summer Archives - Page 2 of 2

Haveing identified various gaps in my Summer project 333 capsule wardrobe I’ve been sewing items to fill the gaps! I started of with a new pair of shorts. Today I wanted to show you my first make using the Sew Serendipity: Fresh and Pretty Designs to Make and Wear book.

I started with one of the tunic designs. The book gives you a basic design and then various options based on the design. I loved the way these designs allow you to mix and match fabrics in various ways. I used two makower quilting cottons and this means the top matches my new shorts and will fit in perfectly with my capsule.

As someone fairly new to sewing I loved the detailed instructions and the resultant finishes. Mant of the seams are top and/or edgestitched and I though this really took my garments to the next level- I feel they look a lot more professional with these types of finishes.
This is the band at the bottom of the tunic and the sleeves.

I bought a Snap-on 1/4-inch Seam Footfor my Elna. At only a fiver it has been so useful for producing neater topstitching and I used it on the bottom band of the tunic to get nice spacing!You butt the black guide up against the seam or hem and the sewing is then 1/4 inch from the guide.

A view at an angle shows it is quite fitted and hopefully you agree it looks good with the shorts!!

I haven’t done the best job of getting it on the dress form as my wrists were hurting at the time- it sits a little smoother on me.

Other posts in my sewing for summer project 333 series
Shorts 1
Skirt 1
Top 2

Project 333 uses the idea of having a 33 item capsule wardrobe which you swap out every 3 month. I’ve found this a great challenge to do. I like the fact that every 3 months I get to shop my wardrobe to put together a new 33 capsule wardrobe for the next season. Then I find it very freeing only having 33 items in the bedroom closet to choose from. It makes life so much easier. I don’t tend to include accessories, underwear and shoes- I don’t often wear accessories or loads of different shoes anyway.

Over the last couple of years I have been teaching myself to sew with books and You Tube videos. I’ve finally got to the stage where I can sew clothes I’ll be happy to go out in! This means I can now start to sew my capsule wardrobe. Since starting the project 333 experiment I decided to only buy clothes and fabrics in specific colours which coordinate well together and I like. I decided to start sewing my summer wardrobe using quilting cottons- nice and cool for summer and the fabrics are designed to coordinate.

They contain several of the colours I had decided to focus on in my wardrobe- I like brights! Aqua, teal, pink, purple and berry are all colours I like to wear and you can see from these facrics that they feature in this range.

I wanted to start by concentrating on the pinks and purples with a few neutrals. I already have some pieces in my wardrobe which will fit into this scheme. The idea is that I’m sewing items I need to fill in the gaps. I’ll be trying to tweak my patterns so I get a good fit and can remake in different fabrics for autumn/winter.

Since this is a summer wardrobe I wanted to start with some shorts. I wanted to have an elasticated waist so they will last should I gain or lose any weight! I decided to adapt the trousers from Butterick B4238.

I traced the trouser pattern onto brown paper- shortening to the length I wanted for shorts. I used pink medallion material.

At the moment they can be worn with a pink t-shirt I already have.

Tomorrow I will hopefully be posting another top to wear with the shorts.

Achelois.co

summer

Sewing for my capsule project 333 wardrobe- top 1

Sewing a capsule wardrobe for project 333- shorts 1

Other posts in my sewing for my summer project 333