Tuesday, January 31, 2017

2017 Sewing Goals- Capsule Wardrobe


 Last year I had a baby and was just happy to get any sewing done at all!


I always feel I don't get enough sewing in, but when I look back at the year, actually I have! I sewed all these outfits (just the fur wrap for the Cruella costume) and also two curtains, a plain black shirt, a blanket repair, a refashioned button up dress, a baby doll basket, a blessing outfit for my son, a red gingham bombshell swimsuit (yes! a swimsuit!), a red polka dot Sorbetto top (it looked great on the dress form but terrible on me!), a Franken-pattern two piece gingham nursing dress (another flop), three pillow case dresses, and a Christmas Nativity Sorbetto top. I even won second place in the Vintage Pledge Competition with my lemon dress pictured above (side note, that dress is NOT "a lemon"! It's one of my most favorite!).

I did do a lot of work on the Wardrobe Architect series in 2016 and found it fascinating! It really gave me so much direction and clarity about what I want to do with my sewing. Now I can walk through the fabric stores and instead of coveting everything, I can discern what is a good color/fabric/style for me!

However, I am very unsatisfied by the colors and outfits I chose last summer. I bought the Craftsy Class Sew to Flatter and it was amazing! It had awesome tips about how to pick the right colors and styles to flatter one's body and draw attention to one's face, which I didn't realize should be the goal of fashion but it makes sense!


From what I learned, I am very sure that I need cool colors and silver jewelry to really accent the coloring I have (dark brown hair, olive skin, blue eyes). I kind of already knew that but it was good to have it reinforced! I've decided the above colors are what I want to aim for (but I might also go for a emerald green, black, or light yellow!).

 These colors in particular I want to focus on. They seem like winter, berry sort of colors. Is it too cheesy that I think of them as "Winter Berry" in my head?

In the class, the teacher also mentions a formula for having the fewest amount of clothes but getting the 96 different outfits out of them. 

Here is a basic sample of what she suggested while adding some specifics that I want to make for myself (these also correlate to my #makenine2017 found on my instagram account):


 So I am sticking with navy, maroon, grey (darker than the photo), light purple, and a light pink floral for my colors and fabrics. I think they vibe with my need for cool colors, comfort while chasing after kids, and the vintage/romantic/feminine style I hanker after. Wish me luck!



Saturday, January 21, 2017

Day and Night Dress Challenge



Elizabeth from Elizabeth Made This has put together a really cool sewing competition called the Day and Night Dress Challenge. To be apart of it, one must sew a day dress of any color and a night dress that is all black (I double checked with Elizabeth just to be sure!). I really enjoyed this challenge, and yes, worked really hard too! My house is a disaster and I will probably have to take a week off of sewing just to catch up on my chores! 



 I call this my Zooey Deschanel moment ;)


 I wanted to take pictures outside for this "Spring time" dress, but my whole town is covered in snow and ice!!!


 Daisies are one of my favorite flowers!


 ~Shoulder bows are so hot right now~




 The before mentioned Elizabeth took photos of her night dress with her violin so I had to as well!


Yes, I can play violin. Once upon a time I thought I was going to go pro! But I didn't and I don't regret it at all.

 I am a big Project Runway fan but only in the last couple years figured out what the judges mean by the word "cohesion". To put it plainly, it means the same kind of person would wear all the clothes in one designer's collection. Well, from watching all the amazing entries that have come in for this competition, I must say everyone has their own "cohesive aesthetic"! I hope mine does too! I love vintage, French style things and maybe my dresses won't come across like that to everyone, but I certainly am reminded of those things when I wear them! I love these dresses and plan on getting a lot of use out of them! I used a Frankenpattern hack of Butterick B6259, McCalls M7087, and the sleeves of Simplicity 2444 to make my day look dress (a more modest copy of a Forever 21 dress from long ago that I couldn't afford at the time but I never forgot). I straight up copied the picture on the envelope of Butterick 6582 for my night dress. I've always wanted to just take the artist's cues for fabric on a pattern and I'm glad I got the chance to this month! I also used Simplicity 2444's sleeves for the night dress, I just cut them a little shorter. Also, I am very proud of myself for yet again trying French seams! I love how they look!


Thank you Elizabeth for putting this together!