Plans for 2018

Plans for 2018

Comment - I had major problems with formatting the text - the end piece is awful but no matter what I do, I can't correct it - it just seems to get worse! At first it was lack of line wrapping but in this post, it's to do with bullet points. I trust you will overlook this!! I don't want to remove the post altogether.

RTW Fast

I have joined Goodbye Valentino’s 2018 RTW Fast. It’s easy for me not to buy RTW as it doesn’t fit - far harder for me to sew things I need. I’ve bought so very little over the last 3 years - the only thing, other than bras etc, that I can remember is my MOB outfit for Helen’s wedding in summer 2016 - I had planned to make my outfit for that but ran out of time - but still have lots of ideas and some beautiful fabrics. I tried to go sale shopping in advance of starting the fast on January 1st  - the only thing I actually bought was a cup of coffee! There were a couple of ‘nearlies’ - a cashmere pullover which was maybe a 7 and a dress which was maybe not the right size but I liked the fabric. I decided not to try either. Reference to ‘7’ - if each item of clothing you are contemplating buying is rated out of 10, you shouldn’t really buy if it’s less than an 8! That takes into account appearance, style, colour, fabric, fit etc. Obviously, if you’re desperate for something, you might have to become less discriminating and might drop to 6. This was not necessary for me so I declined purchasing.

7 Steps to Style

I am a member of 7 Steps to Style and evolve Your Style and will be trying to ensure that I stay true to my best colours and styles.

Patterns and garments

I will be working on creating blocks/slopers as already started and TNTs from commercial patterns. I will choose a small selection to work on.

Fabrics

I intend to use up (or at least break into) the special fabrics I have in my collection - dupion silk, other silks and lovely wools. These were bought for MOB possibilities. However, I am happy to buy good quality fabrics for projects as they come up. I’ve made more mistakes over unsuitable fabric than I can tally up. No more!!

MAGAM
The year will be largely devoted to sewing for me. If time is short, I will prioritise my sewing rather than that for others! I’m so selfish! (David says it’s time I was doing this as I sew for others and do very little for myself) I will try to put in a garment each month for the MAGAM challenge hosted by Sarah Liz - but I won’t sew something ‘for the sake of it’ eg for a contest or challenge.

Garments planned

I plan to make pieces which work together, based on a navy neutral and a grey (or just possibly burgundy) secondary neutral.

I have reread The Vivienne Files, Starting Out and 4 x 4 and plan to base what I do loosely on that.

As there are quite a few garments here, I decided to link into #2018makenine. As far as I can see, it’s simply to post plans for 9 garments over the course of the year. No penalty if you don’t achieve 9. Only thing is, they seem to be largely Indie patterns and I will mainly be sewing with the Big 4or my blocks if I can get them sorted.

I’m going to jump into my sewing this year with a repeat of the kimono I mad for Joanne. I modelled it as Joanne wasn’t available and really liked it. I have enough of the fabric left. It’s not quite in my colours - it’s black and wine, but I still have wearable black trousers. It’s an easy make. It probably needs a suitable top underneath - the black top I used for the photos was too drab.

This is Joanne's but I think I have enough fabric to make another

I modelled it

Trousers/pants - these will either be based on commercial patterns or my block. Perfecting a pair of trousers is my key aim for 2018

·        Navy trousers - at least two pairs. I wear trousers almost all the time. Maybe 1 in heavier and 1 in lighter fabric for our version of summer. I might use my block but I think it could be easier to get Vogue 9189, which comes in tall (as well as petite and regular) to work.

• Burgundy or grey trousers. I have burgundy wool suitable for trousers but I’m not sure I have any grey.
• I can’t afford to make too many pairs as I MUST lose weight.
• I may try to make Style Arc Barb. I have the PDF with 3 sizes so that might work.

Jeans

·        I’d like to make a pair of jeans for myself. Not sure as yet which pattern I would use. Possibly McCall’s 5894 ‘The Perfect Jean’ and I’m sure I have another and of course, my block. I don’t have any Indie patterns for jeans. I have some denim I bought to use last year. Navy with stretch. Also, David wanted a pair of grey jeans and I bought the fabric - I might have to requisition that!

McCall's 5894 The Perfect Jean by Palmer/Pletsch

Jackets - commercial patterns

·        The Chanel-type jacket is navy based and will work with these. The jacket also has black, blue, pink and white in it, colours I’ll be able to pick out in accents. I’ll finish that by the end of the month and I should be able to post a completed version then - too many things going on in January to think I could be faster than that. It's my mother's 90th birthday this coming week and the whole family is getting together to celebrate. All this hand sewing is SLOW.

·        The Grainline Morris jacket - probably in cobalt/royal blue boiled wool. However, I’m still not convinced that the fit is quite right. So I might not do this at all. I would like a really casual  jacket.

Cardigans - x3

• I’m not sure what patterns I will use here as yet. I have a couple of Style Arc patterns and I haven't tried this brand as yet. These will be worn with trousers and top, a style with which I am very comfortable. So one will be navy. One perhaps grey. And I’ve just purchased online a double faced navy/grey wool - this may be for a heavier jacket. I will wait to see how it feels when it arrives. I also have McCall's 6844 which I’ve used before. I made a peplum version that time but would forgo that this time.

McCall's 6844 - I'e made this previously and it's very popular

McCall's 6966 - similar but less popular.

Style Arc Abby. I've never used SA. This is a single sized paper pattern and I don't know if I have the correct size!

Blouse/tops/tunics

• I intend to use natural fibres to make two, maybe three tops, if I have time. I have a number of RTW tops that still have life left in them so I don't need to go overboard. These will go with navy trousers and some with burgundy or grey. I have plain navy silk, though not much so maybe just enough for a tank; a lovely navy based silk; a baby blue crinkle silk (might be too pale for me though) and maybe a couple of other navy based prints that I bought when I was going to do PR’s wardrobe contest last year. It would have been great to do but I can’t sew that fast!
• Navy silk tank - probably using the pattern I drew up last year.
• One other item that I recognised was missing from my wardrobe was a plain jewel necked long sleeved tee shirt type top dressy enough for use under my blue checked jacket. I’m not sure what fabric this would be - preferably natural, preferably with some stretch (are the two compatible?) and in a fine smooth luxury fabric. Which pattern? I'm not sure - I don't think I will/I won't use the Cashmerette Concord though.

Special occasion

• Dress and indoor type jacket (I haven’t decided on pattern to use as yet). I will use Royal blue dupion silk.

Shirt dress

• I’m not quite sure which of my commercial patterns I’ll use. I have got a lovely fabric which has blues and greys and an almost peach-skin surface in mind for it. Also some classic chambray.
• I'd also like  to make a casual every day dress in ponte de Roma - I could perhaps use the PR Winter Street Dress which I have made previously

I've made this 3 times previously, or is it 4? I've made the required modifications to the pattern (which were many!)

For others

Although I have said I plan to be more selfish this year, I also have some items to make for my family

• Alison - I made a dress toile but hadn’t seen her in it and she told me she had gained a bit of weight. At Christmas, we were able to confirm I could go ahead with the dress. She had thought that as what I had sent her was a ‘toile’ she couldn’t wear it but I confirmed that she could, provided she liked it. The skirt part of the dress is a thicker fabric than the original but Alison confirmed that she liked that. I don't have the fabric for this dress as yet. A navy background rather than black is the plan. She has to wear black at work, but navy is her preference. When she tried it on for me, it was clear that the sleeves aren't right - I’ll ask advice about that when my classes restart next week.

• Joanne - I will make her a pair of shorts. She wants black, as before.

Shorts identical to previous ones. I have the pattern. I’ve made it twice previously. It fits. It shouldn't take too long once I start. I’ve ordered the nicer of the two fabrics I used previously and the lace trim  - from Minerva fabrics.

• Helen - a green silk dress. I’ve said she needs to buy the fabric for
  

  this herself. She has much better opportunities to buy as she lives in London.
  I got the last lot in Goldhawk Road and though that takes her over an hour to
  get there, that’s still far less than it takes me! I remember they had a nice
  green at the time I bought the red silk.

  
  

The long-awaited red silk dress. The green silk dress should be identical 

Also, the tartan skirt using our family tartan that has been on the cards for a couple of years now. Helen still hasn’t chosen the style - so that might be for her birthday or Christmas in 2018:

Style 2 - not our tartan

Style 1 - not our tartan

• David - graphite jeans, another pair of brushed denim jeans and a checked shirt. I have all these fabrics. I also have fabric for a jacket but don't think that will see the light of day! David is in no hurry for any of these.

  
  

  
  
• Grandsons - not sure really about whether to go ahead with shirts and gilets as contemplated.
• Probably not!
• Crucially, I plan to track my fabrics, patterns and makes rather more thoroughly in 2018 than I have done up until now!
  
  
  
  We had a number of trials in 2017, which I won’t go into, and hope that 2018 will be better from that point of view. We are hoping to downsize and move in this coming year so that will have an impact on sewing time available. I will take into account availability of classes/sewing tutoring available when we are deciding where to move to as I will really miss what I get just now.

Merry May MAGAM top

I put my finished Merry May top for MAGAM (only a couple of weeks late!) on Instagram earlier and said I wouldn't be wearing it outside. Why?

I said earlier in the month that I was having massive problems with the darts. They just wouldn't lie nicely. I had them in and out and Lyn helped me fix them as best they could be fixed. There were a couple of problems with them, relating to fabric choice and to pattern. This was the same self drafted pattern I made for my last top, the checked one with the tartan trim. However, this fabric was very slippery and wiggly and I struggled with it (sorry, Rory - I've let you down!). It didn't like the darts, which kept twisting, even in Lyn's hands. This was made worse by the fact that these darts were French darts so very much on the bias. The original darts were folded upwards and this just didn't work in this fabric - they wanted to lie downwards, follow gravity I suppose! When I then let them fall, there was insufficient at the sides to catch in the seam and these were large darts so, on Lyn's recommendation, the dart was trimmed to about 1cm using the overlocker. Lyn did the trimming as I was scared!

I took the top to where I could and sewed up the sides again and overlocked the edges.

In my last top, I didn't manage to apply self fabric bias but in fact the commercial tartan tape was a much better option. In this top, I did manage to make and apply my own bias tape. So that's one positive thing!

The fabric frayed tremendously and this proved to be big problem with all the sewing and ripping out. I ended up having to deepen the front of the neck and the armholes too. There was no seam allowance. In future, I think I would have a seam allowance even if I then cut off, as that would give me a bit of leeway.

But why won't I wear it outside? It's comfortable, doesn't fit too badly BUT see this photo - a pull has occurred from top to the bottom of the fabric on the right side, presumably as the darts were being manipulated. I can't do anything about it, I'm afraid.

Lessons learned

• ·        My pattern needs some tweaks, as my figure changes a bit
• ·        Fabric choice is crucial - well I knew that but still haven't put it into practice!! During making, the darts were uneven from side to side despite cutting on one thickness of fabric from a double width pattern.
• ·        Overworking and mishandling fabric is a disaster - and leads to stretching, excess fraying and to fabric pulls and ultimately an unsatisfactory garment. The bias tape is not lying nicely, either, which is very sad as my last top did lie nicely.

I knew about the pull but decided to finish the top, anyway. I could wear it under a jacket or cardigan provided I didn't take them off! I am making another top (commercial pattern) with the same fabric and I've already had fit issues but my experience here will help, I hope. This second top has bias tape on the inside so I've bought some silky commercial bias tape. I bought navy and red but the navy isn't dark enough so I'll probably use the red. I don't have enough fabric left, I don't think, anyway, to make my own self fabric bias tape.

Over the next few weeks/months (however long it takes) I will be posting about my search for the 'perfect' top (not couture, though). You know this will take a while as I am not one to churn out lots of garments.

Comments are invited, please! Including, please, what fabric do you think would be best for this pattern? TIA.  Hope the rest of your weekend goes well. I'm planning to do a bit of sewing.

MAGAM is the Make a Garment a Month Challenge hosted by Sarah Liz on Facebook and now on Instagram. Thank you for your hard work, Sarah Liz

7 Steps to Style

As I have already posted, I set a number of goals and made some resolutions this year. So far I'm doing okay, but then we're only halfway through January!

I'm a RTW Faster

I resolved not to buy any ready to wear (RTW) clothes in 2015. This had a multi fold purpose

• I have too many clothes already. My wardrobes are full. With weight gain and loss, I have wardrobes of different sizes. I do need to lose the weight I've put on in the last year, but I also need to alter or discard clothes which don't fit.
• I actually find it impossible to buy well fitting clothes. I'm tall but even tall-specific outlets don't cater to the combination of my height, age, style choices etc.
• If I find gaps, then I'm going to fill them with self made garments and therefore increase my skills. I'm continuing with my dressmaking and pattern cutting classes.

MAGAM and Pattern Review Forums

I signed up to MAGAM to encourage me to make one garment per month for myself. Again to help increase skills - and speed.  I'm very slow. I've also resolved to make garments with a plan, not just for the sake of it and apart from trousers, I haven't yet decided what the next item will be. So far this month, I've been dealing with UFOs.

I also joined two forums on PR, as also already blogged. One to encourage regular commitment to sewing and sewing related activity, of any kind and the other to encourage looking at our style. Like many, I started with organisation - of fabric, sewing books and then wardrobe. I'm still in the middle of that.

Through that forum, I began to read a lot of blogs suggested by others.  I particularly enjoy The Vivienne Files and Inside Out Style.

The Vivienne Files has a section, 'Starting from Scratch', where she recommends building a wardrobe starting with one pair of trousers and building up from there. This appealed to me as the biggest gap in my wardrobe is that well fitting, slim legged trouser. I'm going to have to make the trousers but fortunately this term, starting next week, my dressmaking class is covering trousers and trouser making techniques. I'm likely to have most of the items recommended from that point.

My reasons for starting to read these blogs

Many years ago I had my colours 'done' - I knew categories had changed and also knew that with increased age and grey hair I was finding that some colours which suited before didn't any more. I wondered if I had become a 'Winter' rather than a 'Summer'. I should say, I do feel I have a reasonable idea of what suits me.

 

I tried to insert some old photos that we had scanned into the computer, but Blogger wasn't having any of them, for some reason. Some from my own wedding and graduation and some from around the time I had my colours done just a few years later. So, instead, I've inserted a photo of me at my oldest daughter's wedding, with my other two daughters who were bridesmaids, and my mother. 2010

 

 

However, with colour change and maturing figure change, I began to feel fat, frumpy and dowdy. Also, with my difficulty in buying clothes, not everything fitted as well as I would have liked and some items were bought because they did fit but colour or style might not have been ideal. In addition, the change in my lifestyle brought about by retirement clearly had a significant impact on my garment needs. Physically, I have some problems and can no longer wear higher heels. This meant that some skirt lengths are now just 'wrong'. My hourglass figure was changing to something else with weight gain. So the time was ripe.

 
'7 Steps to Style' by Imogen Lamport

I signed up for '7 Steps to Style' by Imogen Lamport from Inside Out Style.  I thought I would briefly blog about each step as I went through it, as suggested by some others on the programme. There is a very active Facebook Group for this programme. I can't actually put photos on as that would infringe copyright etc, though in the next post I am willing to post my own pictures.

Step 1 - Personality

This step involved thinking about why you were doing this programme,  what you wanted to achieve,  how you are seen and how you would like to be seen and considered some of the clothes styles in various categories. I liked that there was no putting someone in a category box. It was perfectly permissible to have elements from a number of categories. Imogen also gave a number of examples and this was very helpful.

I've felt for a long time that the element missing in my wardrobe was 'smart casual' - not actually a category in 7 steps but this was very helpful in considering what I meant by that.

My main style was 'classic', my second element was 'elegant chic'. Interestingly, my husband identified a feminine element that I hadn't really considered and there was a relaxed element. In my style recipe, there was no real drama, rebellion or creativity, although I recognise that I was more inclined to the dramatic when younger.

I must admit that I was disappointed at first as I initially felt this was just confirming me, continuing me in the same direction I was in previously, with my clothes always a bit too formal, occasionally sophisticated, for my needs. In other words, a wardrobe that was too smart and not casual enough. However, the examples given show how I can move this to where I want to be. I'm definitely going to increase some of the casual elements and some of the elements from the other categories are not quite as formal as I previously thought - it appears you can be elegant yet relaxed and casual. I guess that's where I want to be.

Does my wardrobe meet my needs? That's a later step

Next step is body and face shape.

 

Sewing Plans for 2015

Well, I've started as I mean to go on. I'm a person who works better if there is accountability. Even though I know how to lose weight and keep it off, I do so much better attending a group, for example. So, to help me achieve some of my sewing goals, I have linked up with others.

Last year was my first year of sewing and I really lost my way a bit, joining in on PR competitions which were for things I didn't want to do at that time in the time scale given and didn't have the experience to do. This year, I won't preclude the idea of joining in but any competition must fit my personal goals and my time scale. I'm more interested in quality than quantity.

MAGAM

I did join in the Make a Garment a Month Challenge last year. That is, making time to make a garment for yourself each month. Again, I got a bit waylaid with sewing for other people or following other agendas.  I am going to continue this year and do hope that I can pull off one personal garment per month or so. I'm rather slow. There is no penalty if I don't achieve this. Sarah Liz has moved MAGAM to Facebook, so I also need to work out how to use it - and I'm not sure how to link it, as it is a closed group. I am on Facebook but an extremely limited user of it! There are details on the previous blog page of how to join in if you want to.

Blog as a Learning Log

I intend to keep up my blog. Time constraints have meant that my blog is less of the sewing journal and learning log for me than I intended it to be. Even at this stage, I find it difficult to remember exactly what I found difficult and how I solved a problem, without having pictures or words to help me. They say a picture paints a thousand words - I do need to improve my blog photography and have more in progress pictures. Even so, I can see that my sewing is improving.

PR Groups

I said I wasn't necessarily going to join in any PR competitions - however, I have joined a couple (no, wait - 3!!) of the groups. I've committed to 30 Minutes a Day in 2015 - sewing and related activities for an average of 30 minutes per day. This shouldn't be difficult as I am continuing next year with the dressmaking techniques class and the pattern cutting course I started in September. There will be some days I won't do anything but on others I'll be well over that limit. I've also committed to Monthly Sew Along for 2015  which is about any sewing not just garments, and includes restyling etc. The other I've committed to is the Style Along - a Stylish Closet. This doesn't necessarily involve any sewing whatsoever.

Re-evaluate, Restyle and Declutter

Last year, I realised that I was sewing for the sake of it without considering properly gaps in my wardrobe, or my style. I had already started reviewing this so this challenge fits in nicely. The first step will be to go through my wardrobe and declutter, which also fits into the 30 minutes per day. I'm a fairly tidy person in some respects - my wardrobe garments are organised by type and by colour. However, I have far too many and as many know, this means I haven't anything to wear! I still have quite a few items from my professional career, which really aren't suitable for my retired lifestyle, so I feel that I will have to let many of them go, even though they're good quality and wearable, under different circumstances. A bigger issue is the number of shoes I have! I do look after my clothes and shoes and have them dating back a long time. Some are very old fashioned looking, even at my age, there are too many 'dressy' shoes, many are too high for comfort these days, some really aren't comfortable - it's certainly true that extra weight shows in shoe fit, whatever some people say. Also, I have big feet, though not excessively so for my height. One challenge will be to find a comfortable, well-fitting , stylish low shoe.

I find it very difficult to buy clothes and shoes. Partly this is because of my height - being tall, many sleeves are too short, for example. Dresses have always been a particular problem as any dress with a waist seam fits much too high on me and even those without don't have the waist shaping in the correct place and the dress is overall too short. When I was younger, I didn't mind above the knee skirts and dresses but don't like them now. Because dresses were so difficult to buy, they were underrepresented in my wardrobe in comparison to separates. I have lots of skirts - some too business like for current use, but these days I prefer to wear trousers. Unfortunately they are particularly difficult to buy. I have a long crotch so it's not just leg length that's the issue; I also have large hips and thighs in comparison to a smaller waist. I don't have any well fitting pants. So, one of my challenges for 2015 is to create a perfectly fitting block for trousers which I can then modify and use to create as many pants as I want! This fits in nicely with my dressmaking techniques class this next term, which is trouser making techniques for 5 weeks (2 hour class each week) followed by 5 weeks in which to fit and make trousers, with help available. Strangely, the pattern fitting course is out of synch and the trouser block isn't until the following term, we'll be doing a skirt block and a sleeve block in that.

RTW Fast 2015

So, a combination of too many clothes and shoes, inability to buy clothes and need to change style? This leads very nicely into my commitment to the RTW Fast 2015, hosted once more by Sarah from Goodbye Valentino. I shouldn't think I'll need to make very much! Just commit to not buying unnecessary and inappropriate garments. If I do identify any gaps, I should be able to deal with that.

Style Blogs

I'm following InsideOut Style and the Vivienne Files which are giving some great style ideas. The Vivienne Files' Starting from Scratch starts with thinking about colours and then going for a pair of trousers in a basic colour, to begin with, and then building on that. That, of course, fits very nicely with my personal plans - and with the PR groups. The style group on PR has a load of other useful links, which I'm working my way through.

Restyle

The other important thing is garment redesign rather than garment construction. It's possible that some of my many inadequately fitting trousers could be modified. I have some that are too big - especially too wide in the waist - and in general, when I have trousers that are long enough in the crotch, they are too long in the front. Otherwise, usually a 'correct size' fits at the front and is much too short in the back. Along crotch and tilted waist/pelvis. So, some of those that are larger could perhaps have the waistband removed, front shortened, waist taken in and waistband re-attached. Also, it's likely that the legs need narrowed a bit. It's only worthwhile doing this with any that are reasonable quality. It's possible that in some cases the fabric could be re-used - I'm not sure about that. I'm also repairing my clothes (and those of DD3 who really needs some new togs)

Finish WIPs - or decide whether to finish or just get rid of them

Last year, before the summer break, I was attending a monthly dressmaking class and had started fitting and making a pair of trousers. The class decided against muslin fitting (!). As the class went on break (for 3 months), I thought I'd continue myself. The fit was truly awful (although there was no muslin, there was a tissue fit with some adjustments made). It was suggested I might do better to start from scratch with a smaller size. However, these were Palmer Pletsch trousers with a 1" fitting seam and I need to make sure that was being taken into account. So I'll have another look at these. Not sure wadder or finish.

My recent grey wool wrap-over skirt. I did this skirt alongside the skirt dressmaking techniques class. It doesn't really fit into my lifestyle but the colour and fabric are good. It was too big when completed (despite muslining it). I have had it pinned to size and need to finish that. Hopefully finish.

In the same vein as the monthly class I used to attend (I didn't go back after the summer break and have no plans to return), the teacher did a day class making a skirt. She hadn't intended to focus on fit just making but a skirt that doesn't fit isn't much use to anyone so lip service was paid to fitting. Again, tissue fitting but no muslin. Mine is huge. I've pinned it in but had difficulty with pattern matching. I need to look at it again. Its fabric is more suitable for summer. Not sure wadder or finish.

 

My white dress made for PR's Little White Dress Competition. I had problems with the central panel which had a permanent crease down the centre. Nothing I did got rid of it. I was just about to get rid of the dress when I realised I had enough fabric to replace the centre front portion, so I did this. Slight problem in that I replaced it with fabric upside down but it's really not a great issue. However, the colours were different and so more laundering ... all the washing etc has further shrunk the dress and now the lining is too long. I need to adjust that. At the moment the dress is too tight what with it shrinking and me expanding but that, the latter,  should be rectified over the course of the next few months.

 



This was after I inserted a new centre front piece - difference in colour and in direction noticeable.

 

Right way up.

I'm not quite sure if this counts as a Work in Progress or not. My youngest daughter gave me a number of garments to repair. One, a Bershka top, was irreparable but I agreed (why did I offer?) to re-make the top, taking out the embroidered panel from the original. I wasn't able to buy suitable lightweight cotton lawn in black but have bought white and plan to dye it. I'm in the process of deconstructing the garment to use the pieces as a pattern. I have no immediate plans to finish this.



You can't actually see the rips in the fabric in this view. Not just the seams, unfortunately.

 

Promises

I've already blogged about DD3 wanting a skirt made with our family tartan. I do have some heavy weight tartan which is likely, I think, to be okay for a mini skirt - but I learned tonight that she wants a pleated skirt but definitely not a kilt. So not sure. I had thought a simple shape would have been okay for me:

I have had no joy trying to get more tartan woven for us. Claire Kennedy of Sewing Artistry spoke in her blog about printing tartan and I asked her about that. She sent me a very helpful and comprehensive reply. However, there are problems with that route and I don't want to pursue it just for the moment, though I will do later. I won't necessarily make the skirt myself - if the fabric is suitable but the skirt is beyond my abilities, DD3 can take the skirt to a dressmaker. There must be many of those in London, though they are an endangered even extinct species in our area.

I want to make DH a jacket from the Burberry fabric I bought at Harrogate in November. We haven't agreed on a style and I haven't found a pattern yet so that is not in any priority list. I still haven't found any source of men's patterns. I will discuss this with D on Tuesday at my sewing bee as I know she recently purchased a pattern drafting for men book.

Progress

So how am I getting on so far, 4 days into January?

Well, I've been tidying and sorting my sewing room - it was regrettably taken over by our dining room over Christmas and New Year! Before I moved my fabric out, I sorted it by type and likelihood of usage time into clear boxes and not everything will be coming back in. I have a partial database of my stash but need to add the new wools that I bought in November.

I have sorted my sewing books, which remained in the dining room, and realise that some of those I bought are just not what I want so need to work out what to do with them.

I also re-sorted through my patterns. I list these on PR but have a few which I missed so need to add those. I got a couple of Craftsy classes for Christmas and now have some duplicate patterns as one class came with a pattern I already had. Also, Sew magazine, which I subscribe to, has, a couple of times, repeated a pattern I already have. So I have about 3 repeats. One pattern I have is in the too small size range - it's a Chanel type jacket and I don't have the skills to grade it up.

All of this fits into my PR challenges.

I have read quite a few blog posts. This can become time wasting rather than productive quite quickly, so I need to be careful. So far, it's been useful. I also took the opportunity to change my profile picture 

Old Profile Photo

I've had my hair cut again since then.

 
 


New Profile Photo

and add the 'follow me on Bloglovin' icon which I hadn't been able to add before. I did some searching and managed to solve that problem - Bloglovin didn't have my blog as mine because I'm listed under two separate email addresses and several different profiles. I've just taken one baby step today. I'm not sure how I'll proceed. I don't want to make my Google+ or Facebook profiles public.

I managed to sort out my overdue golf minutes - obviously this is not sewing related but I couldn't commit to a project with that hanging over me. I have started but not finished my tax return, ditto.

I haven't started any actual sewing although tonight I'm going to sit and try to start to repair the strap, which is way too short, on my daughter's strange top dress (!) and she'd like the flap removed (my sewing teacher says the flap is sewn to be flapping outside but DD doesn't like that and always tucked it in, then strap didn't lie correctly) so it's still a bit of a puzzle. I might have to ask D's advice at the sewing be on Tuesday.



Front of the dress

Back - where does flap go?





What's the loop? Flap is supposed to be out

apparently I already tried to repair



I haven't identified a January personal garment for MAGAM as yet. I'll think about that later in the month when I've gone through things a bit more. I think maybe a Style Arc cardigan as that would be useful over short sleeved tops and trousers and would also be a new to me pattern company, to fit in with January's MAGAM theme.

I tend to have a year-round wardrobe. We never get very warm or really that cold, especially not this year so far. So tops I wear in the summer, I can wear in the winter with a cardigan - though I don't even need that when I go to bridge as the room is very hot. The biggest change summer to winter is footwear and outerwear.

DD3 is going to send me some photos of skirts she likes and her measurements and I might try to make a muslin for size on Tuesday at my sewing bee. I'll be seeing her this coming weekend. As I was finishing this post , my daughter emailed to say she couldn't find the picture she had of the perfect skirt but sent me some inspiration, none of which are quite right, and none of which she's seen in real life:

  She would like it "waist high, with a waistband. Short, but not too short. Probably a bit pleated but not very pleated. A bit like a mix between a pleated school skirt and a skater skirt." "Short but not too short - about 16" she says and she's 6' tall. Well, she's slim, has endless legs  and can carry it.

I don't know if the thick fabric would work for these, At least I can start to look for a suitable pattern. I don't think it would be too difficult to make this, though. Just so long as she doesn't want it for Burns' Night!



All in all, I'm feeling quite happy. Everything I have committed to fits in with my plans and I don't feel any pressure, even though written down it sounds like a lot. Anyway, sewing isn't life or death!