Sewing Plans - End of Summer
Can we for a moment acknowledge that we have one month of summer left and I feel like saying “where did it go?”. I was talking on Private Messaging with Brittany J Jones and she had mentioned her kids started school this week, she is I believe located in Atlanta and it dawned on me that August is going to be a busy month because my kids are also starting school in two weeks, and well here we go again.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about…. what I need vs. what I want. The boring things that you sew because you need them vs. the fancy things that you don’t really need, and you got nowhere to wear them but want them. Trying to find a happy medium between what clothes I need vs. what clothes I want. What do I need? I need a pair of white t-shirts. I told you in my five essentials video that. I use them a lot. A LOT! Is it what I want? No, not really… but it is what I need right now amongst many things.
So lets start there:
I got this really nice off white modal knit fabric from Surge Fabric Shop. They were having a sale. I’ll be honest I’m VERY picky when it comes to knits. I try to avoid polyester (although modal is a form of rayon aka semi synthetic fabric) unless I’m specifically looking for it and if you have ever bought knits made with cotton it does NOT go for cheap. Not only does it not go for cheap you have to make sure that it has enough thickness to it. I’ll be using V85336 to make myself at least two of these T-shirts.
Modal Jersey Knit from Surge Fabric Shop
I also JUST downloaded the new Aster Dress from True Bias. I’m been looking for a casual dress that I can wear during this last month of summer with either a pair of casual sneakers or a pair of sandals. I’ve had this olive green linen fabric from Fabric.com (Hence why I have no link for this fabric for you) sitting in the stash for quite some time so I thought it was time to use it and I have JUST enough for this dress. I have to make a SBA because True Bias designs for C-cup but before I cut into my nice fabric… I’ll be making a muslin with this green double gauze that I found on the remnants bin at Joann’s.
Linen from the no-longer-around fabric.com
Bubble Double Gauze
Talking about green linen I also have this brighter olive green linen that will be a pair of dani shorts but not going to go fancy with zippers on this one. Just going to do the elastic waist band on these and call it a day.
Let's keep going down the linen highway…because why not! I saw this dress on Instagram and I quickly snapped a picture. I LOVED the ladder trim on the shoulder area I thought it was just enough that it didn’t look like a lot going on but felt as to something I would wear… Enter this beautiful fabric from Minerva. I feel like I found the exact same color. The ladder trim however is another story. I will have to do a color remover on this and play with dying it to match which is not so fun but I’m excited for the final outcome.
So not everything can be what you need… you do have to have at least one want. Right now I’m trying to make myself ONE fun dress and I was really hoping to do something with some sort of a cutout… and I’m not talking about the dresses with the cutouts on the belly because that business is just not gonna work. Like that new Rachel Comey black dress with the opening on the front and the sides and the back… oh so pretty on the right person but not on me.
So I have a few ideas but don’t quite know which one to pick… here are my choices.
Option A - Butterick B6351 View B - I think I have enough of this rayon fabric (from Hobby Lobby sorry I cannot find a link online) to make this dress. I have to look at the instructions and see if I need a lining (not a fan of linings but sometimes you need them).
Option B - McCalls 7740 This is an OOP pattern that I found at Vogue Fabrics and it seemed fitting for what I want to make. Just enough “cutout” for me. I ordered this fabric from Style Maker Fabrics and I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful is this fabric. It has enough “weight to it” as it’s a rayon twill. I will however have to make a muslin for this, there is a sew along online and … well let’s just say that this person could have used a muslin before cutting into her fabric.
But I’m at a quandary if I want to make either of these dresses or if I start thinking of a dress with a fall vibe. Mostly because my size is changing and I suspect that if I do make either of these two dresses I may not get much wear out of them…. again need vs. want.
