Found my sewing mojo!

Thanks to Faye and the "Month of Tops" sew-a-long, I have even more incentive to get back to sewing. I have been pre-washing fabrics and buying notions for several "tops" projects for the past month. Time to get to work!



I have the following projects prepped already:



1. Dark navy denim stretch 3/4-sleeve jacket
McCalls 5816
I bought this fabric for bottoms but realized during the prewashing that the fabric is too lightweight for bottoms. I have never worked with denim so I figured the bolt labels would indicate what was best for tops vs bottoms. The bolt labels are very deceiving. To buy the proper weight denim fabric, you must know a little about how denim is categorized by weight (6 oz vs 12 oz??). I will create a separate post about some basic denim buying and sewing tips later. Anyway, I had 6+ yards of this and decided to make 2 jackets and a skirt.



2. Dark navy denim stretch short-sleeve jacket
Butterick 5332 view C


3. Double-knit cardigans in 4 colors (grey, navy, red, purple)
McCalls 5978
I did extensive reading about working with knits in general since I have never worked with knits and I have recently bought TONS of it in various types and colors. I'll post a summary of tips for working with double knits later this week. I'll save the rest of my knits FYI when I get around to those materials.



4. Striped button-front long-sleeve shirts in 2 different patterns

Remember the infamous shirting fabric that lost its smooth finish when I prewashed? This is the fabric I've been fussing with for some time. Everytime it beats me, I walk away from it for a week or so until I'm ready to try again. I've resigned myself to plain 'ol spray starching the material before ironing for use. I was really hoping to avoid that. I LOATHE starching and ironing.



That's all I've prepped so far. If I manage to finish those quickly, I'll probably get to work on the other knits. I have some pretty rayon blends and cotton jerseys that could be very easy to knock out. Can you tell I'm trying to avoid ironing?



Follow my progress here and on the Month of Tops blog.



Next up? I'm toying with the idea of doing the SWAP 2010 challenge. I went through my stash and found that I didn't have everything I needed to pull off a Chanel-themed wardrobe. Darn...guess I'll have to buy more fabric. (wink, wink) Anyway, here's my "storyboard."