes together to celebrate the heights of handmade fashion and consider the work that goes into creating a wardrobe’s worth of wears. In the past, we’ve celebrated by interviewing Me-Made May founder Zoe Edwards and setting challenges for you all, but this year we are diving in ourselves!
With the help of our fabulous friends at Spoonflower, each member of the Peppermint team chose their favourite fabric to make a riotous rainbow of Peppermint Samford Sets. The world’s largest marketplace of independent designs from global artists, Spoonflower has more than one million designs to choose from! So to help us navigate their trove of artistic treasures we assigned ourselves a colour from the trusty ROYGBIV spectrum to build our look from. We’re over the rainbow about the results! Read on to find out the hows, whys and wherefores of everyone’s phenomenal picks.
DOWNLOAD THE SAMFORD SET NOW!
MICHELLE HOLT
NATIONAL ADVERTISING MANAGER
Fabric Choice: Pink Gingham in Cotton Lawn
I chose pink because it’s one of my favourite colours! A quick Google search tells me that pink is sweet and playful, and represents compassion, nurture and love (perhaps I’m just a small child wanting all of these things or to be all of them for my children). I also love gingham fabric – it’s versatile, classic and timeless. My big, beautiful buttons are probably not the most ideal choice if I want to sleep in this comfy-as outfit, but great to highlight that it could (and should!) be worn during the day. I chose Spoonflower Cotton Lawn as I adore lightweight, flowy, soft fabrics.
LAUREN BAXTER
EDITOR
Fabric Choice: Jumbo Shaky Leaf Tendril Blue Fabric in Organic Cotton Sateen
I have a theory: everyone’s favourite colour is blue. Forget your idiosyncratic tendencies and hear me out… Colours are far from neutral. We humans, as seekers of meaning, layer sense and sensibility onto everything. So, of course, our favourite colours will reflect those with positive connotations. A day spent outdoors in the sunshine with family and friends? Blue sky. Diving into a crystal-clear body of water? The big blue. Pulling on a well-loved pair of pants that fit like no other? Blue jeans, baby! Add an abstract botanical motif – I, like Sir David Attenborough, just love a good leaf – and you’re talking my language! Besides… I’m blue da ba dee da ba di.
CAITLIN MORIARTY
COMMUNITY AND PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER
Fabric Choice: Athena In Pickle Fabric in Organic Cotton Sateen
When it comes to wearing colour, I want to go big. Bold. Bright. When I walk down the street, I want 13-year-old girls to whisper to each other, “Did you see that lady’s outfit? Do you think she might be a high school art teacher?” Yes, the eccentric aesthetic is the one for me, and that means I often turn to green. Able to look both completely natural (see: trees, hedges, leaves) and also completely unnatural (see: The Hulk), green is full of surprises and never fails to catch the eye. The graphic swirls of this print in the delightfully spicy ‘Pickle’ ticks all my boxes.
BONNIE LISTON
SEWING CONTENT MANAGER
Fabric Choice: Cher’s Plaid Fabric in Petal Signature Cotton
When I chose yellow, I was so excited by all the print possibilities on offer. I love so many things that are yellow – bees, daffodils, dandelions, sunflowers, the sun! I was ready to face some serious choice anxiety and then on the first page I saw Cher’s Plaid and knew I had to have my Clueless moment. It’s an iconic moment in film fashion history and I love how my outfit pays tribute to Cher while not being an exact replica. In Spoonflower’s Petal Signature Cotton, my Samford Set is endlessly easy to wear and I plan on busting it out whenever I want a boost of Queen Bee energy!
KELLEY SHEENAN
FOUNDER / DESIGNER / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Fabric Choice: 3″ Woven Buffalo Check – Black on Rust in Petal Signature Cotton
Black is a colour of the rainbow, right? Right?! Ok, so I may be leaning heavily on the ‘rust’ part of the print to fit the brief, but I really wanted something that fit with my usual ‘Morticia Adams goes to the desert’ colour palette so this Buffalo Check pattern was right up my alley. I also went out on a limb (my legs in this case), and went with a three-quarter length on the pants for a wide-legged culotte look, perfect for sneakers, or socks and slides (this is where Morticia gets left behind in the dust).
MARA VANDENBERG
ACCOUNTS
Fabric Choice: Almond Blossoms Mural ~ Van Gogh ~ Marilyn Fabric in Organic Cotton Sateen
Almond Blossoms is my favourite Van Gogh artwork so I was thrilled to see it in many glorious impressions and colours on the Spoonflower website. Red was my colour for this project, so my decision was easy. Vincent loved painting flowers and I love the influence of Japanese woodwork. The combination is unique, against any colour backdrop.
Pop over to spoonflower.com for more inspiration, then download the pattern and make sure you tag #PeppermintPatterns (and #PeppermintSamfordSet) in your creations!
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“My piece of advice for makers and designers? Run your own race… make sure your key decisions stay anchored in your brand’s core beliefs.”
- Bec Bligh
Quick show of hands: who’s opened a water bottle expecting a refreshing sip… and instead been greeted by the unmistakable whiff of uh-oh?
Because for something that follows us everywhere (desk, car, hikes, yoga…), the humble drink bottle is strangely prone to becoming a science experiment. Hard-to-clean corners and gaskets. Mystery smells. Bec Bligh and her husband Tim know it well. A six-month sailing trip along the Queensland coast left them with a lifetime of memories and one stubborn annoyance: mouldy water bottles they couldn’t properly clean.
So they did something about it.
Enter @EverVessel. Thoughtfully designed borosilicate glass and stainless steel bottles that keep things beautifully simple: durable materials, wide openings, easy-to-clean parts and none of the techy gimmicks that tend to age badly. Turns out simplicity, done well, is pretty powerful stuff. (Their many design awards agree!)
And lately they’ve added a little extra delight: the Artist Series, where creatives like Paola Castro, Ben Miners and Martin Thompson transform these everyday companions into tiny travelling artworks. There are more colabs in the works, too: hydration, but make it joyful! 🎨💧
We chatted with Bec about the sailing trip that started it all, the philosophy behind Ever Vessel, and why the most sustainable product is often just the one you keep using.
Tap the link in our bio to read the full conversation. 🚰
#EverVessel #ReusableWaterBottle
Pull up a chair… there’s room at this table!
For the first time, Feast for Freedom is bringing people together for a spectacular long-table dinner as part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.
A Longer Table is exactly what it sounds like: one beautiful shared table inside the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (@Asrc1), piled with generous dishes inspired by this year’s hero cooks, Noha and Nige.
From 6 to 9pm on Wednesday, 25 March, this is what you can expect:
🍽 A three-course shared feast
🍷 Matched drinks
🎶 Live entertainment
✨ A room full of good humans
Your ticket doesn’t just buy you a delicious dinner. It supports the ASRC’s vital work and helps create a fairer future for people seeking asylum.
Seats are limited, and long tables have a way of filling up quickly – head to @MelbFoodAndWine’s website to book now: feastforfreedom.org.au/mfwf
#FeastForFreedom #MelbourneFoodAndWineFestival #LongTableDinner #FoodForChange
Sew versatile! 🪡
Another great make from Lisa from @SunnySewsEveryday:
My #PeppermintWaratahWrapDress is finished and I’m so proud of it. It has been designed not to flap open and flash your pants in the wind, so I feel confident it will be a great wheelchair or standing dress in English weather.
#PeppermintPatterns #WrapDress #WrapDressPattern
Frame your face with the Peppermint Bucket Hat!
Stay safe and stylish in the sun with your very own self-sewn and self-drafted wide-brimmed bucket hat. This beginner-friendly sew is perfect for a sunny day. Get out your pencils – this pattern is created using equations and maths!
This DIY project was featured in Issue 53 and now you can access it for the lovely low price of only $5.
Sun-safe chic is always in style. ☀️
Find it via the link in our bio!
Photos: @KelleySheenan
#PeppermintPatterns #PeppermintBucketHat #BucketHat #BucketHatPattern #DIY
✨ INSTANT CLASSIC ✨
The Peppermint Myrtle Shift Dress is a beginner-friendly make with a few special details based on the ever-stylish shift shape – the perfect dress you need in your wardrobe right now!
Myrtle cuts above the knee with options to customise the length. Don’t think she’s reserved for hot weather either: try a heavier-weight fabric to turn your Myrtle into a pinafore-style garment for layering.
For our fabrics we chose two from our lovely sewing partner @Karmme_Apparel – the bold Rottnest Stripes in a lightweight, soft-drape cotton, and the quality linen in the handpainted Mexico Collection.
Get making the Myrtle – the only question is, can you stop at just one?
Link in bio 🪡
Fabric: @Karmme_Apparel
Sewist: @Laura_The_Maker
Photos: @KelleySheenan
Models: @SerahSews and @Pins_And_Tonic
Location: @ShareTheDignityAustralia
#PeppermintMyrtleShiftDress #PeppermintPatterns
It’s time to Feast!
Some recipes travel a long way before they land on your table to delight your taste buds. This year’s Feast for Freedom invites us to gather our friends, cook something delectable and raise funds for the incredible work of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (@Asrc1) while we’re at it.
The 2026 Feast features recipes shared by two remarkable cooks: Noha, who brought the flavours of Palestine with her when she arrived in Australia, and Nige, a Sri-Lankan Tamil cook whose journey with food began in the most unexpected of places.
You can host your own Feast up until 30 April – simply register online and get planning! Host a dinner, organise a workplace lunch, or gather your community… However you do it, the idea is simple: cook, connect and celebrate the cultures and stories that shape Australia.
Want to find out more? Head to the link in bio to meet Noha and Nige, learn more about their stories, and discover a delicious recipe to try.
#FeastForFreedom #PeppermintMagazine #FoodForGood #ASRC
