Putting Together a Wardrobe

I mentioned I saw the Sew Your Own Wardrobe for a Year 2015 challenge.  I've been looking through some of the "things I like" and admittedly, I have way too many coats and jackets on my mind. . .

The Moto Jacket - ahh yes!

I think the Style Arc Ziggi pattern would work great for this.

the Bomber Jacket . . .

I have the Burda Bomber pattern - so this is definitely doable.

and Blazers

I think that my plan will have 2 blazers, and one jacket.  At least one blazer will be solid.  Not sure if the second one will be solid or patterned - but if it's patterned, it will still have to work with most of the wardrobe.  It's still a toss up between the Bomber and Moto - but whichever one I leave out of this plan, will be added to my Fall sewing.

What else? What else?

Well, I've also been working on some Christmas presents.




Sitting here, hubby made our first fire of the season.  You know . . . keepin' the hands busy while I catch up on the DVR.  I'm working on a scarf here - on my knitting loom.  I can crochet lickity-split.  Knitting is another story altogether.  But I am handy with a loom.  On my list of presents to get finished - two scarf & hat sets, a pair of socks, and I'll probably sew three tote bags.  That's the plan anyway - off to a good start :)

Planning Ahead . . .

Recently cruising the web, I viewed Sew Your Wardrobe for A Year 2015 challenge, and Sewing With a Plan 2015 (SWAP).  Things that make you go hmmmm....  Could I go on a Ready-to-Wear fast?  Probably.  Would I be successful?  Not sure.  By successful, I mean would I be able to put together a collection of pieces that would actually create a wardrobe?  I have always seen things I liked - and bought them or made them.  Only occasionally have I really thought about how they would be, could be, incorporated into what I currently own - or how they would enhance or complete my collection.  I guess it's fair to say my wardrobe is more of an accumulation then it is a collection. My problem is I like so much!!  Love Love Love clothes.  I'm thinking of participating in this challenge to try and change the way I look at purchases (or for this challenge - creations).  I want to see if I can take the things I love and somehow bring them together in a cohesive way . . . or learn to do without the extras that don't really bring anything to the set.  Maybe whittle down the clutter and chaos.

What do I like?  What has my eye spied???  You know - Pinterest is a greaaaaat distraction!!
I saw this look - actually from an previous year Chico's catalog . . .

LOVE IT!  Crazy thing is . . . I don't wear red.  I'm not saying I wouldn't - but I haven't.  For some reason I've never purchased anything red.  But I'm really drawn to this!


Saw something very similar on pinterest  . . .
Caught my eye - BAM!  Love it.  So now I have to think about why I'm so drawn to this, but I don't own any red.  This is going to be some project.


What I have on hand to use for creating this look  . . .

What else?  Love the Chanel style boucle jacket.

I have the NL 6188








Between Polyvore and Pinterest - I could go mad!  I love all the color, prints, and patterns - but I don't know how to make them behave with each other!  (Yes, I see the red and black again)

Okay - maybe first step is to pull out everything I love and look at the first four months - January to April, and take everything off the table that is not doable for that time of year here in Jersey.  Than cut it down from there, item by item - bottoms (skirts/pants), tops (blouses/jackets), coats?  And realizing I'm not going to get everything I want in four months - so stop complaining about it!!! and figure out a workable colorway for just these pieces and what pieces will work together.  Not that it will dictate what I will sew in the four months following - it is just for me to focus on for this 1st portion of the challenge.

Feeling better already!

Sew Long No Sew!

Yes, it has been a while - well over a year!  And yes, I have not sewn this entire time.  I have moved into a new home, done a little painting, a little unpacking, and a little setting up, and started a new job.  Still not all the way there, but have finally gotten the time to come out from under everything and get the machine hummin' once again!


First on the cutting table is McCalls 6988.
Yep, not a quilt - but quilts are definitely on the "to-do" list!  And since I haven't curbed my acquisition of fabric, I have tons of fabric sitting around to start with.  Perfect timing for sewing apparel. I'm no longer driving a school bus.  I am now in the school office, so it's definitely time for a wardrobe update!
I actually didn't have any zippers, so off for a quick road trip to Walmart with Mom, and that was quickly remedied!

The fabric I'm using for this dress was actually purchased at an estate sale last Spring. I got 2 containers of fabric as well as a sewing box, a Christmas box and a trash bag full! 




First off, I need accompaniment.  A travelling companion. Co-pilot, if you will.  Don't know why, but I always have to have something on while I'm sewing.  This time of year, I'll admit, I get a little "Stephen King-ish" so to help me on my adventure, I select from my Netflix queue "The Stand".

Love Mother Abagail. "Mayhab it is, Mayhab it ain't!"





And off we go~

And here it is . . .

Anxious to see it on and take a picture. Now my husband is telling me the hem and side seam need to be pressed - they're not laying flat.  Thanks dear. LOL!  Anyway, a good pressing and onto a hanger.  Think I'll wear this tomorrow.  Have a great week!

Lovin' "No Triangles"!

I saw a picture on pinterest of a zig-zag or chevron style quilt that was no triangles.  The link on the pin did not work, but the picture was enough for me to go ahead and jump in.  I have 1 baby quilt I need for a baby shower next week, and 1 I wanted to make for Christmas.

Its put together by making a two strip block, and turning the block in each row to form a zig-zag pattern.  My background and binding color will be gray, I decided on a 4" finished block, so here are my 2 1/2" strips cut for quilt 1 and quilt 2.

Sewing on my gray strips to my print strips looks like this . . .

and then cut into 4 1/2" squares . . .

Layout my design, left, right, left . . .

After laying out my design I began assembling the rows together . . .

Tops are ready to be quilted.

I love how these came out and how easily they went together.  I'll be quilting #1 over the weekend, and #2 next week.  Baby quilt #2 will be my first item off my Christmas list.  I have a few more Christmas items lined up and waiting for me to get to them.  There will be a lot of Christmas work going on over the next few weeks :)

Ho Ho HO!

Today is my turn to share in the Ho, Ho, Ho - Christmas in July hosted by Madam Sam at Sew We Quilt and our cheerleader Carol from Just Let me Quilt!  A HUGE thank you to both! There have been some fabulous projects all week long, and more to come! Please stop by today's posters to get in the holiday spirit and see what they've created!

August 8

Quiltscapes

Marla’s Crafts

A Stitch In Time

Mehitabel’s Musings

Buzzing and Bumbling

Transitions For Meee

A Little Bit of Lorene

I Piece 2-Mary

Under the Presser Foot (that's me)

A Reformed Heath’n

Just Sew Quilter

As far as far as summers go - this one has pretty much been a whirlwind!  So, I really enjoyed this little project to just break from the little rat race we've got going on :)

For me, Christmas is a time of FAVORITES! So, I started with my FAVORITE block - the New York Beauty.  I wanted a table topper.  So to jump right in and get to work, I popped in a dvd - my favorite Christmas movie - of all time. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!

I mean really - locked in the attic with the home movies & Chevy Chase running up the stairs with that squirrel on his back! Forget it!!







For foundation paper, my favorite is the Crayola Doodle Pad.

It's newsprint, and it rips SUPER EASY!  /The fact that it's only a couple bucks at Walmart is super cool too!




So, I trim it up for the printer like so . . .









I found a couple of New York Beauty patterns online - but they were all 6" or 8".  I don't know if that's because it prints out better on 8 1/2 x 11 paper - or why really, but what I wanted a 12" block, and I've never really been a "fit on the paper" kind of gal anyway, soooo . . . I hop on over to my next favorite - my most favorite Christmas present (thank you hubby) - love, love, love my EQ7!

 

I drafted up a couple options and played around with some color - wham bam! I got my 12" block :)



Once my pieces were printed, I notched the areas where the lines were to meet, use a little dab of the glue stick, and there it is.

Around here - for us - Christmas isn't so much red and green, but more like LOTS of color

 and and festiveness.  So I just grabbed some of everything and jumped right in!

Zip zip and here we go . . .

About here is where I put on my favorite Christmas music while I sew :)

Once I have one together, just to check it out - I throw some rocks and silk flowers in a glass, light some tea lights to get a "feel" if this is going the direction I want . . .

 Yeah, I'm diggin' it :)

Now, I don't know if you tell looking at this block - but once my blocks were together, I sliced a little extra down - this doesn't exactly make them wonky,

 but it's kind of like turning the end of a kaleidoscope - skews my angles a little when they meet up. This gives a slight star-like effect.

I need to put a back on it and quilt it - I was thinking maybe another design so it could be reversible - maybe a tree or snowman, or something.  On the other hand I really liked the idea of doing some free motion pebbles around the outer gray area - which may not exactly translate with what's going on the back - will have to ponder this some more.  What do you think - what would you do?

Thanks for stopping by!