Saturday 4 January 2020

Project planning for 2020 - list of intentions - sewing

Now we have had the New Year its time to make a list of what I need to make this year.

To be honest when you are not able to sew at all its very frustating so whilst I was recovering from my op, I needed to do something and all it was that was possible was to just plan what I want to make and I have spent the last few weeks looking through my Burda mags - and other sewing mags - to decide what I want to make when I could sew again. Now I can sew so onwards............and its 2020!


A major intention this year is to make less but make more useful stuff and maybe take longer over making things and to try to get a better finish. I currently equal most RTW clothing finish wise which makes me happy, but could make my clothing a bit more upmarket now I think which would make it very nice to wear even if others cannot tell that its better made. I will know.


So here goes with my aims:

Sequin wide legged trousers - I have about 3m of black sequin fabric ( non stretch) which has been hanging round for several years, so I want to make something from it that I will actually wear, and not just another party dress which will end up in the wardrobe taking up space and get worn at most once a year. And, I really do need to stash-bust since we are thinking of moving house. I am thinking of wide legged trousers because it has very good drape and no stretch at all. The sequins are a dull black not shiny so I reckon for summer festivals and maybe January weekend shopping they will work fine and I will actually wear them with denim etc for normal casual daily life even if sequins are not everyones cup of tea!

I already made 2 tops from the sequin fabric:
 https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2016/12/76-sequin-trimmed-t-shirt-top.html

 https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2016/12/77-playing-with-sequins-blank-slate.html


The sweatshirt type top works great. Less so the blank slate top because the fabric has no stretch making it somewhat hard to get on and off. I probably should either recycle that or send to charity for someone else who can fit into it better than me. 

Anyway back to my trousers idea: maybe I can make these using Burda 7122 which I love all 3 previous pairs I made and also know the correct size now and being an expensive fabric I do want these to work,  or maybe the Jamesia free pattern from Mood because I have only used stretch fabric so far and omitted the zip but it is actually designed for wovens so would work and since its flared would be a nice on trend design. Its also pretty easy to sew which is a bonus. The Jamesia though will be more risky due to my only previously making this as a stretch pull on pair of trousers rather than woven. Also I will need to line these trousers. Sequins without lining are uncomfortable. Both above tops have a lining.

You can see my previous wide legged trouser projects here:
Burda 7122  here:
https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/08/navy-blue-work-trousers-from-burda-7122.html



Jamesia here: https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2019/11/sequin-trimmed-flares-from-mood.html

Though they should look more like the ones below. You will have to excuse the crutches, these photos were taken straight after I had my op. I do not think they show the flared legs too well. Also both are made in stretch scuba so not quite following the real Jamesia pattern hence would be more risky making this sequin fabric as a Jamesia. I may try though because I do like the below photo:


I also have some very nice heavy black lace thats been hanging round for quite a while. Its does not quite look right as a top or dress when I have been experimenting and I have been trying to decide what to make for ages, so now maybe for this summer I should also make some wide legged trousers (with shorts lining) from black lace - again Burda 7122 or Jamesia?

I think I am getting a theme here which is good. I definitely helps to write these ideas down.  It also begins a new wardrobe idea which hopefully I can build on. Though so far I am only thinking of "play" clothes but its still a good start.

I also want / need to make another pair of camo track pants. I have the fabric and the current ones are wearing out. I love them so much but they have gone all pilly though still have a lot of wear left. These had (for me) too high a waist line so I need to lower that if I use the same pattern. Not sure whether to actually repeat my current pair which is a Lekala pattern, or use a different pattern though.
Camo track pants info here:
https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/01/82-cuddly-camo-for-me-too.html
But I may instead use the free yoga pattern I used for my black yoga pants because its more fitted and very comfortable. https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2016/02/22-plain-black-yoga-pants-made-in-rush.html
I have made this pattern several times now and its always a nice one to wear. I have to decide yet which way to go here because theres also a lot to be said for a basic loose fitted track pant to lounge about in and the look is quite different to the more fitted yoga pant. I do not expect I have enough stashed fabric to make both so its one or the other.


I really also want to make a fourth The Vampires Wife style dress - I intended to make this for Christmas, but other than wash the fabric I have not proceeded so I want to finish this. I will be using my own blocks for this one as previously.

Another thing I must do is finish my half made orange cotton spider print dress which is a summer dress. I started this last summer and its still only half sewn. This is McCall's 6740. Its half made so currently a UFO. Thats possibly my first make despite it not being suitable for the cold weather. It just has to go if you know what I mean. The whole time I could not sew I looked at it on my table and its bugging me now that its still unfinished. And if I complete it now I get a head start on my summer wardrobe after all. More on this dress in the next week or so. It should hopefully help to get my sewing kick started. Its very strange that before my op it wasa doddle to just sew anytime. Having had 3 months off I now find my sewjo has totally diminshed which is very annoying. I have read this on other people's blogs but never experienced this myself until now. I just cannot quite get going again. That in itself must be a New Years resolution I suppose!

Then there is this pattern:
Slim tapered pants -Pinda- (size 34-48) PDF + paper patternI  want to use my indie patterns which I bought a few years back, I think in 2014, so have had this ages. They were bought with the Monthly Stitch Indie Pattern Month challenges and I have yet to use most of the patterns I invested in.

The Pinda pants pattern by Waffle Patterns is high on the list here but I own several others too so maybe some of them for summer. This I think will set me a serious challenge with all the details in this pattern but thats a good thing isn't it!


One problem with Pinda which is why its taken me this long to try it,  is I have no suitable fabric so it will not prove to be a stash- buster but rather a stash builder because I always buy extra and to think of no is just silly, and that means it must go down the list a bit because I need to reduce my fabric stash by at least 50% by the end of 2020 so we can move house more easily. Also we are probably going to downsize so may not have the space for a fabric stash at all. Thats besides the hassle of more stuff to move and its never easy to move house.
Noelle

Underwear! - I really need some, so intend to do some further experiments with this. Not sure about which patterns to buy yet though.

I love the free Noelle bra I made a while back so maybe a few of these. Hopefully with better finish on the next few as well - well you got to aim for a better standard of sewing haven't you! The first one is far from perfect.

I also made some knickers a while back that worked well though the mermaid scale fabric was not really stretchy enough so I intend to make some more of them using better fabric. https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2019/08/mermaid-underwear-braugust-my-first.html
















Sportswear- nothing new here because this seems to be on every New Year list I make and I will definitely manage this one


Sportswear tops: I want a few versions of this red top because I wear it all year round and even get away with it with posh work trousers. The cuffs keep my hands warm when typing in winter at work and since no one has commented, it obviously passes the work clothes test.

I reckon one version thats multi coloured for play and a couple of plain ones for work. You can read about the red top here:
https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/10/view-b-mccalls-m7261-sportswear-pattern.html

And I want to make at least one more of the colour blocked sportswear style leggings. Similar to these ones I think:

I have some bits left over of high lycra-content velvet which would work for these and be a bit different to normal sportswear leggings but should function just as well because the fabric is dancewear grade.


https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2019/01/sportswear-leggings-for-january.html


Other than that I am experimenting with knitting at the moment. I made several knitted jumpers recently and am pleased to have them so want to make a couple more. This will take me longer than sewing though. It is a massive ( yarn)stash buster though so I am continuing with this even though it eats into my sewing time. Also I really need a few warm jumpers and prefer hand knitted to sewn.

Finally ( for now at least though I am sure I will add to this list as things happen and ideas come to me) I also want to continue my experiments with leather and faux leather and have been given several old items to cut up. This is a challenge and I am not yet sure what to do with these so have no plans other than to do something with this freebie. I'll let you know once I have an idea.

Of course there are also several UFO's stuck in a plastic storage box on the floor of my airing cupboard, that I should attempt to finish as well. These include a body which would be useful and would fit into my underwear project I suppose, a red velvet winter coat and a short brocade jacket which was cut out at least 3 years back and still has the paper pattern attached so it is probably ruining a precious pattern being stuffed into the storage box, so I should try to get round to that for spring too. I won't bother linking back to these. The coat and jacket are somewhere in previous posts but may still be on the list next year the way its gone so far with them. The body I have never till now talked about but that I would like to finish. It just needs leg elastic and some popers so its very silly to still be sitting there. I was working on that just before my op which is why it is still there. More on my body once I finish it I think.

I think as a few aims for the upcoming year this list is realistic so I will for now leave it at that. Then when I come back to this every now and then in 2020 it will not seem to be too unrealistic and daunting. A previous year when I got round to looking back it was so very off-putting I nearly gave up sewing so this needs to be short and possible rather than just me dreaming about all the lovely patterns I own. There are really only 3 pairs of trousers, 1 pair of leggings, 2 dresses ( one almost made already), 3 tops and some underwear and the vague idea of the Pinda pants so thats a do-able list I think.

Other than this, I probably need to clear out some stuff from previous years to make space for this😊

What's on your to do list for 2020?
Bracken

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