Haven't I Sewn You Somewhere Before?

[hrj]

 I've been doing some sewing lately. Since I'm not doing any costuming currently, this is everyday clothes. Work clothes. Clothes that stave off that moment when I'm packing for a convention and I'm staring at my closest wailing "I hate everything I own!"

Back around the beginning of the year I had a fit of pique...or maybe a pique of fit about the long-term staple jeans brand and I decided to experiment with a new default look: leggings and tunics. This is a bit trickier to pull off as an office wardrobe than jeans + whatever, but I'm figuring that once you're past 60 you can get away with being a touch eccentric. And I knew what sorts of looks I liked in terms of fit and neckline, so to some extent it was just a matter of making the same sort of thing bit a bit longer.

I have several basic go-to patterns for tops. Your basic knit t-shirt pattern. Your basic knit t-shirt pattern with a drape neck. Your basic knit t-shirt pattern with a cowl neck. (Sensing a pattern here?) And a raglan-sleeve pattern for woven fabric cut on the bias. They're not fussy, they're not fidgety, and they can be cut out and sewn in a couple of hours. There is a certain potential for embellishment, but I usually lean towards solid colors in relatively saturated versions of anything but the yellow-orange range in natural fibers. I'm especially fond of plum, burgundy, darker greens, and some of the more purply reds. The bias-cut model is fun to do in prints as long as they aren't strongly directional.

My modus operandi for the last decade or so has been to yell "I hate my wardrobe" about a week before I was going to an event, pick up some fabric and swear I'd toss off some new clothes, and then get too busy to do anything about it. But the New Look required actual sewing. So in a spurt of inspiration, I went off to the fabric store and picked up some nice medium-weight knits in plum, dark green, burgundy, and black. The proof-of-concept projects came out well, with a few adjustments of detail. So now I'm taking advantage of having a couple clear weekends before Worldcon to plump up the wardrobe a little.

So I knew I had some fabric stashed away from previous fits of ambition and figured there was no need to go shopping this time. I started pulling out stacks and bags of stash from the sewing cabinet and found...

5 lengths in the plum-burgundy range
3 lengths in the dark green range
plus a few more daring items (palish lilac, rust-brown, a couple of woven-in patterns in blues)

It's the "5 lengths in the plum-burgundy range" that inspired this blog's title. I definitely have a type. Unfortunately, some of the knits were bought thinking of a tucked-in blouse length and are a bit too light-weight to work well as a tunic. (I know, because I've done a couple in that weight and while they're ok, they're not optimal.)

I've cut out 5 outfits to sew today and figure that will stave off the "I hate my wardrobe" moment. I've also learned to make sure the necklines are the right depth for the jewelry I like to wear at conventions. I haven't quite carried through on my pledge to sew some outfits specifically designed to show off particular pieces of jewelry, but I think I'll manage somehow.

Comments

[kareina]

For those lightweight knit, do you have two of the same weight that look well together such that you could do some simple applique design with one upon the other to make them a bit heavier overall to function as a good tunic length?

It is funny you mention wanting to go with this look, since I have been wanting more tunic length shirts to wear with my favourite merino wool leggings. I just haven't been motivated to do any modern sewing as I am so behind of costume sewing.

[hrj]

The main problem with the lightweight knits is that they get a bit clingy to the body in places where I want them to be drapey instead. I may play around with doing some more creative fabric manipulation, but at the moment I need to go with sure things.

[kareina]

It might amuse you to hear that I woke up inspired, looked in the mending closet, found a blue t-shirt with collar and a few buttons that is too small for David, but is a nice colour so we set it aside in case ever wanted to take it in to fit me, and a black ribbed-knit sweater that wound up there because it mending in the armpit seams. Neither was long enough for tunic length on its own, but the colours looked good together, so I spent the day cutting them into strategic pieces and basting them together, and it looks like it is going to work.

As soon as I finish the real seams I will have a knit tunic length mostly sleeveless shirt with a black waist and black shoulder caps, plus some matching long-sleeved black arm warmers with blue wrist cuffs (the original cuffs were in bad repair). Hand sewn with decorative red stitching on the outside of the seams.

If I am very lucky it will come together nice enough for my interview next month. If not I will have to come up with another plan, but this is the first plan I have come up with at all, so it is worth trying.

Thanks for the inspiration!

[catherineldf]

I look forward to seeing the results!

[hrj]

So do I! I'm something of a "pantser" (as it were) when it comes to sewing projects. Or maybe a better analogy is I sew like I cook: take a familiar basic recipe and modify it on the fly. Sometimes it works really well; most of the time it's definitely ok; every once in a while it ends up in the rag bag after one wearing.

[jacey]

Oh, great, you're coming to Worldcon again. Hope to run into you there and see the results of your sewing spree. I solve the fashion problem by not subscribing to it. I wear what I'm comfortable in, and yes, I prefer the eccentric look. I have some ethnic-y stuff that's probably 20 years old, but I can still get away with it because it was never fashionable in the first place! :-)

[hrj]

I don't do fashion-fashion, but I enjoy "playing dress-up" at conventions where my sometimes eclectic choices fit in. Also, I'm kind of addicted to cool necklaces (which are only really practical to wear in dress-up conditions) and want to set them off properly. For my day job, the base-line is "if the FDA auditors walk in the door, am I presentable?"