October Sewing

October's off to a busy start! I'm not finishing things as quickly as I'd like, but I'm working away on a few things anyhow. The most important one right now is my project for the Fabricville blog; it's proved a little more time-consuming than I'd planned for -- I'm working on this Vogue 2053 jacket (the white view) in a cream corduroy, and to go with it I'm also going to make Butterick 6871 in this pretty patchwork print. Hopefully these will be done soon! 

Then I'll be moving on to this cool retro fabric. I've got it into my head to make another Merchant & Mills Factory Dress Top using this cotton. I have great buttons to add to this print, too! 

PatternReview is holding the Bargainista Fashionista contest right now as well, which is always so fun to plan for -- getting something done can be another story though ;) If I get through my previous projects, I'm thinking of copying an 80s style Akris dress using some blue cotton in my stash, probably using the bodice of this Burda and the skirt from a 90s Burda magazine dress which I've made before. 

And of course I will be planning my Literary Sewing Circle project as well! It might be something from this inspiration post, or perhaps something from an upcoming one... Lots of fun to come up with a plan! So a busy month or two of fall sewing ahead. 

September Plans!

After taking a blog break for August, I'm raring to go in September! In August I took some time off, did some sewing related shopping, made a few things, culled my pattern and fabric stash (a bit anyhow), and generally enjoyed relaxing. I made a couple of dresses, which will be shared here soon, and am halfway done my last summer dress for the year.

But now I have Plans! 

I tried to set up a plan for the fall using the Design Your Wardrobe process by Seamwork, which I've done before. I ended up having much the same concept; my colours are still jewel tones with black and white neutrals, and I like a "tailored comfort" vibe, not too tailored, not too 'flou' either. My last DYW Pinterest board still kind of captures what I want. 

To this end, I went through my stash as I was culling and came up with a few ideas - besides my desire to finish a couple of projects I cut out last fall! I have a dress and jacket and a couple of tops to finish in my UFO pile, then I want to tackle some of these. 

Butterick 6127 

I've wanted to make this dress for a while, it was on my Make Nine list in 2023. I think it will be a great fall dress in the original magenta houndstooth I planned on using then, but I also have a solid cobalt cotton that might work. 

Burda 103-03-2021

Then there is this Burda dress which is on my Make Nine list for this year! I have a soft green glen plaid that will be perfect for this one, and would really like to get it done for this fall. 

And to take me on into fall sewing, I want to get moving on the Jasika Blazer pattern I bought a year ago, including the sewing course, and even have fabric and lining for it ready to go. I've been feeling intimidated by this but if I take it slow over the next few months maybe I can do it! 

I think that's plenty to think about for the fall, and I know there are always things that pop up in between my plans to fill in sewing time!

And don't forget -- there is always the Fall Edition of the Literary Sewing Circle, coming soon! If you need another sewing project to add to your list...

July Sewing Plans!

 

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash

It's July already! In June I spent most of my sewing time doing some mending and looking through patterns and fabric. I didn't make a thing! 

I had thought about making some button up blouses in June and pulled a lot of potential matches to do that, but I just wasn't feeling it. My sewjo was gone. So in July I'm just going to sew what I feel like sewing, which is (no surprise) some dresses! 

I really enjoy sewing summer dresses so why try to do something else that feels like a chore. I have some lovely fabrics to use and tons of dress patterns I want to try. My ideas so far are: 

The Xanthe by Style Arc: I like the pintuck features and would make the short sleeved version. I have a yellow fabric with a faint white print that might work, and still let the pintucks stay visible. 

Burda 115-05-2023: this is on my Make Nine List for this year, and I have a bright green linen set aside for it. Another loose summer dress with pintucks, this also has fun side panel pockets. 

Lacey Dress by Style Arc: I've already made this twice and wear both versions a lot! I have a fun stripey print rayon in my stash, turquoise with a red print, and think it would be a great fit for another Lacey. 

I'm thinking that Vogue 8811 might be a nice dress to try out, I've had the pattern forever. I like the simple lines of this one. I have a few cotton prints that might fit well with this design.

There are also a couple of vintage late 70s & mid 80s patterns in my stash that I've thrifted over the last while, both short sleeve, full skirt, elastic waistline styles that I think would be easy wearing. If I feel vintagey I might try one of those. 

Deciding to just make what I love has broken my sewing block and now I feel ready to get back to the table and sew up some more dresses for my collection! What do you love sewing?

Sew What You Need in June

When I was trying to pack light for my recent travels, I was having some difficulty putting together a small capsule wardrobe. Many pieces in my wardrobe are standalones, and trying to put together 5 or 6 pieces that could be interchangeable was harder than I'd expected! I really noticed a lack of button up shirts in my closet. I was hoping to take one that I could wear as a shirt and also open as a kind of jacket. There was nothing really suitable for that purpose.

And then a Sew Over 50 challenge called "Sew What You Need June" popped up in my IG feed and I thought, well, I know what I need! So I've decided I could really stand to make one or two solid colour button up shirts for my wardrobe this month. 

I have sorted through my patterns and chosen a few that might do the trick. I have 3 choices for a long sleeved button up shirt, just have to choose one to move forward with! 

I have also pulled 3 patterns for short sleeved button front blouses, all from my thrifted retro stash; the Simplicity one has a hidden button placket. The Simplicity and Burda ones use small amounts of fabric so might work well with some of my recent thrift store fabric purchases. 

I have a few fabrics I'd like to make summer wear with, so hopefully I can match up at least one of these blouse patterns with one of these fabrics! I seem to be sewing very slowly these days so if I can get to one I will be happy :) 

Solid rayon, cotton & linen

Colorful cotton prints!

More Patterns, Thrifting and Travel!

One more thing I like to do when I travel is to check out local thrift stores, of course! Luckily for me, my sister & Mom are also thrifters and we had a fun day checking out a list of shops when I was visiting them. We found a few books, some nice clothes & fantastic shoes, and of course I went straight to the craft/sewing area in each shop to see what was available. 

I had to be judicious as I didn't have much room to carry things home with me, but I did find some wonderful patterns at a great price in one shop. I ended up with a handful of more contemporary patterns, two of which (McCalls 5668 & Simplicity 2852) I've been looking for for a while!

I also found a few from the 80s/early 90s, my favourite kind ;) The two on the right are both culotte patterns, with a jacket in the Burda one as well. My fave of this set is the "Super Combination" Burda, 4709. I love the green tunic and plan on making that for my fall wardrobe. If you look at the line drawings, this pattern even includes stirrup pants! Shades of high school...somehow I don't think I'll be going there ;) 

I had a lot of fun shopping for these, and I think I'll enjoy sewing some of them up, hopefully within the year. Even if I don't, I always enjoy looking at the details in all my patterns and coming up with new ideas!

April Plans!

I didn't get to much sewing in March, just too much going on. But I have plans for April! I'm hoping that I will be able to do a little more this month. 

I started out strong with some fabric purchases... I am once again trying to diminish by stash by 50 m. this year, but when you are thrifting and find good fabric, you can't pass it up. I picked up some black lining and a length of Thai silk in gorgeous green & yellow while at my favourite thrift store earlier this week. Then we stopped in at another small shop the next day, and I found some floral print rayon. I couldn't resist the oversize print or the colours, so that also came home with me. Plus a few notions. 

But to counteract those purchases, I did start on a spring dress for the Fabricville blog -- I will be sharing that soon. And I have lots of ideas for the Upcycle Contest on PatternReview; I have a bright blue linen dress I want to upcycle, if I can find the right project for it, but there are other items in my wardrobe that might be useful to upcycle as well. 

April has many challenges in the sewing world, especially on Instagram. One that I'm thinking of joining in on is the #SewAprilBlouse24 challenge. This is a fun one every year, and this year I do have a few blouses on my sewing list so may try to finish one this month to join in. I actually have a number of blouses I'd like to make this year, some from my 80s pattern stash and some from Burda or Indie designers that have been on my radar for a while. However, I know I don't have time to make 10 blouses in a month so will have to decide on one! I'm thinking maybe the Fresco Blouse by Studio Calicot. 

And of course it's getting to be time for another round of the Literary Sewing Circle! Keep your eyes on this space, our choice for Spring 2024 will be coming shortly. I hope you will join in this time if you haven't before -- it's a low key sewalong that's lots of fun. 

That's what April is shaping up like around here -- how about you? 

February Sewing & Challenges!

 

It's February already, and I have lots of sewing plans for the month. There are some regular sewing challenges that I'm planning to join in on, as well as some of my own sewing plans to come. 

I always love the #BHMPatternDesigners Challenge! It's hosted mainly on IG but you can find all the details and links to many designers, and the challenge sponsors and their February discounts, on the BHMPD website now, as well. 

I've made a few different items for this challenge over the years (even won a prize one year!) but this year I think I've decided to make the Nikki Blazer by Style Sew Me which I bought in 2022. Sadly, this shop is now closed but I have the pattern so will go for it. I'm really loving fitted jackets lately. I've even put this pattern on my MakeNine for this year, for extra incentive! I have two potential fabrics in my stash that I am wavering between. Now I will have to decide... 

Another pattern that I haven't bought yet but am very tempted by is the Ada Peplum top by Duana Studio. The sleeve, with its button detail, is so cute! 

And I really love so many of the patterns found at Les Lubies de Cadia like the Girna dress or the most recent Lysiane blouse. Swoon! 

Another focus of my sewing this month is due to an unhappy anniversary coming up. February 24 will mark the second year of Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This is still going on, and still as awful as ever. I don't want to lose sight of that. 

I'm planning to continue my search for the perfect base for my own Vyshyvanka by making up the Poppy Blouse by PatternScout OR New Look 6704 this month. I want to make the basic pattern up to see if I like the fit and style enough to spend some hours embroidering it. I like my recent ITS Palermo but not 100% sold on it as a Vyshyvanka base yet... 

And I also want to make another project from my MakeNine list, Burda 6354 as a colour blocked top in blue and yellow. 

I think that this will give me lots to work on this month, alongside some art projects I'm starting to get stuck into! We'll see how it goes. Although I do have an extra day this year ;) 

Make Nine / Use Nine 2024

I'm putting together a Make Nine/Use Nine grid for 2024 -- even though I have never completed a Make Nine yet! But I enjoy the planning and it helps to think about what you might want to sew in the months ahead. 

Last year I ended making 3/9 of the patterns I'd picked: 

The Antonia Dress by PatternDivision
The Afternoon Blouse by Jennifer Lauren
McCalls 8024

Three seems to be on average how many things I make from a big plan like this. I'm still intending to work on a couple more from previous Make Nine plans, too. Last year I said I still wanted to complete the Talulah Knit Dress by Style Arc that I'd put on my 2021 list -- and I did it!

Just like last year, these are aspirational lists; I'm not holding myself to anything! I'm really a mood sewist, just like I'm a mood reader, so these lists are fun to make but not rigid at all, or I will get sewing block pretty quickly. I know myself. This year I found it hard to decide on 9. I know I have less sewing time and am trying to prioritize things that will fit into my wardrobe plans while still also being fun things I'm excited about. 

But this plan is intended to keep these projects top of mind, not act as a hard and fast rule that I must make all of them.

And so, starting fresh with a new 9x9 grid, here are my hopes and plans for 2024 projects: 

1. New Look 6679 - probably the long sleeved view but I like both views a lot

2. Burda 115-05-2023 - this was one of their most popular patterns of 2023, and I meant to make it in 2023!

3. Burda 10 -03-2021 - I really like the lines of this and am finally going to make it after thinking about it since this issue came out

4. Itch to Stitch Palermo - this is a pattern from the Itch to Stitch book "Sew Beautiful". I want to test to see if I will use it for my own Vyshyvanka (Ukrainian embroidered blouse) 

5. Burda 105-10-2021 - I like the extra ruffle on this blouse and hope I can make it work.

6. Burda 6354  - I plan to make this in a colour blocked version, the view with the shorter ruffled sleeve

7. Closet Core Jasika Blazer - as noted in my sewing goals for the year, I want to finish the course for this pattern and make a great version for myself!

8. Style Sew Me Nikki Blazer - I bought this pattern last year and would love to try it out, I love the relaxed cardigan style of this blazer

9. McCalls 7730 - I was looking for a cropped jacket with very few style lines specifically for my oversize print, shown below. I hope this is it!

I'm also hoping to combine this plan with my Use Nine and make the following match-ups. The only one I'm not really sure about is the Nikki Blazer fabric - all the others are fairly solid choices.

Hoping to beat my record of 3/9 this year!

Fall Sewing Plans

 

Well here it is, September already! I didn't quite finish all my anticipated summer sewing but it's time to get moving on Fall sewing next. 

I have a couple of summer dresses that I am currently working on -- to be shared soon -- but after that it's the big switch-over to autumnal/winter sewing. I'm not as organized this year as I've been previously, but I'm basically sticking with my winter wardrobe outline that I set in September 2021. I'm not done with bright colours and suiting influenced silhouettes yet. 

I have a couple of items on my Make Nine 2023 that I'm planning to make soon, Butterick 5938 and Butterick 6127.

I'm also planning on Burda dress 103-03-21, and a Burda skirt & waistcoat set.

And I think a Fresco blouse by Studio Calicot (from my Make Nine) will be a great addition. 

Another blouse I really want to make is the Barbara from I Am Patterns. 

I'm sure I'll come up with more ideas and get distracted from my organized plans as always! But these are the items I'm hoping to finish by the end of the year. 

Do you make big plans or queue up your projects? I don't generally go beyond a handful but doing a wardrobe planning process has helped me both whittle down ideas and focus on fabrics. 

Half Way through 2023

 

Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash

I can hardly believe that this year is going so very quickly. It's already halfway through! Fortunately for me, I had a long weekend as July began, so was able to spend some time thinking about my plans for the year and how I'm doing with them. 

My goals that I set for 2023 were fairly relaxed. They were to:

1. Sew From Stash

2. Finish some art quilts

3. Take classes/learn more

I think I've done okay on all of these so far! I've been sewing a lot from stash, probably about 75% of my projects so far are from stash, and I haven't bought too much new fabric this year. I still have to sort more of the piles out so I can see what I want to use and what I want to pass on, but haven't got there yet. 

Finishing art quilts has been going pretty well -- I finished 2 small ones, and got to the SAQA Conference in Toronto I was planning on, which spurred me on. I have 2 more small quilts to finish, and lots of ideas for new ones! 

Take classes -- well, haven't done too great on this one yet. I did take one interesting art quilting class online, about using scraps effectively, which I really enjoyed. And I've been listening to some embroidery and art quilting webinars. However, I haven't finished my Jasika Blazer class (maybe this fall?) and do have some CreativeBug sewing classes I want to watch. 

My other 2023 goal was my Make Nine/Use Nine plans. So far I'm moving a bit slowly there - I have finished one, the McCalls dolman knit top, and have two others cut out. So maybe I'll get a few more done before end of year! 

Like I mentioned in my original planning post, I am a mood sewist - I get distracted from plans easily! Plus I've been doing a bit of sewing on demand, so to speak, for various sewing companies/stores, which does cut into my planned sewing a bit. 

And in May I added a new goal to the year, which is to make my own Vyshyvanka by next May -- I've traced out two potential patterns for it but haven't made any samples yet. I'm planning to make a couple of quick versions to test out which pattern I want to use good linen for, and spend time on embroidering! So I'll have to get busy so I can start on that with plenty of time for stitching. 

Not too much to overwhelm me, and I don't feel terribly behind, as these are simply goals to keep me focused. It's great to look at them and refocus now, with time left in the year to accomplish a bit more. Do you like making plans as well, or are you more freeform? I think I'm a mix! 

Thinking Ahead to February Sewing Challenges!

I can't believe it's nearly the end of January already. Time has simply whizzed by and I feel like I turned my head and two weeks have disappeared. I'm still working on the one project I have started in January -- nearly done now and looking forward to sharing it soon! 

But as I draw close the finishing this item, I'm also thinking about February. I have lots of my own plans, as evidenced by my Make Nine; however, February is full of great sewing challenges. One of my favourites happens every February, the Black History Month Pattern Designers Challenge. It's run by Nateida of SewNaturalDane, and features all sorts of Black pattern designers - for sewing, knitting/crochet, bags, fabric etc. The challenge is to make something by a Black pattern designer between Feb 1 & Feb 28, and share it following the rules on the website/IG post. It's always great fun to discover new designers and see all the projects coming in. Really interesting every year. 

I'm thinking about what I will make this go round -- I have a number of items in my pattern stash that would suit. Two which I bought last year but haven't made yet  are from two different Indie Black designers. I picked up the Temi Top/Dress by Sewphilia, and the Nikki Blazer by Style Sew Me. They are still on my to-sew list, especially the blazer as it really fits in with my wardrobe plans currently.  

I also picked up a 1979 Willi Smith pattern at the thrift store a while back. I love the blouse, but I would have to grade the pattern up since mine is a 12, so not sure I'll get to it in time. And of course I have many Khaliah Ali patterns in my stash too! 

Another temptation is this unique pattern I came across recently. It's the Girma Dress/Top from Les Lubies de Cadia. It's a French pattern company but seems to have English instructions too. I love the wrap style and the cute side pleat feature. 

I'm kind of spoiled for choice for this challenge, the difficulty is in deciding what to make!

The next big thing that's happening in February is the start of the Pattern Review Sewing Bee! Well, it actually starts Monday, Jan 30. This is such a fun event -- the first round is open to everyone and then you get selected (or not) to move on through other rounds. I've been knocked out in first rounds before, and made it to the third round last year. If the first challenge is something that appeals to me I might jump in on this year as well. I don't like to spend my sewing time making things that I will never wear though, so it'll have be something within my sewing preferences to make me jump in. Either way it's fun to follow along and see what people are making for each rapid challenge! 

Other February plans are to continue with my stash cull and reorganization, and to work on at least one project from my Make Nine plans. Let's see if this short month will be full to bursting with sewing!

More (and Theoretical) Make Nines

IF I were going to make even more sewing plans, I have enough that I want to make to fill up multiple MakeNine grids. But I don't want to overschedule myself with things to make, I like to go with the flow of inspiration when it comes to my sewing. Nevertheless, these plans are awfully entertaining to put together, so I'm just making a couple more of these grids for fun.

IF I had decided to make a sewing plan just with my Burda magazine TBS (to be sewn) projects or from my stack of vintage patterns, they might have looked like this! 

From l to r, and top to bottom, here are my what-if Burda plans:

1. 104/03/2021 - dress

2. 102/09/2022 - sweater

3. 112/01/2022 - cropped blazer

4. 120/11/2020 - dress

5. 106/09/2022 - vest

6. 119/01/2022 - dress

7. 114/01/2022 - dress

8. 117/12/2022 - skirt

9. 116/09/2019 - blouse

And as for vintage/retro patterns, I have a fair number! This year, for some reason, blouses are catching my eye. My lists are usually all dresses but there's a mix of tops in this potential plan. 

Some Blouses

Some Dresses

And the Blazer from this one!

How about you? Do you make multiple plans just for the fun of it? I hope I can get at least one item made from all my real and potential Make Nine grids this year. But as always... we will see how I feel as the year goes on :)