I’m going to try to get back to blogging regularly – and sewing again after everything that has happened in my family in the last month/ 6 weeks. I actually got my sewing machine out for the first time in 2 months last weekend! If you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen this photo:

I didn’t actually do any sewing that day but it was nice to set up my new little space. I’ll do a full tour of my sewing space – I have dedicated storage for the first time ever, which is pretty exciting if I’m honest! Our flat is definitely coming together and we’re on the final push to get things sorted so I might share a full tour if anyone would find that interesting? I have a couple of home-related sewing projects planned, so they will no doubt make it to the blog at some point 🙂

Since I’ve moved house twice in the last 6 months I have become aware of just how many clothes I have. I had clear outs on 2 separate occasions before we left London – I sometimes need some time to come to terms with getting rid of things. Anyone else? Just me? Anyway, the crux of the matter is I have a crazy amount of clothes, but probably like most women, I wear a fairly small proportion of them  – though this percentage has undoubtedly gone up. With this in mind I thought it would be a good idea to be more mindful about what I make and the fabric I buy. I made quite a few things during the couple of months before I found a full time job so I have used quite a bit of my stash, which is good, and I want to try to buy as good quality fabric as I can afford and for specific projects if possible from now on.

I pretty much think I’m all set for patterns at the moment too – which is hard because new, great patterns are released all the time by all the amazing indie designers out there at the moment – and I want to support them by buying their stuff. But until I’ve worked through some of my plans for both work-wear and casual-wear, I’m going to try to use patterns I already have. I’m sure I’m not alone in having quite a few I’ve not made yet. Please say I’m not alone! I think in the past I tended to buy patterns when I didn’t have time to sew, so my collection is definitely quite big.

Anyway, all of this is to say that I want to try to be more careful in planning what I’m making to add to my wardrobe. I’m going to do a monthly post about my plans – and reviewing the success (or not) of that planning for the previous month – to try to keep myself accountable to……myself.

So onto my October plans…….

The first thing I want to finish is a Deer and Doe Melilot Shirt I cut out and started before we moved out of The Boyfriend’s parents’ house. The fabric is something really slippery and probably really synthetic, but I think it will look nice as a Melilot.

Here’s a close-up of the fabric (in an obviously carefully arrange pile!):

The Melilot is (kinda obviously) a work garment, and I could also do with some more smart trousers – I haven’t worked anywhere where I couldn’t wear jeans and trainers for ages so my office-wear wardrobe is a little lacking. So I want to have a got at my very first pair of trousers! Exciting and scary in equal measure! I bought this Simplicity pattern (1696) with a voucher I had, after doing some searching for cigarette-type trousers. The fabric is some navy blue suiting I got at the fabric swap at the Sew Brizzle meet-up I went to a couple of months ago. I’m going to try not to over-fit them as I don’t want them to end up looking like skinny jeans. Watch this space!

Another part of my new planning mindset is to manage my expectations of how quickly I can sew and finish things. So my 3rd and (probably) last make for October will be a Tilly and the Buttons Delphine skirt (from her book, Love At First Stitch). The fabric is another one I picked up as Sew Brizzle – you can’t really tell in the photo but the lighter flecks are silver so it looks really nice in real life. I think this could be a good skirt for Winter as the fabric is relatively thick and could be good with thick tights and boots!

My optional 4th project for October is to join in with Rosie Martin‘s #SewDots initiative. If you haven’t come across this yet, it’s a month where you sew something with dotty fabric to raise money for the RNIB because of how important Braille is to the blind and visually impaired community. I have 2 lengths of spotty fabric already but they’re both quite thin so I’m not sure how suitable they are for Autumn/ Winter sewing!

The pink on the left is woven and the grey on the left is jersey. They’re both quite drapey. I was thinking of a Colette Aster for the pink or a GBSB drapey knit dress or slouchy cardigan/ kimono for the grey. To be perfectly honest I’m not sure I’ll get time to make something for #SewDots, but I’ll still donate to the fundraising page Rosie has set up.

Do you plan your sewing or do you make what you fancy when you have time?

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