Now that my wardrobe has been assessed (see previous post), I can talk about the projects I have planned for my summer wardrobe refresh/Summer of Basics Make-Along! My main priority is sewing, since I do have some knitted warm weather tops already, so let's jump into those first!
I am DETERMINED to finally make my planned Wiksten Tank! I purchased this Rae Richie Desert Bloom fabric from Drygoods Design OVER A YEAR AGO. I made the longer, dress version as a wearable muslin and I think I ran out of thread in the middle of it, plus hated the way the dress looked so I didn't finish the neckline. But the dress showed me that I will need to make an upper back adjustment and take out some extra fabric there. I've never altered a pattern like that before and I'm a little nervous!
I'm trying to use up some of my existing fabric stash to avoid waste and to get back into the sewing groove before treating myself to some fancy new fabric. I bought this crepe de chine from Girl Charlee Fabrics...I think in 2014?! I'm not sure what the hell I had planned for two yards of this monstrosity, and decided to make a Fen Top as practice for the next project. I don't love this print now, but I'm hoping it will be cute as a small dose in this drapey top.
And THIS is the project I'm most excited for--a Fen Dress in Railroad Denim from Fancy Tiger Crafts! I'm thinking about putting the stripes in opposite directions, like running vertically on the top and horizontally on the bottom. Or maybe the other way around! (Thoughts on that?)
I have other, more nebulous plans depending on how I feel, but these are the three definites. I own a serger that I don't know how to use, and a stash of knits I have ideas for. I'd really like to serge those projects though, I'm hoping I can learn to use my serger this summer. On the knitting front...nothing definite yet! I was thinking about making a Brookfield Vest or a Tegna, but I agreed to some design work due in September and now I'm not sure what my free knitting time will be looking like.
It's hard not getting a million ideas and chasing them all. I recently read Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, and while I was already aware of most of the issues mentioned in the book, it really hammered home for me that slow fashion should be SLOW. I'm trying to get better about savoring the process, the planning and the slow making above the consumer-y glee of having another FO. The feelings when completing a handmade garment are of course deeper and more meaningful than purchasing something from the store but in the end, I don't want my end goal to just be the acquisition of more stuff. I'm concentrating on:
- Using the stash I already have; ie that bright crepe de chine. My fabric stash is small, so I don't have a lot of fabric I dislike that I need to utilize before I can buy fabrics more suitable to my current needs. (I have vague plans for most of that fabric, actually!) On the yarn front, since leaving Webs I don't buy yarn quite the way I used to and I have a stash I'm very, very happy with!
- Repairing and wearing the clothes I already have. I have a tendency to channel my inner frustrations into my wardrobe sometimes and take it out on my clothes, accusing them of making me look too old/young/frumpy/sexy/etc. As I get older, I have more positive days than negative overall re: my body and body image, so I'm trying to get myself to chill out to get through the bad days instead of letting the frustration send me to buy new jeans. New jeans don't magically fix everything!
- Paying attention. That means paying attention to how I feel in my clothes, what I feel is missing from my wardrobe (and how much I actually would use it vs the fleeting urge of wants), and enjoying the process of making. I'm no longer interested in making things for the sake of the final thing if I find the process itself unbearable.