It's still pushing 90 degrees regularly in North Carolina but I'm hoping some aspirational fall sewing might bring on the chill a little faster. I've been loosely following the Design your Wardrobe project from Seamwork. I have pretty good idea of what I like already and my usual colors-- which is basically a whole lot of neutrals with some forest and olive greens, rust, and burgundy-- so its more of a guideline than anything. Either way, I thought I would share my plans and how I've been using Trello to keep track of everything!
My main focus is on sewing through the fabric I have on hand. I started by pulling out all the fall/winter fabrics so I had an idea of what was on hand. I didn't want this to be too limiting but thankfully my fabric stash is pretty well curated to the colors and textures I typically go for. Based off of that I pulled images of the vibe I was going for on a dedicated Pinterest board.
Definitely some non-specific vintage vibes per usual and a little dash of menswear (hellooooo wool suitings! My loves!) It's pretty representative of my usual outfits, fitted tops with full skirts or pencil skirts. Lots of button ups and jeans. I'm also increasingly into trousers as casual wear so there's several of those on the to-make list.
I still love using Trello to plan out and track of projects. I have one for each season and now that I've been using this for year I have notes from last season about what I wore the most, the least, or things that I wanted to consider for next year. For example, I was very into the wool coat I made last year so I made a note that another long coat in burgundy would be a good project (except I found exactly what I wanted on clearance and a camel one while thrifting!) I also noted that my leather jacket would probably need replacing in the next couple of years and that I could use some lightweight sweaters.
I've made some tentative plans based off of my Pinterest board and my notes. The visual organization makes it easier to see if my ideas are cohesive too. I can also quickly see when there's something I can edit out; I had ideas for three different jackets which I whittled down to one because they all basically fulfilled a similar purpose. Nothing is set in stone, obviously. I'm already thinking that one of the trouser plans may become a skirt depending on how things go.
I'm kind of thinking this out in mini-season chunks because there are 12 projects for Fall/Winter. Right now I'm sewing up the more transitional pieces that I can still wear in the heat. (Photos are all inspiration taken from the above Pinterest board. Click through for links!)
2 mini skirts; one from a large scrap of grey plaid suiting, another from a camel Italian wool remnant I found over the summer. Both will be made from my usual pencil skirt pattern with some alterations.
2 dresses. 1 black polka-dotted dress with tie sleeves. I'm using the scoop back dress from Gertie Sews Jiffy Dresses and her A line skirt pattern from the Ultimate Dress Book with my own sleeve alterations. If there's enough fabric left over I'm also going to make a skirt with buttons! (Spoiler: totally did that!) Another one is going to be made from a GORGEOUS olive rayon. It feels like butter and I want to sleep in it. My original plan was to make it into another Kew (this time with sleeves!) but I'm also now considering the Calvin Wrap Dress from Tru Bias.
1 pair of black jeans with gold button fly. Already cut out and ready to go, I've just been sewing up all the things that need white thread on my serger before I switch it to black (do other people do this? My serger isn't even that hard to thread, I just hate doing it!) It's yet another Safran pant from Deer and Doe patterns too!
Then we're moving into more Fall-y type stuff. Priority here are the projects that will work less in winter.
1 more dress based on this one from Miss Winny (if you haven't seen her Instagram, run--don't walk--to go drool. Goals, my friends, goals.) If a long vintage shirt dress isn't my jam then I don't think I have one. Haven't settled on a pattern yet but I have several that would work.
1 blazer in a green wool I started last year. Really excited to finish it up and wear it, it's in my absolute favorite color.
3 trousers. 2 pairs will be wide legged trousers, one black wool twill and another in a plaid Italian wool suiting. The third is a pair of suede trousers that were originally going to be a jacket but I really don't need another moto-jacket and it would need to be underlined quite a lot to work. I'm still not totally sure these will be trousers. I might hold off and make a full skirt from it depending on where I feel the wardrobe holes are.
After I get the first blazer out of the way I have two more outerwear plans. The first is a cherry colored shawl collared blazer. The next is going to take a bit more attention. The short version of the story behind this jacket is that I've been coveting this specific fabric from Pendelton Woolen Mills for. Years. YEARS. It is perfect in every way except that it's $40/yard. When I discovered a remnant at 50% off at the Mill store I snatched it IMMEDIATELY. No one else can have it, don't even look at my fabric. It's MINE! After I stop petting it, I'm going to draft up something inspired by 1940s Eisenhower jackets.
Of course all this is likely to change. Despite this feeling like a lot, I actually think I'll get through it all. I've been working a side job that regularly has a fair amount of built-in downtime that allows me to sneak in a seam here and there which means I'm finishing a project a week even though I've actually been pretty busy! It's also great when I don't feel super motivated to sew, I just need to plunk my computer by my sewing table and I'll eventually get going :D