Monday, April 2, 2012

Summer Sewing and Wardrobe Resolutions

I've been pondering summer sewing for a while now. I know it's only April but between end of term chaos and vacation sewing, the rest of my spring sewing is already booked! My school lets out for the summer in May so that's when summer officially starts for me. Not having a computer has left loads of free time to ponder sewing! (My new one should be here in the next couple of days! woot!)

My vision for the summer is 50s casual with a dash of rockabilly and country/western thrown in for good measure. Now, I usually avoid anything country or western like the plague but my day dreams are now filled with denim and gingham and french braid pigtails! I think the 40s are still my favorite decade for style but my body shape definitely lends itself to more of a 50s shape. I love glamor but simple and cute fit my lifestyle so much better. I'll be focusing on separates and work appropriate pieces with maybe a dress or two thrown in.

With all of the weight I've been losing, a lot of my me made pieces are too big! After vacation, I'm going to start working my way through my wardrobe and taking in pieces so they fit again. Some of my favorites are barely wearable anymore. :(

Last summer, I sewed like crazy and loved it! I never quite got over that go go go mentality and I've realized that putting that kind of pressure on myself makes sewing a lot less enjoyable. So, I've set up some guide lines for myself.
  1. I will not set crazy deadlines for myself. If I want to wear something to a specific event, I will give myself plenty of time to work on it and have an appropriate back up ensemble just incase.
  2. I will not force myself to work on something if I'm not inspired by it. I want my hobby to be fun and not a chore. I give myself leave to watch a movie, knit or even start another project if my current project is not inspiring at the moment.
  3. On the other hand, I will not have more than 3 sewing and 1 knitting project going at once. I do not have space for UFOs!
  4. I will start sewing through my stash again. I was doing well at the beginning of the year but kind of fell off again. I currently have two projects that will need fabric (one for vacation and one for Renaissance Festival costume improvements) but other than that I will not buy fabric until fall semester (or I run out of stash fabric!) unless I am using a piece of stash fabric in the project.
  5.  I will work through the mending/refitting pile so I can wear the lovelies I've already made.
  6. I will have fun sewing and blogging because it's a hobby not a job. Also, I will remind myself that not every second of my life needs to be blogged and not every outfit needs to be photographed.
So far this seems like a good list to start with. I've also been thinking about some wardrobe goals so I'm not just doing things willy nilly.

  1. I want my sewing to be at least 75% work appropriate pieces. I have loads of nonwork appropriate pieces already!
  2. I want to focus on collecting accessories. So often, I put together an outfit and I feel like something is missing. I want to save my spending money this summer for yummy vintage accessories like purses, necklaces, broaches and bangles. (Not spending it on fabric will be very helpful to this endeavor. lol.)
  3. I want to start sewing more from my vintage pattern stash. It's quite large now and I feel like my drafting skills are good enough to be able to tackle resizing pieces.
  4. I want to wear more me made pieces and more me made outfits. Wouldn't it be great if Self-Stitched September could be just another month and not a huge challenge?
Hope you all made it through this rather wordy post in one piece! Have you set any sewing or wardrobe resolutions for yourself lately? I think I'm going to print mine out and hang them somewhere visible.

6 comments:

  1. I love your resolutions! Totally great and inspiring!

    I've decided I'm just going to sew whatever I want. Lol! I know that sounds totally silly, but I think I've put myself into a niche of "I only sew vintage and occasional costumes from period materials" and that's totally not how I really am with all other aspects of my life. I want to regain my reckless artisticness for my personal hobbies (if that even makes any sense at all!)
    And ditto- no fun having free time be a chore, so I'm not going to sew something if not inspired. And I'm not going to feel guilty if I want to work on something that makes no logical sense or steps outside my normal expectations.

    Thanks for posting this! Has given me something to think about :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great resolutions...now you just have to stick to them! And that's where I always fall off the wagon, lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good job with these resolutions. i love to sew and crochet and i have like 3 crochet projects and 2 sewing going on now and i get to feeling overwhelmed. thanks for the tip.
    also, i'm getting a chin length haircut soon! thanks for all the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have two easy sewing projects ahead {altering some over-sized dresses}, another sewing project for summer {my mystery 40s dress of make-do and mend project}, and some knitting projects that are so easy peasy {Mom wants me to knit some afghans for the house}. Most likely I won't meet all my sewing/knitting goals this year, but whatever. Like you said it's supposed to be fun. {And while doing all of this, I must finish up a novel and then begin another, OY!}

    I must ask, what have you been doing to lose weight. I've really been needing to lose. But what I'm doing ain't working. I go by Weight Watchers Points Value program and I use Walk away the pounds with Lesie {something or other} for exercise and boy does that give you a good work out. Anyway, I'm just curious. Congrats on losing weight and keep up the great work!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm on a low carb diet. I eat about 75 carbs a day (fiber doesn't count) and I have one cheat day a week. The only things you have to watch out for are making sure you drink lots of water (it's hard on the kidneys), making sure you still eat fruit and not going overboard with fatty foods. I don't know how weight watchers works but most Americans eat way too many carbs!

      Delete
  5. Those all look like great resolutions! I'm kind of doing the opposite as you, in that I tend to have multiple knitting and one sewing project going on. (Well, technically 2 right now, but #2 is hand-fixing something!) I guess I'm lazy and don't want to rethread the machine!

    ReplyDelete