SWAP or a SISC…either way, it’s time

Among coming up to the end of 1 year of t-shirt sewing, working to get back my body post-baby, and Peter’s good thoughts on sewing with a plan, I’m thinking it’s time for me to really evaluate what I need to do and go from there.

Things to consider before I make a plan:

1.  Only use fabrics I love in the light, slightly warm/slightly cool colors that work for me.  I haven’t mentioned that I got my colors done yet (yay!).  The greens and purples were surprising to me, but I’m not at all shocked to see zero blacks and grays and deeply intense colors.  I’m a pale lady.   I reckon that this is a long-term goal that can’t be addressed fully in a SWAP.  It’s something I will just have to practice a lot for a long time.

Denim is going to be rough on me.  Fashion types be danged–dark denim swallows me alive not unlike black and visually shortens me since I can’t wear dark colors on top–so wearing a top with jeans will always yield a choppy break on me unless the value contrast between jeans and top is low.  I’m going to have to snoop shop so I can get a mental picture before actually shopping for light blue denim yardage.

2.  I’m sticking with good quality fabrics.  I’ve not been happy with the way that cheap rayon knits have aged in my closet.  And I’m done with sheer knits unless I find myself in a position where I can line them.  Yes, polyester comes in so many amazing prints, but it feels gross and traps body heat and odors (eww).  So natural fibers and better quality fabrics whenever I can get my hands on them.  There might be more outlay for them up front, but the # of wears over the life of the garment will probably be ultimately higher.  And if I’m spending my own time making clothes, I want them to last.

3.  Think hard about my lifestyle and the garments that will work with that.  Yes, I have 3 boys, but I’m girly.  I’m not an athletic pants + jacket kind of Mom, nor have I ever been that.  I’m the type that feels unclothed without a necklace.  I can run after them in dresses, but they need to be washable and not too fussy.  There may come a time when I can own several pairs of wool trousers (oh my cold winter self looks forward to that) and silk tops, but now is not the time.  Dry-clean only doesn’t work for me.  So girly and practical are my keywords.

4.  Make space for others.  The boys really love when I sew for them.  Noah walks into the room and says things like, “I would like you to make me a rocket.” I love that I can do that.  It’s a good mental break to do something for them and it’s good for my heart.  I can’t sew for them all the time, but a modest goal will help me have more energy for my own projects.  It’s a sewing Sabbath of sorts–a built-in rest period in my work that will fuel me for the rest of my work.

zipper tails!

As for garments, I have a lot to think about before I draft up a plan.  The more you plan, I think the better you get at it.  What about everyone else?  Have you done a SWAP or a SISC (self-imposed sewing club)?  Have you found it to be helpful?  Do you start with fabric, patterns, or thinking more philosophically first?

2011 in review

Yes it’s a week late, but It’s always helpful for me to take a look back on my goals and see how much I accomplished before I dive into a new year.  This was a big growth year for me in my sewing.  I think every other year has also been a big growth year, but I think this is the first year where it’s really started to show that this is not my first rodeo.

• I made a coat!  I felt completely ready to take on this task that daunted me last year and the year before.  I took my time, and gradually it all came together in something I love love love love love to wear.  Actually, outerwear is coming to be a part of my sewing, which is great because Colorado is a place you have to layer clothes.

• This whole pants thing is starting to make sense.  I’ve made three pairs of jeans now and this latest addition BWOF 8-2008-122 is showing some real growth (I’ll save info on this latest addition when I can get some pics).  There’s also the grey green cords below and these Sandra Betzina jeans.

• I had a baby and then had to scramble to figure out how to deal with my changing size.  I’m still figuring it out.  From delivery till present, there’s about 50 pounds…not a small amount of change.  I think you can see the change most obviously in my dresses:
•  I think there is some serious petite-ing learning coming my way.  And my ever present annoyance [how do you account for a full bust without adding to the waist?] is rearing its ugly head.  I’ve been cheating by adding to the side seams, but I have no extra fluff on the sides anymore and even less waist.  Arghh.  Back to the drawing board I will go in 2012.
• Making the boys clothes is kind of fun.  I tend to sew just for me because I know how to fix what I have going on and it’s too time consuming and not often appreciated by recipients how much goes into that enough to inspire me to sew for them (the brilliantly cheeky Selfish Seamstress sums it up well).  But most of the time the boys are very appreciative, and there’s little to no fitting issues that need to happen.  Plus, I can scour the $2/lb bin for fabric for them and sewing their clothes helps me up my construction skills.  And they’re darn cute.  Win win for everyone.  Can’t we all just play with boxes wearing robot pjs?

For the new year I’d like to:

• Keep puzzling through this whole pants thing
• REALLY figure out the full bust/small waist and narrow shoulders conundrum
• Learn to make welt pockets that aren’t hideously ugly
• Sew something with silk…it’s just sitting there waiting for me.

Fabric abroad and October goals

Readers, I am woefully behind on posting.  Like I haven’t written in 4 garments behind.  I will try to remedy that this week.  Writing will be on my to do list a little every day this week to try and catch up.  In the mean time, I will phone in a post about fabric shopping away from home.

We just got back from seeing my husband’s family in San Diego, and somewhere between going to the zoo and the beach and enjoying our time with family, my mother-in-law and I popped out to check out a couple of fabric stores.

Our first stop was Discount Fabrics.  It’s located in an old theater.  The reviews tend to suggest that the employees are rude, but the lady helping me was very nice, and I tend to ignore such comments because I believe that if you go in with a sour attitude you will probably be treated in kind.  It’s kind of divey but the ambience was fun and they had a nice selection of random bits of this and that.  They had quite a lot of silk–a lot of charmeuse (would that my wallet and lifestyle could justify being wrapped in fabric butter) and dupioni (wouldn’t you know I passed by a perfectly lovely aqua piece only because I have a darker teal dupioni that I have no idea what to do with).  I picked up a chiffon to line a blouse I’ve had in the queue and some denim that was $3/yd.  The denim was a flat fold that was up in one of the balconies where there were lots of tables of remnants which were all very reasonably priced.

Next we ended up at the Clairemont Yardage Town as it was not too far from Discount Fabrics and also close to my husband’s grandmother’s house where we stayed.  They had a really good selection of all sorts of garment fabrics with very very little quilty stuff (is it snobby of me to be excited about that?).  There was lots of nice heavier weight knits, mostly solids and a really beautiful silk chiffon that I regrettably parted ways with because I only budgeted $30 for both stores (I was over that by a quarter–I impressed myself).  Instead, I picked up a fun small wale corduroy for some wintery jeans.  I like the splotches of green in the gray.  And I was over the moon when I found this light cotton knit.  I love the gray on the green, I love that it’s a zebra print, I love that the pattern runs diagonally, and most of all, I love that it goes with the corduroy.  This will not last very long in the stash at all.

If you’re in San Diego, I would highly recommend both places.

Remember my hand-written goals of yore?  I’ve gone back to doing them the past couple of months and have been doing quite well with them.  I like drawing if for no other reason than I get to use my beloved Prismacolors, and I find it helps me to have a general idea of what I’m working on rather than a nebulous sort of queue.  This month I’m starting work on a winter coat, and I would like to get to Butterick 5677

because I think it’s fantastic, but I’m purposely leaving those off of my written goals because I’ve noticed an incredible lack of casual clothes in my wardrobe.  A recent post by Cidell left me thinking about what indeed DO you wear to watch football ?  I’ve been sewing as if I was still teaching, and while I like wearing nicer clothes while I’m at home, the sweats and pajamas inevitably come out when I’ve acquired enough layers of spit up on the nice clothes.  I just don’t have anything else that’s casual.  So on the printed goals are some wardrobe basics this month, and when I finish those I’ll add more details about the coat and other things to the queue.

I like to be able to finish what I set out in the time period I give myself.  If I get too ambitious, I just end up feeling overwhelmed (I’ll be honest though and say that I’m so motivated to blow through this queue because that Butterick dress is eating up my head with its awesomeness).  What time periods do you all like to work within to help you achieve your goals?