2018 Plans and a peek into my Sewing space: Part 1

I have had so much fun reading blogs and posts about everyone's New Year sewing goals and plans. It really makes for such a fun community.

I have hemmed and hawed about whether I want to make concrete sewing plans versus more nebulous overall goals. I made lists, I jotted down notes, I reviewed what I did last year and looked through notes from my sewing notebooks. I also looked at what everyone else was planning to do and was trying not to get swept up in the overall sewing communities goals. There are challenges, and pledges and fasts and what not! Can be somewhat easy to get pulled along!

In the end, I have decided to just do my own thing and follow my own path....

So, what the heck does that path look like? Honestly, probably not much different then everyone else!

Just a couple quick notes:

• I already make most of my own clothes, so the RTW fast is something that I already have been doing for several years.
• My closet is comprised of an approx 85% or higher me made wardrobe. The RTW items I own are in great condition and fit and are very useful to me so I see no need at this point to get rid of them just so I can say I have a 100% med made wardrobe.
• I have mostly moved away from using commercial sewing patterns to designing my own patterns. So pattern fasting is already being done by default.

on the flip side:

• I have a very lovely and rather large curated collection of fabrics that I really want to use!
• I want to be more deliberate in what I choose to make and create.
• I really, really enjoy the entire creative process of designing and sewing.

If  I just HAD to write down a goal for 2018, I suppose it would look something like this:

For 2018 I want to continue to explore my creativity in design and sewing while using my beautiful textiles in a way that makes me happy and content.

Well, That's done! Now for a peek inside my sewing space. :)

I have 2 distinct sewing spaces. The first is my office which houses my fabric, patterns, buttons, cutting tools and a small cutting/work table. This is the space we will be exploring today.

One corner of the room is my real work desk. This is were I work when I am not traveling. the other 3 corners of the room are all sewing all the time!

First up my fabric closet: From here it looks like an ordinary closet...

However... once opened it contains so much beauty and color and makes me smile and dream of all the possibilities it contains!The center shelves contain cotton lawns and cotton shirtings, some linens and some silks. In the plastic bin on the upper shelf are smaller remnants that are 1/4 to 1/2 yard of cottons that are mainly used for facings, bindings and pocket materials. The pink file cabinet holds all my patterns.

To the left and right are all the rest of my woven fabrics that are hanging in a color coordinated fashion.

Top Left:

Bottom Left:

Top Right:

Bottom Right:

There is so much inspiration when I open my closet!

The very top of the closet, not pictured. Holds some empty bins and a sewing machine trolley and all of my old photo albums.

Moving on...

As you turn to the left from my fabric closet you come to a metal can that I use to hold my rolls of pattern paper, yard sticks and tall skinny items like that. Next to that is an InterMetro shelving unit and canvas  cover from The Container Store. This shelving unit holds all of my knits and on the bottom shelf some bulkier items like denims, faux shearling, pillow form.

I love having the canvas cover because it protects my fabrics from dust and light and since they are not in a plastic bin they can also breath.

Printed mesh fabrics:

Cotton/lycra and rayon/lycra knits:

Washable merino wool knits:

Next to the canvas covered shelving unit is an aqua colored locker that holds random items. Materials for my sewing group, materials from classes I have taken and liked. Plus some random odds and ends! You can see this locker in one of the pictures above.

Moving to the left around the room we come to my work desk, which I will skip, and then to my button, threads and project box area.

The 2 pink Bisley cabinets house my buttons. The thread rack is my regular sewing thread. Below in the cubbies are sewing magazines, current project boxes, current patterns I am using, and fabric and technique samples.

Many of my buttons are vintage and have been purchased in antique, resale and thrift shops.

Some have been purchased in regular button shops in NYC and other cities around the world.

One of my all time favorite type of buttons are Czechoslovakian glass buttons from pre-WW2.

Moving to the left again we come to my permanent cutting/work table.

This table has a smaller cutting mat (36" x 24") and I have 2 task lights as well as a small magnetic board above it to hold inspirations. Under the table is a bin of old muslins. I like to keep the last one I make of a garment so that if IO want to go back to it to check fit or use it to make a new design from then I already have that first step done. The other bin is of remnants.

Hanging on the wall is a peg board with all my most used cutting tools and rulers hanging on it.

And then we come back to the door. I have a long hanging mirror on it that I use for fitting. This mirror is easily moved as it is just attached to hooks that go over the door.

And that is plenty for today!!

Next time we will take a look at the other half of my Sewing space. 

Happy Sewing!

Welcome 2017! Making resolutions, setting goals, voicing my intentions!

I have spent time this first week of January reviewing and reflecting upon 2016. Initially I was separating out sewing from the rest of my life. I was looking at everything in separate 'buckets'. Sewing, home life, work, health, friends and so on and I was trying to figure out how I could make changes to each of those area. However, I was getting frustrated and was having a hard time working it all out. Well, I put my thoughts aside and just went about my day and then out of nowhere it hit me! While I can make small goals and direct changes in each of these areas they really can't be separated out. All of these things make up my life and are intricately intertwined!

I decided to take a couple days and really reflect on my life as a whole and how each of these areas work together and how changes to each area really affect each other. I know... sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo.

First off- what to actually call this? I'm not hip on the 'New Year's Resolutions' term, sounds so cliche. Yet, isn't that what I am actually doing? What many of us do at this time of the year? So other ways to describe this could be 'setting goals' or 'voicing my intentions'. I'm going with setting goals! I like that the best for some reason. 

Moving on, I was able to pick the most important parts of my life that I want to concentrate on.

• Physical Health
• Mental Health
• Family time
• Friend time
• Sewing andesigning
• Work

Out of these 6 items the only one that I can really pull away and put in a separate bucket is work. Like quite a few of us I work so that I can help support my family and my sewing habit ;) I can't really change my work, I like what I do and that's that. The only way that work really affects the rest of the list is both time and clothing. Since I like to sew my own clothing this influences the items that I design and sew.

The rest of the list, physical and mental health, family and friend time and sewing and designing, are all intertwined. 

For example my goals in Mental Health include:

1. Daily meditation- helps clear my mind and allows me better focus and well being.
2. Daily time to read- these can be fictional novels, biographies, non-fiction, perusing designer books, etc.

Both of these goals affect all areas of my life. Stuck and frustrated with my sewing and design work the benefits of meditation are huge. The reading time also allows me time to read up on designers and get inspiration.

So here are my specific goals in each area.

Physical Health:

1. Maintain my medications and diet and working closely with physicians. everyday
2. Work on strengthening my body with both aerobic and strength exercises. 4 x week.

Mental Health:

1.  Meditation- helps clear my mind and allows me better focus and well being.- daily- minimum of 10 mins
2. Reading time- these can be fictional novels, biographies, nonfiction, perusing designer books, etc- Daily

Family Time:

1. Time spent together with my little family: My husband and I, My daughter, Son-in-law and our granddaughter. Planned family activities Monthly. Plus plenty of non-planned time together. My family is the most important part of my life.

Friend Time:

1. Don't neglect my friends! My pancreas issues have caused me to miss time with my friends this past year. Those activities are the ones that are sacrificed the most when I am not feeling well. My friends have been amazing and supportive and I want to make sure they know that I appreciate them. Ongoing clubs- Sew Chicago ASG Neighborhood group meetings, Book club, Haute Couture Club of Chicago. One on One time :)

Now for the super fun part!

Sewing and Designing: My goals this year are twofold. There are some very specific goals and then some more open goals that are to be reevaluated on an ongoing basis. 7 goals may seem like a lot but in reality it is not. Many of these are just re enforcements of what I have already been doing and some of these cross over into other areas like mental health and time with friends.The hands down hardest one for me to do will be the first one. YIKES!!! I love buying fabric!! 

1. Shop exclusively from my well curated fabric collection! Only purchase fabrics that are needed such as lining materials, interfacing, etc. OR when on a special trip. For example- Sewcial weekend in February includes a trip to Habermans. In this case be VERY selective in purchases.
2. Establish a set of master patterns. Skirts, knit tops, woven tops, jacket, knit and woven pants, knit and woven dresses and outerwear.
3. Do my designing off of my master patterns. Including flat pattern drafting and draping
4. Continue to grow and push myself to become better with both designing and construction via mentorship with Sarah Veblen. Goal is to do 2- Four month mentorship sessions this year.
5. Work on my sketching to help to use this to better solidify my sewing plans. Ongoing process, try for 2-3 good sketching sessions per week.
6. Take inventory of my entire wardrobe to find the 'holes' and fill them. This process takes a couple hours. I have to take all my clothes out, try them on, see what fits, what I still like and then move forward. Try to have this done by end of January.
7. Continue blogging and documenting my journey.  

I plan to 'check in' on myself and how I am doing with my goals every quarter. I don't plan on being judgemental to myself just to see how things are moving along!

Happy Sewing!!

RTW Fast 2014 & 2015, MAGAM group and New goals for 2015

I have decided to join the 2015 RTW fast!

My 2014 experience with the RTW fast was a great one! Thanks to Sarah from Goodbye Valentino for hosting the RTW fasters!

For the entire year I only purchased the following:

- new bras and panties 

- several pairs of stockings and tights

- one t-shirt for a Team Challenge

I also received a t-shirt and a Blackhawks sweater from my husband.

The only other RTW clothing that I bought was for gifts and those were minimal.

THAT'S IT!!!! And to me that is so amazing!!!

As a consequence of my RTW fast I have learned several things. Some of the are about sewing and some of them are about myself.

1. I learned that I DO NOT need a giant wardrobe that is stuffed into my closet and drawers. It is OK and actually feels good to have a smaller wardrobe! I wear self made items every single day and it feels good!

2. I have also learned to step out of my comfort zone and wear a more diverse portfolio of items. Not just always grab the same uniform, and having room in my closet means that I can actually SEE what I have!

3. Doing this RTW fast has improved my sewing skills and my sewing confidence! 

4. All the money I SAVED on not buying RTW, I totally SPENT on fabric!!!! I have a very well rounded stash :) 

As I stated above, I have joined the 2015 RTW fasters group and look forward to seeing what everyone makes and posts on Facebook!

I have also joined the MAGAM (make a garment a month) group which is also now being hosted on Facebook. I have followed the group in the past but having the group on as a bloggers was not easy. Having the group hosted on a private Facebook page is great! As soon as they made the switch, I joined! 

The idea behind MAGAM is that each member posts a plan for a project to be made that month. Showing the fabric and pattern and following along with a theme and when you complete the garment you do a follow up post and a link to your blog. If you don't like the theme then you do something else! Easy peasy! For me, I plan to use this as a plan for a more complex or difficult garment that I want to complete.

For example, January's theme is 'something new'. I choose a new pattern for a wedding guest dress that I need to make for a wedding on a Cruise in February that I am attending.

Pattern is OOP Butterick 6739 and fabric is a crinkled spun rayon from FabricMart.

So far that means that for 2015 I have the RTW fast and MAGAM groups.

What other goals do I have?

Well.....

1. No new patterns. None. I'm fairly sure that I either have or can modify what I have to make anything!

2. No new fabric for 6 months. ** excludes need of interlining/linings. I thought about doing a full year fabric fast but I cannot. 6 months is perfect it will let me make room for more come the end of June! It will be like Christmas in summer for me ;)

3. Quilting, more traditional quilting that is. I have dabbled here and there in very free form no rules allowed quilting but I have been feeling that I wanted to try something a little more traditional. Just once and see how I like it. To accomplish this I Joined a mystery quilt along! More on this in a later post.

4. PANTS! PANTS! PANTS! Yes, I have accomplished jeans but now I really need to accomplish both trousers for work and play in other styles. I have been toying with the idea of trying to make a pair of pants/trousers/jeans/shorts every month. That would mean 12 pant like bottoms over a year. Seeing that right now I only own 2 pairs of jeans, I pair of courdoroys, 2 pairs of Capri pants I can REALLY, REALLY use them. 5 pairs of pants in my entire wardrobe (not counting pajama pants and workout pants) is not enough!

Short term, I am finishing up my winter sewing plan. Funny enough the biggest to-do left on that list is pants! LOL! 

What are your goals for 2015? 

Flowers from my birthday! My hubby sent these to me and left them right on my sewing workable! It was a great place to have them :) made me smile a thousand times in the last week!

Parting shot of Princess V at 6 months :) 

Another finished project and some goals for 2010

The temperature is frightfully cold outside which left me huddling indoors to stay warm. To cold to takes the girls for a walk and waaaaaay to cold to ride Fawkes... but a perfect day to play in my sewing room :)

I just finished up another top. This is made from the same pattern as my birthday top, Simplicity 2960. I did make several changes to it. I cut a size smaller, I re-drew and cut the neckline an inch lower and used a bias binding on the neckline instead of facings, I cut the length shorter by 3 inches and made it in a short sleeve version and applied the elastic at the waist line differently. This fabric is not quite as delicate as the one I used for my birthday shirt so it was quite a bit easier and faster to work with.

It was fun to work on a spring/summer shirt while it was below zero outside... helped to keep my mind on some fun in the sun!

Front

Back

Sleeve detail
The pattern did call for a second row of ruffles sewn over the seam of the lower ruffle on the sleeve but I did not add it on, it made it look a little to 'little girly' for my tastes!

Now onto some thoughts on what I want to accomplish in my sewing room during 2010.

1. enjoy the process and what I am making/creating

2. make some handbags

3. try some 'art' quilts

4. pants, pants, and more pants

5. sew for others (as in birthday and holiday gifts)

6. a Channel style jacket

7. to not purchase any clothes (except socks and under clothes) make them all myself

8. to experiment more and try new things, new colors and new techniques.

I think those are some good goals for 2010! we shall see what I can get done.