Change of plans...

In my introductory post I challenged myself to sew one garment each week until March. I was assuming (usually a bad thing, I never learn) that because I had seen Me-Made-March stuff all over the sewing blogosphere last year that it must be an annual thing. I still didn't know too much about it and actually just discovered Zoe's blog late last year, so I missed out on all the Made-Me postings. I started to wonder about this as March is almost upon us and I hadn't seen any mention of it. I emailed Zoe and she kindly emailed me back explaining that she will only be doing one Made-Me month this year and it will be in May.

That's actually awesome news, because now I have a lot more time to make stuff! I still don't think I have enough garments as of now. My plans were probably a teensy bit ambitious to begin with, but that's a common fault of mine.

Yesterday I also realized, while doing some research on the Clover pattern, that I REALLY should make a muslin for this one. That's going to be very hard to do if I expect to have a finished garment by next week. Also, muslin doesn't stretch and I need fabric with about 3% lycra for this one. With these things in mind, I decided to hold off on making the Clovers until my new fabrics come in. I found a good bargain on some stretch twill from FFC and ordered two different colors of charmeuse for the Sencha blouse.

So my new plan is to finish up my Spring Sewing Challenge this week and hopefully post my finished garment on Monday. I'm looking for a quick and easy project, and I need more bottoms, so my top choice right now is this:


The 2-Hour Skirt from Simplicity. Yes, it's got some seriously bad styling happening on that pattern envelope circa 1995, but look beyond that! One great thing I learned from The Sew Weekly is to look at the bones of a pattern and ignore the images on the envelope. This is a perfect basic skirt pattern and, if it sews up well, I imagine I'll be making it multiple times. Hmmm...should I do the gathered version or the pleats? I'm trying to talk myself out of the elastic waistband (I always feel the need to hide it under a belt, but they're so comfy! And so easy to make!).

After this project is finished I intend to keep making clothes, but I'm going to aim for two per month. There are more difficult patterns I'm just itching to tackle and I'd like to have time to actually make muslins, get the fit right, and take my time sewing them up. My worst sewing mistakes happen when I'm pressed for time.

I also intend to finish up my Owls Sweater that I started knitting back in November (!!) but haven't really worked on since I started sewing again.


I'm almost to the part where you knit the owls! Then the neckline, then I'll be done! Then it will probably be too warm to actually wear it until next winter but oh, well. Short attention span Shona strikes again. I'll just be glad to have it done. It's my first sweater! And it has OWLS on it, you guys! (Ok, I know the owl thing is totally played out but I can't help myself. I have a problem. You should see my house. And my desk at work).

One last thing, go check out My Sewing Circle if you haven't already. It's supposed to be the "Ravelry for sewists". I've been wanting someone to make something like this for years! It still needs some work, but it hasn't been out long so I'm holding out hope that it will improve over time. It has a lot of potential. I just made a profile here so feel free to take a peek and make friends :)

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