Sewing Plans, Progress and Stuff

Not a poetic blog post title, but there we go!

I’ve started sewing – Simplicity 2588 in the Prince of Wales wool that I’d originally earmarked for New Look 6000.  Until of course that some lovely people pointed out that the plaid wouldn’t be square about the neckline due to the waist dart/pleat things!  On a plaid this size (2″ish) that would be really really noticeable and really really annoy me!

So, I opted to use it for a dress that I can make with no tracing, no fitting and just get on with!  Enter Simplicity 2588 that I made earlier this year.  I went for a circle skirt again as I had enough fabric left.  Although it’s not going to be a true circle as having sewn up one of the seams I was serging the seam allowances and cut a ruddy great hole in one of the panels.  So, it’ll be a nearly circle skirt and there will be no form of matching on the back seam at all.  But I wont have to look at that so I’m not going to stress it (although there was some choice language at the time…).

I need to insert the zip and then let it hang for a while whislt I construct the lining.  Much as I love wool, I don’t want it next to bare skin, so a full lining this will have.  Hopefully by the end of tomorrow, all I’ll need to do is hem…

So that’s the progress!

Now for the plans…  I managed to get a pre-loved copy of Simplicty 2444 from eBay and have also, thanks to Joanne, ordered some lovely fabric at the princely sum of £3.49 a metre.  What I can’t decide is which to use!  Do I go for the birds or the stars?

Fantasia Stars Navy from Fabricland

House Martins Black from Fabricland

Both fabrics are from Fabric Land in Brighton, who have a great selection at a great price.  The website isn’t my cup of tea and you need to ring to order.  I don’t mind the phone call (the person I spoke to was super helpful and really friendly) but I’m not a fan of the site design.  I’m more than willing to overlook it though for £3.49/m fabric – particularly when others are selling the exact same print at the best part of £12/m!

I’ll be going for the simple version of S2444 with short sleeves.  No collar or anything for my first go at the pattern.  If you want some inspiration there are some stunners out there in blog land!  Not only Joanne’s version, but Roisin at Dolly Clacket has made this pattern a number of times and Dibs, DapperDuds, Gemma and ElevenStitches have all made versions.  In fact, just google image search the pattern for a ton of inspiration instantly.

And now to the ‘stuff’!  Having sourced the perfect cotton sateen for my Peony in a gorgeous chocolate brown with a random cream polkadot pattern, I called the shop to order to only be told that someone had come in the day before and bought 9m of it and that there was only a meter left!  Aaarrgggghhhhh!

So I gave up on the interwebs and went to my local bricks and mortar store as I needed lining anyway.  For once my luck was in – they were having one of their completely unpredictable and unadvertised stock clearances where random (to me) bolts are reduced and sample lengths are sold.  I scored a beautiful milk chocolate wool with a duck egg blue stripe for £10/m rather than the £15/m it was before being put on sale.  I’ll admit that this is the top end of my price range, but it is gorgeous (and was the same price after discount as the sateen would have been)!

Nom Nom – Milk Chocolate Wool!

I also got other necessities such as 22″ invisible zips (how can they vary from £1.59 to £1.99 for a zip that is in effect identical apart from the colour?!), thread and lining for Simplicity 2588 that I’m currently making and more to match the duck egg blue stripes in the wool for the Peony.  I have enough lining fabric in my collection for the other wools I already posess (well apart from the grey wool for the Vogue 8280 – I want to line that in hot pink, but I’d spent enough for this month!).

I Love the Cadbury’s Purple and rich chocolate combination

I also got this gorgeous cotton print for £7/m.  I love the aubergine with the latte colour back ground.  It’s my idea of autumn!  I think I’ll use that on New Look 6070.  Which means the teal plaid will probably get used on New Look 6968?  New Look 6000 is going to be made from a beautiful navy wool that Annabelle swapped with me, if I can eak it out!

Making Plans

Thank you for your consideration regarding my last post.  Thank you too to those who took the time to email.  It means a lot.

Slowly, slowly I’m starting to try and resume some sort of normality.  I haven’t touched my sewing machine since finishing my V2903 and I know I still have yet to post any pictures of it!  I will though…

So, I’ve been distracting myself with a bit of autumn / winter planning of the sewing variety.  I have discovered that I feel a million more times attractive in a dress or skirt, so that’s the direction my sewing is going to go in.

My Beignet has been in heavy rotation and I have some dark blue moleskin type fabric that is destined to become mkII, although sized down a bit.

My Sencha gets worn a lot too, so there will probably be another couple of versions of that as well, again sized down a bit.

Then there comes the work wardrobe (thank you for the suggestions, twitterers!).  My office is weird in that it’s in an old 1960s building that is either boiling hot or freezing cold.  Comfortable happens for about an hour once a week if your lucky!  So I’m planning on dresses with 3/4 length or short sleeves as full length sleeves just annoy me.

So my pattern plans are:

New Look 6000 View C in a prince of wales plaid

Colette Peony with long sleeves in a navy wool I think (if I have enough!)

Simplicity 2724 (thank you Liz!) – the middle photo with the round neckline, 3/4 sleeves and slim skirt with a thick dark pinstripe cotton for the skirt and a japanese slubby cotton with a fireworks sort of pattern for the bodice.

Vogue 8280 with the sleeves and bodice of view B and the skirt of View C in a dark grey wool

New Look 6070 in a teal plaid

New Look 6968 View D, which is actually the photo as it has pockets and the tie collar  Fabric to be decided, but I like the idea of some sort of polkadot…

I’ve got nearly all the fabrics already in my ‘collection’.  I just need to get some sort of polkadot for NL6968.  And some colour catcher sheets for S2724!

Does anyone have any experience with any of these patterns (I’ll be referring to her Scruffyness’ posts for NL6000)?  Any suggestions or thoughts?  Have you planned your sewing, or are you winging it?  I know I often plan big and sew a much smaller number of garments, but hey dream sewing is fun too and if I actually manage even three of these I’ll be quite happy.