Sunday, October 7, 2012

2 1/2 months of sewing


My enthusiasm for both sewing and blogging has been waning a little lately. I think I’ve become a bit overwhelmed by trying to decided exactly what to sew and drowning in a sea of unfinished/to-be-fixed projects. I’ve decided a little planning is in order. I’m about to embark on a very busy 2 and a half months so need a little focus.

* First up,  I’m facing two big non-sewing related commitments:

  1. Participating in a 10km fun run. This is quite a big commitment given that I only decided to do this 1.5 weeks a go, the race is in 4 weeks and I’m not a jogger. I’ve spent much of the afternoon reading blogs on how to prepare for a 10k run in four weeks. Crazy but apparently doable…only time will tell. The biggest challenge for me is avoiding a knee injury.
  2. Online art e-course. I am starting an online e-course in a week. It runs for 4 weeks. This is basically a work thing. I need to clock up some professional development hours to keep my teacher registration. It looks like a lot of fun though and I’m looking really forward to spending some quality time with my daughter Meg creating artworks together. 

* Next up I have two new challenging projects:

1. Chanel-style jacket (V8804). This pattern comes with the promise of teaching you luxurious couture construction methods. From memory there are 90something steps! Even though I have little need for a jacket like this, I’m really looking forward to working through the challenging construction details. I’ve ordered a beautiful Raspberry coloured wool from EmmaOneSock and am eagerly awaiting it’s arrival. 

2. Swimwear. I bought a beautiful piece of Tigerlilly lycra from The Fabric Store last year and have been dreaming of turning it into a stunning one-piece swimsuit based on a Baku swimsuit I already own. I have already began playing around with a pattern and toile. It’s very early days. 


* Next up, 3 new & easy projects:

1. Four new tees - My t-shirt situation is really quite sad and in serious need of a re-stock. I've ordered the fabric and am waiting for it's arrival.

2. Jalie gymnastics pants. Just a little something I'd promised Meg. Pink and purple velvet....nooise!


3. Cord pants for the kiddos - I bought this fabric to make them two pairs of cords each to take away with them on a potentially cool holiday. It's going to take every inch of willpower to get these babies done. I'm not feeling particularly hopeful about this one. 

* Unfinished Projects 

1. Another summer dress based on Simplicity 2406. I've completed a toile and sketches for this dress but am yet to take to the fabric with my scissors.


2. Silk racerback tank. This pattern was taken from a Country Road top of my sisters. It's a little tight at the upper sideseams.  I need to play around with this and finish the binding. A horrible project in misbehaving silk. Yuck!


3. Beach tunic - I began sewing this beach tunic last year with the intention of having it for the summer break holidays. I ran out of time. Let's see if I can have it done by this summer break.

4. Winter Vogue dress - This dress was supposed to be sewn up in time for the Winter just gone. It's made from a wool/viscose. I was on the home stretch when I tried it on and decided it looked too formal for for everyday wear and something I probably would never wear. I'm going to cut it off to make a top.


5. Knickers - 6 pairs of knickers cut out and never sewn together.



6. Vogue bag in Bird Textile fabric - I cut out this bag a gazillion years ago and never sewed it up. Maybe it's time.


7. Swimmers for Meg - I bought these patterns and fabric many months ago with the intention to practise sewing with lycra before making up my own swimmers. I didn't get very far. I must revisit this soon.









Projects that need to be revisited

1. Silk Jersey Milly top - This began life as a faux wrap dress that I was never happy with. In a moment of impulse I chopped off the bottom. I need to add a hemband and fix up a few other bits.

2. Bras - Both these bras have underwire issues.


3. Cowl-neck top - Needs a hemband. Too shapeless.


4. Missoni top - needs taking in at the sideseams.


5. New Look silk dress - need to fix up the buckling neckband.


6. Burda denim trousers - need to reshape the legs

Well sorting through all this was supposed to make me feel less overwhelmed. I didn't realise just how much stuff I had thrown into the to-do hamper. Just looking at this post makes me feel more overwhelmed than ever. My goodness! That backfired! Wish me luck. Let's hope I get out alive.

12 comments:

  1. My rule when the overhauling pile threatens to take over the world is to only work on current season mending/alterations. The rest can go away into next year storage and hopefully be eaten by moths before the next season so I have an excuse to throw it out.
    I also have a rule that after one alteration/mending project I am allowed to sew something new. This may be why my alteration/mending pile is constantly threatening to overtake the world.
    Don't you go back to work tomorrow? I would buy a bigger storage box ;)

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  2. Phew! You have a lot on your plate. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Chanel style jacket goes.
    I think kbenco's idea for a bigger storage box sounds like a good one!

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  3. Good luck! You do have a lot on your plate but it all looks do-able. Just start on one at a time, your favourite, and finish it before picking up the next.
    Nowadays I do like kbenco, and only allow myself to start something new after finishing the current thing, and mending/altering has the highest priority of all. So sewing something new is like a reward to myself for completing less fun stuff :D
    Those Vogue couture collection pattern instruction are worth their weight in gold. I have one too, and although I haven't got past doing a trial garment I learnt so much from the instructions; techniques and tips that I use when making lots of other ordinary garments too.

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  4. Wise words of wisdom from Karen and Caroline . Big deep breaths and one step at a time with lots of rewards in between !
    The fabric is so worth saving - I love your bag fabric and New Look dress especially.

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  5. Yikes! Big list esp as it's just before term 4 starts. I'm kinda sinking a little at school. So much work! My sewing will definitely be slowing down this term. Only 10 more weeks till holidays....

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  6. A big list! But I'm loving so many of the pieces here... and i've never not been happy with a delivery from emmaonesock - such gorgeous fabrics. I've made one of Claire Shaeffer's patterns before with the couture instructions - they're totally worth it. Looking forward to seeing what gets churned out first...woot!

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  7. OMG, I have been running for two months and still can't run two kilometres without stopping. I was beyond unfit though

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  8. Good luck.. lots to do there. I am sure if I was brave enough to do this I'd have at least that many too. I can name 4 thinks instantly! I am very interested in your run thing and hope you will update here so I can see how you are going. I'm cheering for you!

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  9. That's a lot of interesting projects! If I were you I'd pick out the mends I really want fixed and focus on them first, along with the new swimsuit, since I'm sure you'd be able to use it straight away. The Chanel-style jacket looks like it will take a lot of work so I'd put that off to the summer hols :-).

    All my mending / fixing jobs go in a big pile and gets crumpled and unattractive. After maturing for a while like this some turn back into "I can live with that problem", and some are discovered to be not worth it, so my to do list kind of slims itself down.

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  10. This looks like a really good plan and I'm sure posting about it will help you stick to your goals and incentivize them a bit more ;) This year I started doing one unfinished project for every new project I started and it felt really good. Then I got go really busy with Uni work and all that went out of the window. Need to get back to that so thanks for the inspiration!

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  11. Am I allowed to feel Normal now after reading your list. It looks startlingly like mine!

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