Sewing Plans

I think I have finally got my sewjo back after it being MIA for the best part of the last 9 months (or more), so now I have a load of sewing plans and some new fabric. Hopefully, I won’t go running into this headlong and burn out shortly.

I think one of my problems with finding the impetus to sew lately is the considerations that I am putting into my wardrobe with respect to waste, trying to cut down on fast fashion and having an ever-changing selection of clothes. Part of my problem with this is defining what my “style” is, and I am still having issues with this tbh, but I think I am getting closer to knowing what my style isn’t, which is half the battle. Currently, I am aiming for a very useful wardrobe with the majority of my clothes being suitable for gardening or housework etc, and having fewer “dressy” pieces, she says just having sewn a dressy dress, haha. I am also focusing on making/finding clothes that are full coverage as I have found that being outside a lot I really appreciate having my arms covered as well as my decolletage area and long trousers with gathered ankles as ticks can be an issue in this area (including my garden).

I am also renewing my interest in reducing waste, specifically cutting waste and increasing the longevity of the things I make. I normally cut all my patterns out of one flat sheet of fabric rather than a folded piece like most pattern cutting layouts are designed. I find this is the most economical way of cutting and helps to utilise all of the fabric, especially for fabric that is wider than the one used for the cutting layouts. Going further than this I have been looking at zero waste patterns lately and have a few in my sewing queue. I am also putting more consideration into the types of fabric that I am using trying to use natural fabrics where possible, whilst this will make the clothes nicer to wear I am unsure about how this will affect the longevity since some of my most worn clothing is starting to wear out, almost like the fabric is being eaten away by something (not like moth holes but just thinning out a lot). This has been most noticeable on one of my polo necked tops where the fabric is almost see-through in the decolletage area but fine everywhere else, I am assuming this is due to the oils from the skin reacting with something but I am not sure what since I don’t use biological washing powder (and wash at 30 most of the time). But since the rest of this top is ok I plan to turn it into a scoop neck top once it gets too bad to wear as it is.

I have two zero-waste patterns to try, one is the Simone Overalls by Goldfinch Patterns that I bought as soon as it was released but have still yet to actually sew it up. I am planning to sew this with the same soft canvas that I made my shirt dress out of but in navy this time. I am going to sew the pattern with less ease than is recommended by the pattern and change the shape of the bib/pockets to make it a bit more me and then add a bib front pocket and gather the ankles. I think these changes will make it more gardening friendly and squaring off the bib will give me more useable shaped pocket pieces, in my mind. I have 5m of this fabric and am planning my overalls, a set for Nikki and maybe a pair of trousers for mummy, time for some scale drawing I think…

I am also testing a zero-waste shirt pattern for Maureen Gleason which I really need to knuckle down and make, since this will take less than 1m of fabric I think I will sew it out of some Ramie that I bought from Empress Mills when I was buying my cotton thread for the shirt dress muslin. I am interested to see how the Ramie will wear because it seems to be quite a good fabric in terms of sustainability so hopefully it is good in terms of wearability as well.

I am also planning to draft myself another zero-waste trouser pattern that uses a “u-shaped” cut out to make the crotch curve and then uses this as the pocket. I am hoping that this could be a good contender for future trousers since it follows more of the typical trouser pattern and therefore might work well to make an everyday trouser. I will make this up as shorts to start with so as not to waste as much fabric if they don’t work. But if this works I will make two pairs of trousers with the pattern from 100% cotton fabric in blue and green.

Other things that are on my to-sew list, just to keep me accountable, are some more underwear, and a jumper. I bought some cotton jersey to make another soft bra and some pants, I also bought some matching colour stretch binding to try out and see how this works instead of elastic on the legs of the pants. I had planned a simple pullover from the French Terry fabric that I bought but once it arrived it seems much thinner than I expected so I will see how the fabric changes with washing and then decided what it will become, it might end up as a cardigan instead.

Mum has also put in some requests for clothing and after proffering a number of my Me-Mades for her to try on we have decided on a pair of trousers in viscose fabric with gathered ankles, copying a pair of my trousers but in a plainer fabric. And also a lightweight collared shirt, in a soft fabric, we are unsure what fabric yet but it might be viscose twill as I have some of this in my stash or cotton chambray (or both).