After a week of weird home Wi-Fi problems that we might as well blame on a poltergeist, I’ve returned to the world of ones and zeros with a pretty solid spring/summer wardrobe sewing plan. Being locked out of the Internet for hours at a time turned out to be the perfect environment for good, old-fashioned list making. Writing down my sewing plans got my head of out of the clouds long enough to realize my original vision needed to be scaled back a bit. Of course, now that I’m back to modern living, my paper and pencil list got a quick Polyvore upgrade.
This month’s Wardrobe Architect 2015 challenge was to nail down the patterns I’ll be sewing for spring and summer. I started with my happy silhouettes from February, made some edits and additions, and organized my final garment/pattern choices into three lists: Sew Now, Sew Soon, and Sew Someday. The Someday list is where my fantasy sewing projects will live – garments that might be a new silhouette for me or just beyond my skills. I’ll share those throughout the season. The Now list is focused on filling in wardrobe gaps with simple, easily sewn pieces, while the Soon list takes things to the next level when I’m ready.
Sew Now
The undisputed frontrunner of my wardrobe is going to be a knit fit and flare dress. The Moneta, to be exact. I’ve recently made some changes to my Moneta (a story for later) that helped me confirm its place as my wardrobe workhorse pattern. My threat of sewing a rainbow of them is slowly coming true.
With all of the sweat I put into getting the perfect knit dress, it made sense to stay with the groove and have a knit sewing marathon. These are the garments that landed on my Sew Now list.
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knit fit and flare dress
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fitted t-shirt
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long cardigan
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bodysuit
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knit pencil skirt
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leggings
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high waist panties
A handful of Moneta dresses, some tees, a pencil skirt in a great color, a cardigan topper, day of the week panties (because saggy drawers ain’t cute and Hanes doesn’t make briefs in petite size), and a bodysuit to wear with full skirts will kick off my warm weather sewing. My serger is threaded with new spools of Wooly Nylon and I already have my first assembly line cut. A few late nights of sweatshop work could get me halfway through the Sew Now list, but knowing me, I’ll opt for beauty sleep and continue to squeeze in my sewing before work and over the weekends.
Sew Soon
If I don’t get sick of sewing knits first, the Sew Soon list is up next. My return to woven fabrics starts with these garments:
- pajamas
- woven t-shirt
- pleated narrow leg pants
- gathered or pleated skirt
- cropped cardigan
- signature dress
- cap sleeve blouse
- culottes
- pleated neck shift dress
- woven fit and flare dress
I’m especially excited about this list because it includes another signature silhouette dress (possibly in another Liberty print!) and another self-drafted shift dress, both are TNT patterns that deserve some love and mindful execution. There’s also the set of magnificent pajamas I’ve never owned, a reprise of my first successful pants and woven tee patterns, an attempt at buttonholes on something other than a pillow (cropped cardigan), a trendy pair of culottes, the Sencha blouse I muslined in November, and a new fit and flare dress inspired by Dolce and Gabana’s dreamy $1,300 wisteria print frock (basically, the woven version of my Moneta silhouette).
This list is crazy, right? I’ve never planned out my sewing like this. To make a list of 17 garments and actually sew them feels like planning a walk on the moon without my space camp badge. When I plan projects at work, I set a target date for each milestone or at least forecast when things will be wrapped up. For this project, that would be something like 1 garment a week for 17 weeks, but if I consider the first day of fall (September 23rd) as the official end of summer, then that gives me 24 weeks of warm weather sewing and wearing time. Not bad. A heroic accomplishment if I pull it off.
How’s your seasonal sewing (or shopping) plans going? Anyone else trying out culottes?
Wanna Be Sewing Something 
I love this post – especially the line drawings with pattern numbers. I will probably take a pass on the culottes. But a cropped cardigan is definitely something in my plans. I am really looking forward to the Moneta reveal.
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Thanks for taking a look, Janet. I was on the fence about culottes, but I love the idea of a skirt-dress hemmed at the knee (vs. midi-length) that you have to look at twice to see they are shorts.
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Oh no, now I’m all distracted and “ooh, the pretty things” there goes my jacket aspirations! I had never seen the line drawing of the Sencha before, it look a lot like the By Hand London Anna made into a top. I may have to investigate that idea? And I just love culottes. I too have culottes on my list, though winter might beat me to the finish line. Have you seen the Muse Jenna cardi? I have the pdf and its on my list. Beautifully presented post.
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Ha! Now who’s distracting whom? That Muse cardigan is gorgeous with its 40’s look. It will take a muslin or two to get scale it down (it’s drafting for 5 foot 10″ woman!), but for those style lines…it’d be worth it. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Day of the week undies. That is genius. Definitely something I need to make up!
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I know, right! I’ve always wanted Monday through Sunday bloomers. Seem like the funnest way to get me in the habit of planning my outfits the night before.
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I’m loving your plans, lots of inspiration for me there too – that woven dress inspiration is stunning, I had to track this post down from ig it had stayed in my memory from there! Cant wait to see your plans coming to fruition, good luck!
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Thanks! Glad you stopped by after seeing that peek on IG. That dress rocks my world. I just hope I can get through some of the priority stuff on my list so I can start on it. And…I’m still hunting for the perfect fabric. Would love something with the same impact as that gorgeous wisteria print!
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