It's been a while...

Much longer than I intended but I am back trying to catch up with the huge backlog of things I have to share!

First of all I'm going to share my new season sewing plans.

We are in the process (almost there!) of turning our tiny utility room into a sewing space which is so exciting. Previously I sewed on the dining room table (our kitchen is off the dining room so there's no way to shut the door on any mess) with all my bits and pieces and fabric stuffed in a very full cupboard, so it will be great to be able to have them out. I'm sure it will double my productivity if I don't have to spend 30 minutes digging out a piece of interfacing or the right colour of zip! For this reason I haven't done much sewing for the past couple of months. All my stuff is packed away to keep the dust off it. But I have been planning!

I have had a lot of success in the past couple of years following along with the Fall Essentials Sewalong hosted by Sarah at Rhinestones and Telephones. It works well for me to plan my sewing for the season (actually why don't I do it when there's not a sewalong happening?).  So I am working along with that again.

Here's what I am planning:

Fashionable foundations for frosty weather

I wear my Maria Denmark Paula pleat skirt all the time. It's in regular rotation in my wardrobe and so I am planning another 2. I have navy baby cord and wine coloured twill washed and ready to go.

I also want to make a pair of wide legged trousers so I'll be working on the Pauline Alice Sorell trousers. I hope I can nail the fit as these are pretty much my perfect trouser pattern! I have some grey flannel type stuff in the stash for these.

Chic chemises for cool climates

I have had a breton top planned for ages and bought striped jersey in the Guthrie Ghani sale a while back. This will be massively useful in my wardrobe as my last one died last winter. I'll probably use the Renfrew pattern for this but modified to have more of a boat neck.

I am also planning another Jenna cardie  (I know I haven't shown you the previous versions yet. Stay tuned!). This will be in  teal double knit to replace a RTW one which has developed a huge mystery greasy mark on the sleeve which won't wash out.

Fabulous frocks

My cousin is getting married in October in Scotland.  I want to make a dress for it but haven't chosen a pattern yet. I have a few vintage patterns in mind. I'm looking for a red or burgundy fabric possibly polka dot, but until I find the pattern I won't be shopping for it yet.

Underneath it all

Depending on time and how many knit scraps I find when I clear out the fabric pit... er... cupboard I may make vests or knickers but I don't massively need either so they aren't a huge priority.

Tender tootsies

No socks planned. My carpal tunnel is still playing up so knitting isn't really on the cards just now.

Those cosy nights

Probably the most urgent clothing need - pyjama trousers. I have 2 pairs that are falling into holes.  Planning to use the Maria Denmark Laura lounge pants pattern again but I think I'll extend the waist up to make a drawstring closure similar to my preferred RTW ones.  I've never found ribbing of a quality that I like to make as per the pattern. I need to get fabric for these still.

Baby it's cold outside

I don't need a coat as the one i made last year is still great. But a warmish jacket would be good. I have a lust for a cape but not found fabric or pattern for it as yet.  To be honest this may not be finished by the end of the sewalong and I'm not going to stress myself out over getting it done to a deadline!

That's my plans. 8 items plus the cape, 2 sets of repeats and most from  patterns I have made before and regularly wear so not much fitting required. Other than the potential cape, all are from patterns I already own and most of the fabric is from the stash (to be honest I am getting nervous about sorting out my stash and being able to see how much I actually have - more than I think I am sure!)

Really looking forward to getting into a sewing routine again after a couple of months off. And also getting back to blogging again and showing you all what I have been making. It's good to be back!

Operation winter coat is go!

I may not have been blogging too much due to work and general life busy-ness, but I have been sewing and planning quite a bit!

The big project I am working on is a winter coat.

I was looking for a fairly simple shape with a collar and some waist shaping and I picked up this great 1960s pattern on Etsy:

It has lovely princess seams running to the waist with welt pockets at the bottom, bound buttonholes and is fully lined.

I knew I was going to have to buy fabric online for it as my local fabric shop just doesn't stock great quality coating. The fabric I used for my Anise really hasn't held up well which is frustrating when you think of all the work that goes into a coat (especially one with welt pockets and bound buttonholes!). After much perusing of online fabric shops (it's a dirty job...) I ordered a stack of swatches from Stone Fabrics. They have a great selection of coatings and I have read good things about their quality. You have to call up and order but they were very helpful and got my order out really quickly - they're not paying me to recommend them BTW, I just like to give praise where it's due!

I ordered this wool mix coating (90% wool but not scratchy - 100% wool rarely works on my skin). A good tip I found was to keep rubbing the swatches together over a few days to see how they might hold up to wear. I actually rejected my original choice after it went a bit fluffy when I did this so hopefully I have chosen one that will wear well!

The lining is also from Stone Fabrics and it's viscose acetate in a beautiful peacock blue - the picture really does not do the colour justice.

As ever, I asked for advice on twitter for interfacing and the ever helpful Anne from Mercury Handmade recommended Speed Tailoring from Gill Arnold as she uses it in all her coats. This stuff is ideal for stabilising an open weave and is beautifully soft.

For buttons, I bought huge 1960s style ones from John  Lewis. I hope they don't look stupidly big on as I'll have to do the bound buttonholes first!

I think you'll be getting quite a lot of in progress posts on this as coats take such a long time. Wish me luck!

Wardrobe Architect Week 10 - The Capsule Palette

I have especially loved the colour challenges on Wardrobe Architect.  I find colour much easier to define than shape or silhouette.  The week's challenge was to narrow down our overall palettes into what we will focus on this season (Spring/ Summer for me).  You can read the post on the Colette blog here.

Based on my palettes, which I blogged about here and here, these are my chosen colours:

Neutrals:

I have bought quite a few fabrics with navy backgrounds recently so this works really well!

Nearly Neutrals:

These are no brainers for me - I have lots of both in my wardrobe and the red fits in well with my recently completed Mad Men dress.  It made me feel so happy when I was making it too - proof that colour really does lift your mood!

Statement colours:

No surprises here for me - lots of blues and turquoises with purple thrown in to shake it up a bit!


So here's my Spring/ Summer Palette - I would say it's pretty true to my wardrobe and my usual palette for the summer.  I'm also glad to say that most of my stash fits in well with it!

Sorry about the terrible graphics!  I really need to improve in that area - can anyone recommend a course or some online tutorials for a non-arty person like me?  What software do you use?


Have you done a colour palette for the season? Link me up in the comments!

Wardrobe Architect Week 4 - Silhouettes

Wardrobe Architect Silhouettes by sewlittletime on polyvore.com

I had a lot of fun with this one!  I put together the above collages really quickly as I had already spent time thinking about my preferred shapes and had gathered quite a lot of inspiration on my Happy Wardrobe Pinterest board.

All of this thinking since starting Happy Wardrobe led me to the realisation that I really do love to wear dresses of all kinds.  There's a place in my wardrobe for casual knit dresses, long and short sleeved woven dresses and shirt dresses.  What they all have in common is a fitted bodice and a flared skirt.  I like the same overall shape when it comes to skirts - a fitted top and flared skirt (also a-line shapes).

For trousers, I am giving up the skinnies!  I feel much more comfortable in wide leg or bootcut/ flared trousers, again with a fitted top.  I do love slim cropped trousers in the summer though.

I love boat necks and peter pan collars, but I also wear scoop necks and v necks.  Slim fitting cardigans are an important part of my wardrobe - I have so many cardigans that I have a filing system for them!  Once my carpal tunnel improves I need to get knitting the Miette I have planned in my head.

The clothes that get the most wear in our generally fairly rainy and grey climate are ones that can be worn or without tights (and tights save on the fake tan for my pasty pins!), so unless it's a very summery item, i often steer clear of the lightest colours.

And definitely no heels!  I have heels but rarely wear them unless it's to a formal event.  I'm tall so don't need the extra height, and frankly can't be bothered.  They don't do well with my walking pace or lifestyle.  Flat boots, brogues, ballet pumps or flat sandals it is! (and based on the collages above I need a pair of red ballet flats - you can never have too many pairs of red shoes).

How did you find this week's exercise?  Was it easy or hard to distill your style into a few silhouettes?

Wardrobe Architect - Week 2

Oh I am behind!  It's been a crazy week and I've only just got around to blogging last week's Wardrobe Architect and now the next one has just been posted!

The Husband has been away for work, throwing all of our precarious childcare arrangements into disarray, so I've been working through lunchtimes (when I usually blog) so I can leave early or come in late.  Thanks goodness he is back today!

So on to Wardrobe Architect week 2!

This week is about identifying words that describe how we feel about our style and ourselves and attach images to them.

When you are wearing your favourite clothing, how do you feel?

 Confident, slim, put together, stylish, quirky, attractive

When you are wearing something that is not quite right, how do you feel?  What are the feelings you want to avoid about the clothes you wear?

 Uncomfortable, restricted, fidgity, exposed, judged

Who do you consider to be your style icons?  What is it about them that appeals to you?

 Jane Birkin - laid back, carefree but still glamorous
Daisy Lowe (and actually Pearl Lowe too!) - mixes vintage and modern with a bit of an edge
Alexa Chung - also mixes vitage and modern with lovely detailing and cute accessories
Lou Douillon - quirky and rebellious
Karen Gillan - vintage style with a bit of a modern edge

What are some words that describe things you like in theory, but are not quite you?

 Fashionable, loose, funky, urban, minimal

Under this, I also noted that I love Audrey Hepburn and the way she dressed, but it's just not me at all.  I wouldn't suit her style.  I thought about why this was and I think it is that she had a very clear style that was totally her, and she always stuck to it.  She was always beautifully chic (of course it helps if Givenchy dress you!), wearing plain coloured, slim fitting styles that really showed off her petite figure.  So a clear style seems to me to be really important.

Looking at answers from week 1, list 15 words that you associate with your answers

 Difference, confidence, ethical, practical, standing out, focus, clear, dual purpose, work, home, child-friendly, music, slow fashion, quality, balance

Are there any words you would add to this list? What other words describe your core style?

 Vintage, modern (since these 2 are a bit contradictory I am interpreting it as mixing vintage with modern), rebellion

If you had to narrow your list to 3-5 words to describe your style what would they be?

Vintage
Modern Twist
Practical
Confident
Great accessories!

Here's my moodboard, broadly collated from my Happy Wardrobe Project Pinterest board (which you can find here if you like).  I skipped the pics of dresses on their own or on models in favour of real people or characters as I think it gives a better feel for how the looks might actually be worn.

Now onto the next task!

Wardrobe Architect - Week 1

The first task in the Wardrobe Architect project is to look at how different aspects of our lives and personalities have an influence on our personal style.  Read Sarai's full post here.

I thought I'd answer on a blog post as the ones I have read so far have been really interesting! Check out Helena and Becky's if you haven't seen them already.

History

Probably the two biggest things that have influenced my personal style were going to university and having a baby.

At school I didn't have a lot of confidence due to a bit of bullying (nothing serious but enough to make me keep my head down and not be noticed by being different). Looking back, the clothes I wore were mainly copycats of what my friends wore.  When I went to university I got into the indie music scene and started wearing clothes to look different and stand out.  It was around the time of grunge so think DMs with floral dresses, combat trousers, band tshirts, shorts/cutoffs with tights, parkas and checked flannel shirts (a la Bridget Fonda in Singles)

Source:  Projections

When I had a baby i seemed to lose my personal style all together. I suppose this started (pre-sewing) with a lack of interesting maternity clothes and ended up as a very blah wardrobe. I went back to work quite a bit heavier than before and dressed to blend in.

Philosophy

Probably the philosophy that has the most bearing on what I wear is a dislike of fast fashion. I hate the cheap and nastiness of the clothes and recent events in textile factories have really made me think about how the high street produces clothes (and not just the cheap places either). I used to just avoid the very cheapest places like supermarkets or Primark but when places like Gap or J Crew are involved with these places it's hard to know where to shop. The only low-paid sweat shop I want to wear clothes from is my own sewing space!

Culture

Source: Ayay.co.uk (this really made me laugh - that statue always wears a traffic cone!)

I grew up in the west of Scotland not far from Glasgow where there was (and still is) a very strong culture of reverse snobbery - the "who does she think she is?" effect. As a result, some people look down on people who want to look different and so a lot of people look the same.

I also find that when i go back there (my mum still lives in the town where I grew up) I see far fewer people wearing "trends" or dressing to stand out.  Probably the exception is students.

Community

Source: ourmommyhood.com (look at these glamorous mummies!)

At this stage in my life, lots of friends have at least 1 child if not more. Several don't work (and therefore have financial constraints on clothes shopping) but jeans and tees are often the order of the day.

By contrast where I work is extremely trendy. The average age is about 25 and most of the women are very slim and look great in everything.  There's no dress code so anything (including jeans) goes. 

I ddon't want to look trendy but I do want to have my own style and look.  But balancing this idea of practicality and style is very important for me.

Activities

Source:  workingmomsagainstguilt.com

As I said above, I need a wardrobe that works both for home life with 5 year old and work life in a trendy but casual office.  My main non-work activity is sewing and through that I have met lots of lovely ladies (yaay Spoolettes!) who often have a clear look and style and I think that is so important when you sew. When you can make anything in any colour I think you need a style to narrow it down and focus.

I have a small child and a limited amount of time So for that reason I need to focus on clothes that are easy to care for (hand wash means not worn in my house), that can be worn with flat shoes, and are practical for everyday life. Separates and knits are important and I have done a pretty good job of filling out my wardrobe with these this year.

Location
 

Source: map-of-uk.co.uk

I live in the south East of England.  The weather doesn't require very specific clothing although it does rain a lot so things that can be worn with boots are good - sandals tend not to be worn much! Tights are essential probably from about September to May, so the skirts and dresses that get worn the most are ones that work with and without tights. A jacket or coat is usually necessary and I tend to layer with cardigans to deal with the range of temperatures from home to outside to train to air conditioned office.

Body

Source: Clkr.com

This is a big one for me. One of the reasons my personal style fell by the wayside was weight gain. I have always gone up and down in weight. I lost 60lbs a couple of years ago and felt much better about myself. It's amazing how much more confident I feel, even speaking up in meetings etc. I have put a little bit back on which I am currently working to lose (that'll be a lifelong battle right there!).

I am coming to terms with my frame as something I can't change (obvious right?). I have a large frame with broad shoulders and hips. I am tall so it is relatively proportional.  My top half is not too bad. Since having N I carry a bit of extra weight on my stomach (I never had any extra weight there before).  If I gain it goes on my hips and thighs. My hips are fairly in proportion. My thighs are not. I definitely have what Tasia nicely calls strong thighs! My legs are ok. Wow, I managed to critique my body without being too negative - that's a first!

This has been interesting - looking forward to the next task!

Goals for 2014

It's taken me a while to work out what my goals are and I think doing the other Top 5s first really helped me work things through in my head (which is probably the point - clever Gillian! )

1) The Happy Wardrobe Project - Getting a better idea of my personal style

I'm a bit of a schizophrenic dresser. There's no dress code at work so anything from jeans to dresses goes. I have a smallish child so unlikely to start wearing heels and smart clothes at the weekends. I love a vintage look (anywhere from 50s to 70s) but given my lack of interest in ironing I won't be wearing blouses everyday! But I want to look good and put together and to get back to a personal style. I used to have one before I had N and convenience/ low maintenance clothes become more important! 

So my plan is to snap a pic (probably a phone/mirror pic) each morning and consider how I felt and looked in the outfit. Was I happy to choose it or was it a desperation choice on an "I have no clothes" day?  I'm also going to note down if there's something I wanted to wear but had nothing to go with it - for example I know I have one navy tee and lots of bottoms I wear it with so if it's in the wash it stops me wearing other things.

I am planning to do this for a couple of months in colder weather (now) and again in the summer as I know I will find major differences.  I won't blog about it all the time, but will maybe do a monthly round up/ learnings.  I think it will really help plan my sewing which is another thing that worked well for me this year.

I really like my colour palettes so will continue to use those which will hopefully cut down the orphans. I am also intending to start some new pinboards with inspiration outfits - maybe I'll even make some copycat outfits!

As was writing this, I remembered a post that Tilly wrote about finding your personal style which I really liked and I guess some aspects of the plan above I have remembered and taken from this. If personal style is a consideration for you this year, you can read it here.

2) Find my TNTs

I love the speediness of sewing repeats - they really work for my time-strapped life!  I am hoping that the plan above will allow me to find what my happy clothes/ styles are and make more of them!  It will also allow me to evaluate new patterns and decide if they are right for me or destined to sit in the pattern box, and find fabrics that work for the sort of clothes I want to make and wear.  I made quite a few this year - loads of Cake (as documented on my hits post), 2 Kelly skirts (only 1 blogged so far!), and 2 Renfrews.

3) Learn new skills

Doesn't everyone have this on their list? I don't want to get stuck in a rut as an OK sewist who still makes loads of mistakes.  As I'm totally self/blog taught I'm sure I make loads of basic errors in sewing and fitting.   For example I can bind a seam but it just doesn't look as neat and pretty as it could (as you'll see if you look closely at the construction pics from my Blue Christmas dress!).  I really want to take an intermediate dressmaking class as I think it would really help me to improve. I'm going to look for a class and find the time to take it. If i can't I will take some Craftsy classes.

4) Use better fabrics

As a beginner sewist I was scared of spending money on fabric in case i messed it up, and as a result some earlier makes haven't stood the test of time - fabrics going bobbly, interfacing wrinkly, colours fading. I want to change this in 2014.

The Minerva Blogger Network allows me to try out fabrics that are perhaps more expensive than i would previously have chosen and I can really see the difference with these nicer fabrics (can't wait to show you my next few makes that I've just received my fabric picks for!). I'm never going to have an unlimited fabric budget but if I know a garment will be finished, will fit well and be worn, I can spend at least what a RTW garment would have cost.  So if a RTW high street dress costs £30-40 (not unreasonable) I could potentially spend £10-15 a metre on fabric plus notions (we all know factoring in a cost for our time spent making won't work!).  Also it's a hobby budget as well as a clothing budget.  Sounds like I can buy some more fabric then!

5) Make trousers

Source: Colette patterns, Butterick, Named

 If you have read my other top 5 posts this will come as no surprise at all. I planned to do it last year and am determined to conquer them this year! I'll be going back to my Juniper muslin and tracing out the bigger size probably in February.  I'd also like to make Named Jamie jeans and Gertie for Butterick capris.  Lena from the Sewing Space has been teasing us with sneak peeks of her new trouser pattern too and it looks great!  I'd really like to take the Seamless pledge but while there is still a big part of my wardrobe I don't make I don't see how it will work.


I do have a 6th thing (yes, I know it's supposed to be 5, but it's my blog, my rules, right?) and it's probably the most important thing of all. To be kind to myself.  I have a busy life, small child, full time job, long commute and a big hobby.  If I blog less often as a result, or take time off from sewing to do other things, I am not going to beat myself up about it.  As long as everyone is fed, wearing clean clothes and happy, the world won't end if I don't have anything to blog about for a week or two.  Or if I don't clean the kitchen floor (#sewdontclean).

Here's to 2014 and a great sewing, blogging and generally being healthy and having fun year for everyone, whether we fulfil all our goals or not!

Reflections on 2013

Happy New Year to you all!

I am really enjoying all of these top 5 posts but you guys are blogging too much!  My reader is overflowing!  I think I am all caught up now though, and seeing some great top 5s that have really made me think (and actually possibly re-evaluate a few items on my lists).

1) A pat on the back

Gratuitous pugs!

I think I did really well this year.  My sewing came on leaps and bounds.  I can now put on a Me Made garment most days with little effort, and I buy very little RTW any more (except for jeans - more to come on that!).  I worked hard on fitting and it really paid off - with a little help from my friends - which leads me on nicely to:

2) Sewing people really are the nicest people you could meet/ chat to

2013 was a tough year for me personally.  I lost a close family member and another was diagnosed with a serious illness (which is likely to make 2014 another difficult one).  But I really think sewing, sewcial media, bloggers and sewing friends helped me through it (without wishing to take away any credit from family and non-sewing friends of course!).  Sometimes it's just great to have an escape from reality and chat to other people who are as excited about the latest indie pattern release or fabric sale as me!

I joined Twitter (@jolittletime if you tweet too!) after resisting for a long time and found a fantastic sewing community on there.

I went to the epic blogger meet up and met some fabulous people and starting following lots of new blogs.

I started meeting the Spoolettes as regularly as I can (given family commitments that's not as often as I would like!).  What a great group of ladies that are excellent fun to spend time with, whether drinking, dancing, bowling or fabric shopping!

3) I sewed (mainly) for the life I have

Particpating in Me Made May showed me that my wardrobe needed plain separates and knits and I focused on sewing those.  I know a lot of people don't like to sew basics, but there's only so many party dresses and summer frocks my lifestyle calls for, especially in a country when the sun shines for about a month of the year.  I love (and wear) dresses quite a lot, but I'm likely to grab a comfy knit one to throw on for work and I have sewn a lot of those this year!  But we all need a bit of frosting from time to time - however I want to make what I wear most often.  I also sewed much more with plains (and I'm including spots and stripes in plains - they are practically neutrals) which I have enjoyed more than I expected.  It's good to be able to see nice design lines and focus on the fit rather than hiding behind a print as I did when I started (all those lovely printed cottons...)

4) I really need to conquer trousers

I wear jeans and trousers a lot, especially in winter and it's a huge gap in my me-made wardrobe.  As mentioned in my Hits & Misses post I traced Colette patterns Juniper in my usual size following Sunni's trouser sewalong, added extra seam allowances, thread traced every seam, and threw the muslin in the sewing box to think about what it had done when it didn't remotely fit. It hasn't come back out yet but it will this year! I also want some me made jeans.

5) Sewing with a plan works well for me

I'm quite a planner by nature, but I do have a tendency to get distracted by newer shinier things (squirrel!) like new pattern releases, sewalongs, sewing challenges, competitions etc.  I have made a conscious effort only to take part in these if I would have done it anyway!  If I have bought a new Cake pattern and there's a sewalong, then I will plan to join.  If the Sewcialists are doing Red October, I will join in as I love red.  Green December not so much.  I didn't love the Laurel pattern and realistically I don't think the shape will work for my shape, so I was proud of resisting the competition.

The sewalong that worked really well for me was the Fall Essentials sewalong.  I planned out the garments I wanted to make within a colour palette I love and so I could make sure I had all the notions, zips, thread, buttons etc that normally hold me up on finishing a project.  I mainly sew in the evenings so rushing to the shop for more thread isn't going to happen!  I made so many more projects in that 2 month period than I ever expected so a big thumbs up for planning sewing!

Inspirations and goals posts coming up soon!

Fall essentials sewalong recap

Well I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself! I had ambitious plans for the Fall Essentials Sewalong hosted by the lovely Sarah from Rhinestones and Telephones and I'm really happy with how much I got done. I didn't expect to get everything done as my list was my whole season sewing list, but it was a great start!

As a reminder, the sewalong was a very loose way of organising your autumn winter sewing under different headings. There was a Flickr group where we could get to know the other bloggers participating and I found some great new blogs to follow. You can see my planning post here.

Here's how I did:

 

Fashionable Foundations for Frosty Weather

I planned 3 skirts and a pair of trousers. I managed:

Teal corduroy Kelly skirt - I answered to call for pattern testers for Maria Denmark's new Paula skirt pattern and made this instead

A bonus Burgundy Kelly skirt - this was my first minerva make

Hummingbird Flounce version

Gertie pencil skirt - not yet started

Colette junipers - not started (unless you count last year's disastrous muslin which is lying in the bottom of my sewing box! )

So 3 skirts, no trousers!

Chic Chemises:

I planned to make 2 tops

Black cowl neck Renfrew - completed

Blue marl round neck Renfrew - completed

I also knitted a cardigan (not yet blogged). It is Andi Satterlund Hetty

Fabulous Frocks

I planned to make 4 dresses:

A winter Anna - Completed

A.teal simplicity 1882 - the bowling dress - completed

A cake patterns red velvet - I actually made 3! (one still to be properly photographed and blogged)

Colette Hawthorn in black wool - not yet done

So I made 5 (although one from the list still remains to be done)

Underneath It All

I planned and made 2 underskirts using Gerties tutorial

I didn't get started on the vests and knickers but I have fold over elastic purchased and plenty of knit scraps!

Baby It's Cold Outside

I planned to make the Cake Patterns Carmine jacket but the pattern hasn't been released yet.  I have the fabric and it's still planned!

Cosy Nights

I thought I might make pyjama trousers

I made one pair of Maria Denmark Laura lounge pants (the second are in the making)

Tender Tootsies

I didn't plan to make any socks

I think this is pretty good especially since I was away for a week in the middle! I am loving my new me made wardrobe and using a colour palette means it is really easy to find things that match!  I planned 12 items (which was never going to happen in a 2 month period!) plus some maybes of undies and PJs.  I actually made 9 and got underskirts, PJs and a knitting project finished.
 

I think the amount I got done was definitely due to the advance planning. It meant I bought all the notions - zips, thread, buttons etc in advance so I didn't get held up at the end. I got organised with pre washing the fabric and I didn't need to think about the next project - I just finished one and got on with the next. I think I'll do a bit of spontaneous sewing once I get to the end of this list though, but it is nice to do both!

Do you plan your makes or do you pick the next one on a whim? Do you sew for the season?  Did you get involved in FESA?  If you link me to your blog so I can see how you did!