Fall Sewing Planning
Hello! It has been a while… The end of summer has been extremely busy and with the start of September I sort of fell off the blogging train. I was still making things, but finding time to write about them was harder. Then we went on our trip to Georgia to celebrate my cousin’s wedding, and all hell broke loose and I gave up on social media almost completely. I do have to say that I enjoyed this little break and the time with my family. I feel refreshed and I am ready to jump back in. And what a perfect time it is! I find the change of seasons very exciting and it almost always boost my sew-jo as I start thinking about new fabrics, looks and garments.
The beginning of Fall is when I switch my wardrobe over, put away my summer clothes and bring out all my Fall/Winter stuff out of my storage baskets. I re-assess everything I wore last year, what worked and what didn’t. I go through my clothes and do a serious purge and only keep items that fit make me happy. Although this process is a little bit time consuming, I find it really makes me think about the coming season and what I want to wear.
I have just finished going through my closet this past weekend, and I am very excited about the items I’ve kept and what I am planning to make in Fall/Winter. So I thought I would share a little bit of my over the top, obsessively organized process. Hopefully it will help or inspire, but at the very least now you will know just how deeply troubled I am.
One of my goals with my sewing is to have a cohesive wardrobe, where every piece reflects me, my style and my life. I want my clothes to be of great quality, work together and work for my life. Doing the wardrobe overhaul in the beginning of the season really shows me what holes I need to fill in my closet.
I work with that information and my invaluable Pinterest boards (here and here) to come up with a list of items I really want and think would fit well with the look and feel I am going for in the coming season. I don’t always want to recreate the identical looks, rather I go by the feel, colors and silhouettes.
From there I start to narrow down the items that fit with what I already have. I try to make sure that every single item will go with some of the other items I either already have or will make. This way, I know the piece will get worn.
For fabrics, I try to shop my stash as much as I can and pick fabrics that I already own that will fit nicely in my plan. Unfortunately it doesn’t always turn out! A big chunk of my stash was acquired when I first gotten back into sewing and I was buying fabrics just for the thrill of it. I didn’t put much thought into the quality of fibers or the colors of the fabric and whether it suits me. As a result I ended up with a bunch of fabrics I don’t really want to use… Then of course there are fabrics that I want to use and those are the ones I try to incorporate into my sewing plan. If I can’t find anything in my stash, that’s when I go fabric shopping and start searching internet stores for options. Oh, the temptations… I can get lost for hours!
This process doesn’t always follow the exact sequence of steps. Sometimes it starts with a fabric, sometimes there is a pattern I really want to use and sometimes I just have to replicate something that I saw. Even though the process can be quite fluid, I always end up with a list.
I love lists. I love excel spread sheets and I love having things organized. May be a little too much. So naturally, I organized my sewing list into an excel spreadsheet. Not only I did that, I also created a list of the things that I currently have in my closet. It helps me visualize which items I can pair together and helps me to keep on track and not get distracted and make all the fancy dresses that I rarely wear. Besides, I find immense satisfaction in getting things crossed off the list. See, definitely too much organizing!
For this coming Fall/Winter I have 57 items planned. Yikes! That’s a lot… However, I’ve already made 10! Some of the items will be a really easy and fast sew, while others will be a little more labor intensive. However, I am hoping that all of them will work well together.
Even though it is a plan, I do not expect myself to fully implement it the way it is right now. Just like any plan, it needs to be flexible and adaptable. Some things will have to come off, some things will make it onto the list, some things will change and of course there will be selfless sewing and pattern testing. But hopefully the bones of my plan will carry me through the coming season.
I am so excited about all of the items on my list that I don’t even know which one to begin with. All the fabrics are pre-washed, folded on my shelf and ready to go. I guess I’ll just have to pick up whichever one speaks to me first and start there!
If you want to hear more about how I organize my sewing and my whole process, you can listen to it here at Maker Style Podcast. It's a great new podcast from Rachel over at The Wild Stitch. I feel so honored to be featured on it! Check it out, there are 3 episodes ready for your listening pleasure.
Do you plan your sewing? If so, how do you do it?
Until next time,
Anya