Haven't I Sewn You Somewhere Before?

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 20:06:47 GMT

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.

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hrj

Haven't I Sewn You Somewhere Before?