Sewing With A Plan

Five years ago I read an article (sewing with a plan) written by Judy Culshaw from Timmel fabrics. Last summer I bought a copy of stitches magazine at Borders’ book store. There it was another article about sewing with a plan in my favorite colors black and white. All of a sudden I remembered Judy Culshaw’s article and went to her website and to my surprise the sewing community has embrace the concept of SWAP.

I found so many wonderful blogs and sewers whom were participating in SWAPs and documenting their progress. I decided that I would never sew or buy orphan clothing anymore, everything had to fit into a plan.

I gained 25 pounds over a five year period and I decided to loose the weight in May 2006. So far I lost 20 pounds and I am 3 sizes smaller.
I am giving myself a new wardrobe for my effort. Loosing the weight has improved my overall feeling of well being.

The internet sewing family has inspired me to get back into the sewing arena. I spent the past five months re-organizing my sewing laboratory (basement), examining my extensive fabric collection ( I mean very extensive, how about 20 years of collecting), patterns and a great sewing library. Lastly, I own a large collection of sewing articles and fashion styles that I have file in several binders.

Now, I am ready to start my SWAP. The styles below are my inspiration

Here is my fabric selection

In the swap article phase one consisted of 11pieces, 2-pants, 2 skirts solid/print, 2 simple tops solid/print, 4 tops in colors to coordinate the solid/print pieces and one cardigan.

Phase 1 of my swap will consist of probable 4 skirts, one in each fabric. I drafted my skirt sloper and here is skirt #1

This skirt was made with two darts in the front and back. An invisible zipper was inserted into the center back. The selvage of the fabric was cut and added to the waistline to prevent the waist from stretching. I sewed the lining separately and I used the serger to clean-up all the raw edges of the skirt and the lining prior to attaching the lining to the skirt. A self faced waistband was interfaced, the hem of the waistband was sergered and it was sewed to waist of the skirt. I hem the skirt using black thread and decorative zigzag. I bought a nice pair of wedge heel shoes and a pair of black boots.