Plans and a Request

Today while I was trying to hem some RTW jeans, my machine got jammed, well actually the jeans and the thread got jammed, and while I was trying to save the jeans, I must have moved something inside the machine. My machine is a bit off now and doesn't sew nice stitches. I'm taking it to the shop on Monday morning.

Anyway, this leaves me time to do some planning. I made a promise to myself that I will try to sew as many summer fabrics as I can before the summer is over.
And the other promise I made myself is that I will try to incorporate more dresses and skirts into my wardrobe.

First thing on my list is the Vogue 8386 dress that I will be making in this brown and white knit fabric:


Then, I'll be making the Vogue 8489 using this off-white knit with red dots:


Then there are two fabrics I don't have patterns for yet. The white cotton eyelet will definitely become a skirt. I'm leaning towards wide gathered-at-the-waist style.



And then is this knit fabric:

This fabric has been in my stash for 2 years now and I love it. I'd love to make a dress, but I'm having issues with the print. The print is quite big, so I'd need a pattern with minimum seams, but a style that would complement this sort of tribal print. Any ideas for the pattern?


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As for the request: Would anyone be interested in making a swap? I have this Patrones Ninos magazine. It's spring/summer 2009 issue. I'd like to swap it for the new Vogue 1119 dress pattern.
Here are some photos of the magazine:




Anyone interested in a swap can contact me at: aikkam [at] gmail [dot] com

Closet Cleanout

It is that time of the year when I usually take everything that has accumulated in my closet out, go through it with a critical eye and put everything in three piles: 'keepers', 'menders' and 'never-use-never-will' pile.

Ever since I started working in a clothing store my wardrobe became full of RTW pieces. Part of the problem is that my job requires me to wear clothes from our store. And since the store I work in sells mainly casual clothes, my work wardrobe is very casual - mainly jeans and T-shirts.
The other reasons for my wardrobe expansion are employee discount and sales.

So, after dividing everything into three piles, I assessed everything that was in the 'keepers' pile and realized the following:

CASUAL CLOTHES:
jeans - I have plenty - I get two pairs of jeans for free from my company every season
T-shirts - have enough
sweatsuit alternative (both tops and bottoms) - enough - I usually spend weekends and my free time in nature or doing somethings sporty, so I need and use plenty of casual wear
shorts - have a sufficient number
skirts - three
dresses - I have one single beach dress
outerwear - could use more, but it's not a priority


NICE CLOTHES:
In this group belong clothes appropriate for office work, interviews, parties, special occasions and events, etc. Basically everything that is not casual.
Now here I have a huge problem.

tops - I have two tops that could pass as appropriate
pants - one pair of winter pants
dresses - none
skirts - none
outerwear - one black winter coat

Quite bad, right?

My current job doesn't require nice clothes, but every now and then an occasion or event comes up where I need something nice to wear and then I sadly realize that I do own the perfect dress for the occasion, but it's still waiting to be sewn.

I need to focus on sewing nice clothes and I need a plan. I also decided to sew outfits instead of single garment pieces. That is because when I sew an individual garment, I have nothing to wear it with, so the poor thing just hangs in my closet waiting for better days.

I'm still working on a plan. I probably won't be able to focus on it until beginning of June due to my work and studies; but then I'll definitely start building a better, more functional wardrobe that won't allow me to find myself in one of those 'I-have-nothing-to-wear' situations.


I'm leaving you with a photo of a tulip I took on an annual tulip exhibition I visited recently:

Clothes: More for Less or Less for More?

Yesterday I had a debate with my co-workers on the subject of buying clothes. The main question was: Do you rather buy less, but higher quality and therefore more expensive? Or do you prefer to buy more clothes that are more affordable (not so say cheap) and of poorer quality?

I definitely belong in the first category, which made me the odd one in the group. I hate spending even the smallest amount of money for, let's say a T-shirt, that will lose it's shape after one wash. And buying it's replacement (more than once), makes you spend more money than you ever intended to.
I hate buying something I really like, wear it three times and realizing that the hems have raveled.
I don't need a closet full of semi-fitting garments, just so I can wear something new every day. I rather have less but better-fitting garments.
I, definitely, don't want to buy a garment that needs fixing and altering before I can wear it. If I have paid paid for it, it should be wearable.

And don't get me wrong, I LOVE clothes and my closet is anything but empty. But I hate wearing something that doesn't fit, or something you have to adjust every minute because it looks good only in one position, having seams pulling in all directions, loose threads hanging form every seam, etc.

I do understand that fabrics and garments have expiration dates, especially when worn frequently, but surviving the first wash shouldn't represent a challenge, even for a 5€ T-shirt.

What do you think?


On the sewing note:
No major progress. I am, however, trying something new for me. I always thought you needed at least half a day off, to get some sewing done. But lately I've been trying to do something sewing related in short 15, 30-minute intervals before and after work. And, so far so good. I never knew how much can be done in such short time.