Planning

This is the second planning window this year, and I've already got to admit failure. I didn't get much of anything done from my list in the last two weeks. In my defense, work was the culprit and I can't control that. Until I find a long-lost uncle with millions of dollars who will let me retire and do nothing but sew, I'm afraid I have to keep the work folks happy. In any case, the point of planning, as far as I can tell, is to change it as soon as possible. 😉

  • For the next window, I'm going to keep the Sunny Dress hack. I've got it all cut out, just need to assemble. Easier said than done as it's got bias tape lattice design elements.

    Sunny Dress Hack Sketch
    Sunny Dress Hack Sketch
  • I'm also keeping the goal to complete the Seamwork York WIP. It shouldn't take too long, so I want to get it done.
  • I'm going to remove the Shelley leggings from this window's goals. I bought the new Avery leggings pattern from Helen's Closet and will be sewing those up soon, although not this window.

    Avery Leggings - Helen's Closet
    Avery Leggings - Helen's Closet
  • I also bought the Blackwood Cardigan from Helen's Closet and beautiful navy floral DBP, so I'm adding that to the list.

    Blackwood Cardigan
    Blackwood Cardigan

That will probably fill my time, but if I do have extra time, I'll fill it with practicing pattern drafting. Nothing too specific, just practicing drafting for me and draping for the half mannequin.

Off I go!

My first plan of what two sew over the course of two weeks has gone well, somewhat to my surprise. Historically, I've not been great at making a plan and executing it, as I get distracted along the way. By breaking it up into only a two week plan, it's a lot easier to stay focused as I can tell myself that I'll get to decide on my next project very soon.

 Updates

1. Made a muslin version of the Sunny dress. Good thing, too! It was very badly fitting, so I ended up doing some surgery on it to get it to fit. I made an IG story of the process, which you can check out on my story highlights here (http://instagram.com/ladyreed84).

Hacked but wearable Sunny Dress muslin
Hacked but wearable Sunny Dress muslin

2. Design Sunny Dress hack. Done! Although I confess that I didn't finish this till Wednesday, but I'm counting it close enough. :)

3. Design a 3D capsule wardrobe. I spend over an hour on this one, so I'm calling it complete. However, I realized after that hour that I had no idea what it meant to design it. Was I wanting to pick patterns? Was I working through shapes, silhouettes, etc.? I finally ended with a pile of sketches of things I want to make and I picked a few patterns that I'd probably start with to make those. I'm not limiting myself to these, as I want to make what I want, assuming it fits in one of the style categories. So, in the end, I'm calling it complete, but I'm not really sure how or what I accomplished. Effort for the win!

4. Pick 3D capsule wardrobe color palette. Done! I did this and I'm in love with it! I have lots of fabric in the blue, black, white, gray. However, my accent colors I have less of. Now I can do focused shopping and feel less wasteful about me purchases. Win, win!

5. Made two pairs of PJs for my hubby. He wears them all the time now, which is the best possible compliment!

Next Up

For the next two week, (which has already started and I'm just now getting to this) I'm going to have to go light on what I want to sew. Work is insane until the 24th, so I won't have a lot of time for bliss projects. I'll pick two things to work on and a couple things for if I have time.

1. Sew the Sunny Hack. It's designed and the pattern is ready, just cut and sew now!

2. Cut out the Seamwork Shelly leggings. I really like the gusset (panel?) for shaping and am hoping to get a great fit! I'm going to make these out of light gray poly jersey.

3. (IF TIME) Tape together the Ames jeans patterns. Due to have absolutely no time lately, I may bite the bullet and do PDF plotting for this one. We'll see...

 

In my last post, I talked about planning in 2 week chunks of time (usually called sprints, for us nerds). So this post is my plan for the next 2 weeks and what I'm going to sew.

1. Sew Sunny Dress

The Sunny Dress is up next. I've got it altered and ready for a wearable muslin. Because it's a knit dress, I could skip the muslin, but I have some concerns about the pattern and my alterations, so I'm going to do a muslin. I'll do more about all that in another post.

Friday Pattern Co. - Sunny Dress (PDF)
Friday Pattern Co. - Sunny Dress (PDF)

2. Design Sunny Dress Hack

Assuming that I get the Sunny dress to fit by next Monday or so, I'm going to start working on a hack for it. This is what I will actually submit for the #sewMyStyle2018. It's inspired by a Torrid dress, but I'm going to modify it so I can wear a bra with it. I doubt I'll have time to get it cut out even, but I want to at least have the pattern pieces ready to go.

Torrid Lattice Front Dress
Torrid Lattice Front Dress

3. Defining 3D Capsule Wardrobe (for 1 hour)

I want to identify items in my current wardrobe, me-made and RTW, that will work in the 3D capsule. If it doesn't, I'm going to give myself permission to donate it. I also want to start identifying gaps that my wardrobe has. This will be an ongoing process, but I'm going to commit to spend 1 hour on this.

4. 3D Capsule Wardrobe - Color Palette

I'm going to also start identifying colors for this capsule. I'm going to do a round up of good articles on wardrobe colors and define my own color palette. (This will actually be a prerequisite to getting my stash organized and tracked.)

5. Make my husband some PJ pants for his birthday

Ok, so this doesn't fit in any category of my planning exactly, but I have some TMNT and KU fabric (two of his favorite things) so I thought I'd work them up into PJs as his gift. I am the first to admit that I don't do selfless sewing very often, so if I don't make it to this, I reserve the right to go buy a gift card! 😀

Because I'm starting a little late with this one, I'm going to be short a day or two, but I think I can still get this done by Jan 13. Let the fun begin!

My goal this year is more intentionality in the sewing that I'm doing. I want to find more joy not only in the process, but in the finished results. I want to use my stash more and to buy fabric that will fit in and be used and loved quickly, not languish for long periods of time in boxes.

This kind of focus only happens as the result of planning, so planning, here I come! I actually enjoy planning, and, if I"m honest, I might enjoy it more than the doing. I love getting organized and lining things up. It's the follow-through and the finish that sometimes get away from me.

Knowing my weakness, I"m trying to plan this work in a way that is easy to see if I"m getting behind or if I need to change anything. A while back, I read a book called the 12 Week Year which is about getting results quickly and seeing change. There's a lot in the book in the process, but the gist of it is that deadlines should only be 2 weeks out and goals should only be 12 weeks out. The idea is to take what we do at the end of the year and do it every quarter. This way, we gain momentum by seeing goals accomplished quickly and are less likely to be derailed by unexpected things since we aren't planning things out as far.

So, to that end, I am planning my 1Q goals and plans, only going out to March 31. The last week of March I will review where I'm at and redo the planning for 2Q. I'm excited to see if this will be a momentum-builder into April sewing for Me-Made-May.

I'm going to assume my pace to be one garment every two weeks. I want to increase that next quarter to maybe 3 a month or more, but I'm trying to be realistic about my available time. 12 weeks divided into 2 week sprints (the term for short term goal deadlines) means I can sew 6 garments. Goals don't equal garments, though, so I will have more than 6 goals. It just means that every garment I sew has to fit into at least one of the goals I'm setting.

1Q Goals

  • Sew Sunny dress for #SewMyStyle2018
  • Sew Kalle shirt dress/tunic for #SewMyStyle2018
  • Sew a pair of well-fitting pants (without fly, to focus on fit)
  • Sew a pair of well-fitting jeans (using other pant for fit, to focus on construction)
  • Create a TNT for a basic knit shirt
  • Copy one ready-to-wear (RTW) shirt that I love, but can't wear anymore (starting from TNT pattern)
  • Build a workable 3D Capsule for every day wear that includes both RTW and me-made items
  • Identify items to make for the every day Capsule for future quarters
  • Blog/IG regularly about finished makes and processes
  • Identify fabric stash quantities and find way to track fabric use
  • Identify the fabric and notions to start learning bra making

Setting measurable goals only till March doesn't mean I can't think ahead or decide to do things further out than that. It just means that I'm going to commit to goals only until March and do a review then to see if I'm on track. I've also got some goals in mind for the whole year as well.

By-End-Of-Year Goals

  • Participate in Me-Made-May with at least 50% being me-made.
  • Do 10 of 12 of the #SewMyStyle2018 patterns (I reserve the right to take this down to 9 if I don't like any of the ones that come out later)
  • Participate in at least one photo challenge
  • Learn lingerie sewing to be able to make a bra and panty set
  • Wear 75% of what I make on a regular basis
  • Have a tried-and-true (TNT) pattern for each style in my 3D capsule wardrobe
  • Sew 4 (1/Q) selfless projects
  • Finish 4 (1/Q) WIPs