Seasonal Sew Wardrobe: Deep Stash Challenge

At the start of this year I joined in a sewing challenge with the Sew Alongs & Sewing Contests facebook group. This challenge was to sew an 8 piece capsule wardrobe using only patterns from stash – even better if the fabric was also from stash. After having a bit of a rummage through my vast collection of patterns – both paper and pdf – and fabric, I came up with a plan for three bottoms, two tops, two jackets and one dress. All were using patterns that I had before the challenge started – and I also had all of the fabric on hand too!

Here is a brief summary of by eight items, six of these I have previously posted about.

1. Dress Pants. The pattern is from Ottobre Design Magazine issue 2/2014. I finished this one early and shared the details in a blog post in January. These pants include my first ever successful zippered fly!

2. Knit Skirt. This pattern is the Jade Skirt by Paprika Patterns. You can read all about the details of this skirt in this blog post, this was my first ever giveaway on this blog!

3. Pencil Skirt. I used the Pleated Pencil Skirt by Delia Creates. I haven’t blogged about this skirt, but it appeared worn with my Sointu Kimono Top. I originally made a toile of this skirt, and it was terrible! It was tight where it should have been loose and loose where it should have been tight, so it lay crumpled in a heap for a while as I was a bit stumped as to what exactly I needed to do with it – note that I don’t think this is a problem with the pattern, I think that it is more to do with the fact that we are all shaped differently and this pattern is not really suited to my shape.

Then at the end of February I took some pattern drafting classes and came away from those with a skirt block that fit me perfectly, so I worked on this pencil skirt, using my skirt block plus the pleated detail of Delia’s pattern. I am happy with the finished product. This was the first time that I had successfully altered an ill-fitting pattern to fit my body!

4. Flutter Sleeve Blouse. I used a vintage 1980s pattern by Butterick for this blouse, and this one has become a favourite, I love wearing it. I shared a blog post about this blouse as part of the Watcha Wearing’ January blog tour. Making this blouse helped me to re-discover my waist – I thought it had gone forever!

5. Cowl Neck Top. This is the Miss Maggie Top pattern by 1 Puddle Lane and this has become another favourite – the fabric (from Kmart!) is pretty and fun, the style is really flattering and goes with everything too. You can read more about this one in my blog post about it.

6. Woven Jacket. I really love this jacket, made from another vintage 1980s Butterick pattern. I have since made the dress from the same pattern envelope (I will share that one soon). This one helped me to overcome some body issues that I had been holding onto, I blogged all about that too.

7. Mock-wrap Dress. This is the Akinori Kimono Dress by Wardrobe by Me. I haven’t worn this dress as much as I thought I would, I suspect that is because the fabric creases a lot, and I don’t really like ironing! But I really like the fabric, so I think I will try to wear this one a bit more. I shared this one in January, also as part of the Watcha Wearin’ January blog tour.

8. Knit Cardi. For this I used the Ginger Dress pattern by George & Ginger. A sew-along for a hack of this pattern to turn it into a cardi/jacket was held early in the year, and I joined in, which was really fun. For the fabric I used the remaining piece of the knit from my Jade Skirt, and some crushed velvet that I have been hoarding for probably close to fifteen years! I was really glad to finally cut into it.

In Conclusion

This was a great sew-along – I managed to clear some clutter, and it motivated me to try some new things and I’ve actually got a lot out of it…and not just clothes! In doing this challenge I re-evaluated my body image, joined in on a couple of sew-alongs, joined in a couple of blog tours and achieved a few personal firsts. I’m looking forward to joining in on the next challenge too!