Six-piece winter collection sew-along (Dec-Feb)

[ejvc]

Hi Bev, I think you must mean Jaqs because I haven't been shopping in....  er .... years at least.  Your colour scheme sounds beautiful. 

Must go to bed now!

Elizabeth

[RuthieK]

I am still sewing away and have now finished some trousers  - using my fave Burda magazine pattern. They are black with a self stripe and sparkly bits.
I have been using my old sewing machine (a clunky basic from my teenage years in the 80s) and I have to say its a challenge. I still managed to insert an invisible zipper and use the hem stitch but its not as nice as using my lovely computerised machine. They are all puckered as the machine does not feed this fabric too well, so will go and attack with a iron.
http://ruthieksews1.blogspot.com/2009/12/black-self-stripe-burda-wof-102008-132.html

So my tally so far is

red print knit top with kimono sleeves
red slinky knit top
red cardigan refashion
black self stripe trousers



next is a black cardi wrap with little gold sparkles in the fabric.

I have paused the red fur as I was not happy with any of the ideas, and so put the fabric back in the cupboard.
I still want to do the skirt and the gold blouse, and maybe a black knit top with embellishment.

[sdBev]

Hi Bev, I think you must mean Jaqs because I haven't been shopping in....  er .... years at least.  Your colour scheme sounds beautiful. 

Must go to bed now!

Elizabeth

Opps.  your right!

[sdBev]

http://ruthieksews1.blogspot.com/2009/12/black-self-stripe-burda-wof-102008-132.html

On my monitor, all the reds look exactly the same, even you shoes?  Is my monitor off or did you really manage to match that well?  (it does happen.)

[marciae]

Ruthie - looks good - - very festive for your holiday parties!

[kbenco]

Elizabeth, kind Elizabeth, I would like to play. However, I do not want to make a jacket or layering top. I promise I do not need one. May I make 2 dresses instead? I need some respectable casual clothes to wear to the in-laws for Christmas and just afterwards. They must all c0-0rdinate as we have very little room for packing.
I am making a red and white striped dress to wear to a Christmas party (potluck for the cycling group - very casual) on Saturday. This will start my plan and is not nearly so hideous as it sounds from the description.


Ruthie, I am entirely inspired by your holiday collection, in fact my sudden feeling that I wanted to play came straight after I saw your smart outfits. Great job.

Karen

[Ann]

Cheer from the sidelines. Great looking clothes Ruthie. You will look terrific for the holidays (where as I will wear jeans and t-shirts). I noticed your red shoes also and thought - wow, they really match perfectly.

Ann

[MaryOK]

Ruthie,

WOW!!!!

[Jacs]

Ruthie Wow I love it!  Now to ask how do you manage all that - I hate cutting things out and also having lots of UFO's so until this collection have always cut one at a time but it was painfully slow.  This time I have cut everything except my jacket and dress (as yet unknown) and how easy it is to go to the box where I have stored it all and take each garment and begin sewing.  Do you have it all cut out or is it cut and sew?

[RuthieK]

In the past I have been really terrible and had a lot of UFOs. I have tried to change my attitudes on that and at the moment only have 2 things cut out recently and not sewn up. One of those is left over from the 'Sea Collection' (white and turquoise top) and was hidden under a pile of fabric and I forgot it. Another is a knit top I am repurposing for the Christmas Collection (black and copper).

So recently I have only been cutting out two projects at once max. And whilst the machines are threaded up I do try and repurpose/finish/repair things in the same colour thread. I do get a lot out of burst sewing in one colourway though 4 items is about my max before I get fed up of that colour.

I know when we did WiaW we cut everything out beforehand and then had a mad sewing week. But that's about as long as I could sustain that to be honest without creating more UFOs. I have not cut anything at all out for SWAP yet, because its not all completely clear in my head the exact pieces I shall do. My SWAP has a lot of dark brown in it as base pieces and I will probably have to sew those in two separate dark brown bursts some time apart to keep the freshness going.

I think in fact during the SWAP - which in my case is brown, cream and dark orange - I shall have to have a change from those 3 colours and sew somthing teal or red or purple just for some light relief. Its a hobby after all and supposed to be fun right?

[Robin]

Ruthie, you look fantastic in all 3 of those outfits.
The pants are the perfect length (nice and long) and so pleasing to the eye.
the red shoes make the outfit(s).
Well done!

[Jacs]

thanks for that Ruthie - I detest UFO's and try to avoid them like the plague.  I am also trying to use up my stash as it has become a problem storing it all. (teenage daugher needs wardrobe space!!!) so this collection fits the bill. 

[RuthieK]

I wore the right hand outfit with a different necklace, contact lenses (instead of specs), makeup, and an RTW black velvet jacket for a night on the town last night. Looked good, felt festive and also me (sometimes when I get a bit dressed up I don't feel like 'me' anymore).

Am going to work on the black and gold cardi-wrap and the black corduroy skirt next.
What I like about those pieces is that the cradi wrap has little gold flecks in the knit and the corduroy has red/gold embroidery. So they are black basics but with a little bit of festive cheer.

[Sewshopper]

Elizabeth, I will join in if I don't need to include a coat, thanks.  It is much more fun than sewing alone to have others to visit with about progress or not.  I am working on a TSW Mixit shirt in a gray silk noil right now.  I have a LH Bianca knit top that is getting the Boatneck neckline added to it.  LH Cruise pants in a soft, light weight gray wool, neutral Bergman blouse and a gray/tan/brown/orange knit LH Garbo jacket in line.  That is 5 pieces and I will probably add black wool crepe Cruise pants to make my 6th piece though there is another sweater knit that works with the mix.  Will decide on that later.  I only got 5 pieces done with the last group.  They all went with me to Italy in Nov. and worked out very well for travel.

Karleene

[ejvc]

You bet, Karleene.  It's great to have people along. 

Ruthie, truly, I am in awe.  But this time, I am thinking about your wardrobe (closet) space.  How on earth do you have enough room for the stacks and stacks of beautiful clothes you turn out?  Do you have a separate dressing room?

Have fun at your Christmas parties!  Oh yeah -- may I suggest a jewelled sweater/hair clip as an accessory?

Elizabeth

[Sharon]

Okay Elizabeth, does this qualify as my dress for the Summer collection?  It is okay if it doesn't - just checking 



It is BWOF 05-2008-104, which I cut out on Friday night, sewed until the hem stage on Saturday and then hemmed it this morning before heading to my ASG's Christmas lunch.  I needed a quick sewing project after working for too many weeks on my LBD.

Ruthie so glad you felt "like you" in your festive outfit and I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

Sharon

[boppingbeth]

That is a great dress!  I'm looking forward to seeing your finished collection.

Ruthie--I love your collection so far; you look smashing in those clothes.  I also think the idea of re-purposing clothes in the same colour is inspired.  I never thought of doing that, but it is an excellent plan, particularly for the weight loss crew.   I might just adopt that idea for myself. 

[RuthieK]

Ruthie, truly, I am in awe.  But this time, I am thinking about your wardrobe (closet) space.  How on earth do you have enough room for the stacks and stacks of beautiful clothes you turn out?  Do you have a separate dressing room?

Have fun at your Christmas parties!  Oh yeah -- may I suggest a jewelled sweater/hair clip as an accessory?

Elizabeth

Well a few things I suppose
- I don't keep everything I sew. So the turquoise skirt and jacket I made for the SWAP were unflattering and went off to the charity shop. I have a regular go through my stuff and get rid of things that don't fit well. (if you went through all my PR reviews there's a lot of the old stuff I don't have anymore)
- I have a multihanger system thing that lets you hang 5 or 6 garments in the same space you would normally need for 1 or 2.
- I keep my very hot weather or very cold weather stuff elsewhere when not in season (e.g. my summer linen is in top of the clean bedding cupboard at the moment)
- I have drawers for casual tops, undies etc which are not inside the wardrobe.

But yes I probably do have too much stuff. And I do only wear a subset of it.

Having just been to put my clean laundry away I took a look in my wardrobe, and I know there are things in there which are too large, too small or I never wear becuase they are just not me - for example a grey polyester pantsuit bought becuase I thought it would be sensible for work etc.
I also have a LOT of skirts which is silly as I rarely wear skirts, even less so since my shoe styles were limited by a knee problem.
A pair of flat black knee high boots would address that for the winter though, so I probably ought to just bite the bullet and buy some.

[RuthieK]

Elizabeth, can you post a link to the original 4 season wardrobe plan you came up with?

I would like to see if I can incorporate your Spring 6 piece inside my SWAP. And as the SWAP is still not fully formed in my mind, now would be a good time.

Thanks :-)

[LauraTS]

I'm not Elizabeth, but I have it in my bookmarks:
Seasonal sewing collections:

SPRING & AUTUMN
Skirt or trousers (neutral)
3 blouses/tops (1 to match, 2 to complement)
1 Layering top/cardigan (to match skirt/trousers)
Jacket (co-ordinating neutral)

SUMMER
Dress
Skirt (accent colour)
3 blouses/tops (1 to match skirt, 2 to complement)
1 light layering top/cardigan

WINTER
Trousers (dark neutral)
2 Tops (1 to match, 1 to complement)
2 layering tops/cardigans/jackets (1 to match, 1 to complement)
Coat (dark netural)

[RuthieK]

Thank you Laura,
I am busted then as my planned jacket for Spring is orange, and that's not a neutral in anyone's book!

I am still sewing for Christmas, and despite having made I think enough tops already I have made some more in particular a matching top and cardi-wrap in black with gold flecks. Its CUTE and might actually meet some of the rules for once!

Indeed it does, a black top would 'match' the black trousers and the cardiwrap would be the 'matching' layering piece. I have used the same fabric for both, but the square neck top pic is lightened up until the square neck actually showed up.

[kbenco]

I love them both Ruthie. I am sure a smart black top and cardi wrap could not possibly fall into the too-many-tops category. I do fancy a cardiwrap. However, I would expire from heat exhaustion if I even thought about one for too long at the moment. It is so hot here today.

I am of the personal and non-original opinion that a girl can never have too many frocks.
Here is a dress for my Summer 6pc. I was inspired by Ruthie (and Christmas) to make it red. I am glad the dress does not have to be  neutral, or this would be ineligible, but I am not so sure about a skirt in an accent colour, I prefer very inconspicuous colours on my lower half, unless of course the upper half is in the same colour as in a dress.



edited to fix picture link

Karen

[KathrynT]

Karen, this dress looks gorgeous on you (even with your grandma sandals on your blog).  It's a lovely line.

[Jacs]

Karen that dress is lovely - what pattern did you use?

[kbenco]

Thank you Kathryn and Jacs. I think it is a lovely slimming pattern, just what I need for Christmas cheer  .
The pattern is New Look 6630. It has apparently just gone out of print in the USA (patternreview info with line drawings)  but I think it is still available in Australia. My pattern is about 8 years old and has a slightly different envelope to the one shown on pattern review. It is a simple sheath with bust darts, + front and back waist darts.
Karen

[RuthieK]

Very, very nice!

[ejvc]

So Ruthie is your Christmas collection now finished bar the gold top? It looks super!

Karen, my idea about the summer accent skirt (and matching top) is that it gives you a chance to mess around with fun summer flowery prints etc.  Take a risk!  Treat it as a two-piece dress if you like, or put your accent colour on the waist, or whatever.  Your dress is lovely.

Sharon -- is there a reason the dress wouldn't qualify?  I can't think of one.  It looks great on you.

I am excited because I just got my Vogue patterns from their super online sale.  But I still don't have any time to sew. Nose to grindstone, me.  I take heart in the thought that Ruthie can finish 10 garments in a month so there is still hope for me.

If anyone is actually planning a winter coat, let me recommend the vlogs on Blog for Better Sewing -- she's making a nice coat and doing videos about the process.

[RuthieK]

So Ruthie is your Christmas collection now finished bar the gold top? It looks super!

Thank you :-)
No I want to do the gold top and a cord skirt with red and gold embroidery and a few sequins and then I'll be done. The skirt is cut out but apparently needs the sequins removing from the seam allowances and I have not quite got to that. Then I am away with work Tuesday and Wednesday (so no sewing).
I am off work today but am supposed to be buying Christmas presents and then meeting my friend for lunch and the afternoon, plus really must clean the house a bit so no sewing until maybe the evening.

Christmas Collection so far
Red slinky top - top 1
Red kimono sleeve top - top 2
Red upcycled cardigan jacket - layer 1
Black trousers - bottom 1
Black square neck top - top 3
Black cardiwrap - layer 2

to come
Black skirt - bottom 2
Gold blouse - top 4

I have given up on a coat or the red fur jacket for now.

[Sharon]

Karen, great dress and it looks very festive.

Ruthie, your Christmas collection is looking so versatile.

Thank you Elizabeth, I wasn't sure as the dress was patterned. 

Now I'm trying to get my head around this, I feel rather    If my skirt is to be an accent colour I do have this linen I purchased from Spotlight a month ago



that I was going to make a skirt out of which has a very dark brown base with coffee, cream, and an accent colour of fiesta/red. Not sure if I could see a top out of it as well?  Then I was going to make two tops to compliment it in a cream and coffee colour.  Am I heading in the right direction?

Sharon

[Lisanne]

re seasonal collections :
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the general idea is to sew 6 (or even 3) garments a season, which will build up into a complete wardrobe, and you can do it to your own style.

As I understand it, Elizabeth's suggestions for specific garments and colours are carefully and cleverly thought out so you would end up with the best possible number of co-ordinating combinations  - but you don't get banned from Stitcher's Guild if you don't actually follow them and make your own choice of garments and colours instead  

Personally I would be very pleased if I could make a mini-capsule in each season, consisting of : 1  bottom, 1 top, 1  layering top.

Over the year that would build up into Janet Wallach's 'Working Wardrobe' of :  4  bottoms, 4  tops, 4  layering pieces  (+ coat)

That would have a major impact on the current parlous state of my closet.  So I  think it would follow the spirit, though not the letter !,  of Elizabeth's original idea.

[ejvc]

Heck, even I don't follow the letter of the original plan.  Irritating, but true.  Thank you for your endorsement though Lisanne. 

Ruthie, the collection is great.  The two you have coming are kind of bonus items really!  Regarding the spring collection/SWAP -- the reason I put a neutral as a jacket is that I personally have a hard time wearing so much accent colour -- I think an orange jacket would wholly overwhelm me.    I remember your fab orange coat and your teal jacket and you said you didn't get much wear out of either of them, so, just a question as to whether you want to reconsider the jacket colour as you said your goal for this SWAP is no orphans in your closet.

Sharon, how about making a top in a solid red to match?  Or using red piping on a plain top?  Or a yoke of the same material?  But don't make something just for the rules -- the idea is that for summer you could have a pretty set of clothes in a slightly lighter or brighter colour than ordinarily.  I'd make red, coffee, and brown tops, with your brown dress and maybe a lacy coffee cardi.  But that's *my* style.  Whatever works for you.

[Ann]

Lisanne, I think you said it very well. I was thinking how each season can go together for me but it can't. Summers are too hot and winters are cool/cold. They really don't even relate to each other in the terms of clothes. But spring and fall can tie the two together if necessary or spring can hook onto summer, fall onto winter.

With rules that aren't as firm as a SWAP, a person has the leeway to be able to sew what they need and want in terms of embellishments, style, and pieces. And I think the rules are more relaxed - don't need a jacket don't do it. Don't want a neutral jacket then do a bright one. SWAP has its place and I really want to do it one day but will be starting off with a 6 PAC or WIAW. That is to warm me up to garment sewing and get some TNTs.

Sharon, I like your fabric for a skirt and both the shirts will work. If you want, add piping out of the print to tie it in or not. It depends on what you want. If you add a plain skirt of one of the colours (cream) the shirt would tie in. If you want to wear it with another colourway, it might not with skirt fabric piping.

Karen, I really like the dress. I wish I could wear one like that for Christmas but it won't happen. I would have to have a sweater or bolero on top of it. Too cold for sleeveless.

Ruthie, your Christmas clothing is really coming together. I can hardly wait to see them all together with the gold blouse.

Ann

[ejvc]

Allow me to expand a little on the concept again (I do this from time to time...)

If we have the following formula and let's say four colours: black, grey (charcoal to silver), plum (in shades) and lemon yellow.  Then let's imagine:

SPRING
Skirt or trousers (neutral) ---> a charcoal skirt
3 blouses/tops (1 to match, 2 to complement) ---> a pale grey top, a lemon silk top, and a plum print knit top
1 Layering top/cardigan (to match skirt/trousers)  ---> a charcoal chiffon top
Jacket (co-ordinating neutral)  ---> a black jacket

SUMMER
Dress (accent colour)  --> a lemon dress
Skirt -- a plum skirt
3 blouses/tops (1 to match skirt, 2 to complement) -- a pink blouse, a plum blouse, and a grey blouse
1 light layering top/cardigan -- a plum vest/waistcoat

AUTUMN
Skirt/trousers (neutral) -- grey flannel trousers
3 blouses/tops (1 to match, 2 to complement) -- a silver short-sleeved knit, a pink-and-grey print, and a black silk bow-tie blouse
Jacket (co-ordinating neutral) -- a grey plaid jacket

WINTER
Trousers (dark neutral)  -- black trousers
2 Tops (1 to match, 1 to complement) -- a black knit shell, a grey knit shell
2 layering tops/cardigans/jackets (1 to match, 1 to complement) -- a black knit cardigan, a grey waistcoat
Coat (dark netural) -- a black and grey heathered wool coat

At the end of the year, this imaginary person would have a core wardrobe of:
Bottoms: black trousers, grey flannel trousers, a charcoal skirt and a plum skirt
Dress: A lemon dress
Tops: a black knit shell, a black silk bow-tie blouse, a grey knit shell, a pale grey top, a silver short-sleeved knit top, a dark grey blouse, a lemon silk top, a plum print knit top, a pink blouse, a plum blouse, and a pink-and-grey print top   
Second layers: a black jacket, a plum waistcoat, a black knit cardigan, a grey plaid jacket and a grey waistcoat
Coat: a black and grey heathered wool coat

Add some black boots, black flats, and lemon strappy sandals and you're there.

Elizabeth

[kitnrose]

Elizabeth, that sounds like a lovely, chic wardrobe - and great incentive to sticking with the small chunks of seasonal sewing. 

My take on having a coordinating full-year wardrobe - yes, your winter stuff isn't a staple of your summer closet and vice-versa but it's great to have them coordinating so that you can grab that nice wrap if you're on your way to some place that believes that the AC should be at full blast (which, in TX at least, is any place that HAS an AC.) or summer pieces that you can layer under your winter stuff come a cold snap.  I'm in an interesting position as we're doing one winter in Wisconsin in between years in TX so it's just seemed silly to go buy a full winter wardrobe for just the one season.  So summer and tx winter stuff (which counts as fall/spring stuff anywhere else) get layered for warmth and it works.  At lease so far.  So having a coordinated wardrobe (which I'm still working on) means the layers play well together and I don't look too homeless. 

Anyway, my take. 

As for my progress, I've gotten my bottom piece done!  I need to upload pics and all that to show it off - but it's great to have a new skirt in the closet.    I've been wearing it every other day, including the day after our first winter storm hit, and with double layered stockings it's actually warmer than most of my pants.  Or rather the stockings are ... the skirt was, admittedly, not doing all that much warming.  But it looks good with the stockings so that's gotta count.    I've got two tops in progress as I figure out the neckline of one and sleeves of the other but it'll all have to wait until after Christmas - I've got presents to finish!

[marciae]

I'm following along this thread and waffling back and forth!!  I am going to make 6 SW pieces - hope to finish them in time for our AZ trip - then I'll wear them in the spring when the weather warms.  I'd love to make a coat -  V1128 - the Anne Klein - I did a search on pattern R and didn't come up with anything.  I also likethe looks of the top!!

Ruthie your x-mas outfts are amazing - I'm just about finished with 3 pieces!! - - and that's all!!