Sew Excited

With the heat of summer I haven't been able to muster motivation for knitting and crocheting, given most of the creations I make are designed to keep myself warmer. Knowing the pace it takes to knit a garment, any summery things I'd want to make I would have to start well in the winter in order to finish in time to wear during the appropriate weather. While that may be the perfect reason to start a nice, cozy sweater now (so there would be a chance by winter it might be done), I felt the urge instead to get reacquainted with my sewing machine and start creating even more of my own clothing with some summer appropriate garments. 

I also decided that this would be the start of a challenge for myself and stop buying any new clothes. My goal is to create all of my new clothing, and refashion or refit many items already in my wardrobe. The one exception I'm giving myself is bringing in clothing items from thrift stores intended to be dramatically refashioned. I've started looking for nicely patterned or colored cotton sheets from the thrift store and my old beat up bedding to sew with. This appeals to me on the level of being thrifty and getting a lot of fabric for much less than I'd pay at a fabric store. It is also low risk as I learn different techniques and practice. I also like the idea of recycling and creating something new out existing textiles. 

For my first project of the season, I had some fabric and sewing patterns that I got well over a decade ago and decided it was about time to make use of them. Given just how oppressive the summer heat can become and their one again fashionable status, I opted to make a t-shirt pattern I had in the cropped version. I have sewn a few garments in the past but I am still quite a novice. The shirt didn't come out perfectly, but it came out wearable.

To go along with the top I wanted to make a skirt that would coordinate with it from another pattern I already owned (Simplicity 1970), and went to Joann's to find some fabric, drawn to a quilting cotton patterned with pink lilies. I also found another pattern that coordinated with it very well and picked some up for another top. I also bought a collection of patterns while they had a $1 Simplicity pattern sale, including the pattern for the other top I decided to make (Simplicity 1364).

Here are the finished products:

There are more sewing projects that I will share when I return home to my closet and sewing machine, and plenty more I hope to create in the future.