Fall sewing plans.

Confession: Summer is not my favorite.

I often read other people discussing the wonderfulness of this season. Lately, I've been trying to make a list of the good things summer has to offer, and this is all I've come up with: watermelon, fireflies, fireworks, an extra excuse to eat ice cream (like I actually need an excuse for that :), swimming, and frequent thunderstorms.

Mostly, Virginia summers are hot and incredibly sticky. The air feels heavy, and it seems like it can't possibly *not* rain, but it doesn't. It just stays humid.

I don't want to wish time away or anything, but goodness, I'm looking forward to fall and winter. October through February is my favorite time of the year. I want to wear coats and sweaters and boots and tights. I want to be able to use all of the things I've knitted lately. :)

I've never been one of those people who can plan out their seasonal sewing months ahead of time. But lately, I've been thinking about what garments I want to sew before cooler weather gets here. This is probably a very ambitious list, I know, considering so far this year I've only sewn about five clothing items. But I'm hoping that posting my ideas here (and leaving the fabric out in plain view in my sewing room) will hold me accountable for trying to make most of these things. :)

My 40s swing dress (that I completed in the sew-along last spring) is still my favorite dress I've ever sewn, and the one that fits me the best. I want to make another one, using this floral rayon (it's supposed to be blue, but it's so dark it looks black).

I want to make another version of my heavily-altered shirt that started out as Simplicity 2447. It will be very similar to my red shirt, except in this blue cotton and maybe with a more traditional collar.

I've seen some very cute dresses made from this pattern. Another reason I really want to try it is because it has kimono sleeves. I don't have the fabric for it yet (it takes over 6 yards!), but I might try to get some light wool suiting or just try a solid color cotton.

A year or two ago, I decided I was going to sew a purple corduroy coat with Simplicity 2508. I even bought the fabric and cut it out...and never did anything else to it. I can't salvage the fabric for a new coat, mostly because I didn't make a muslin and I'm sure the fit was off (and I forgot to lengthen the sleeves, so they would be several inches too short). Hopefully I can use the fabric for something else, but I really want to follow through and actually make a coat for this winter. A purple one in wool or corduroy, depending what I can find with my budget. :)

I've had this pattern forever. It may end up being too boxy for my taste, but I at least want to make a muslin...the view on the far left, but shorter (as a shirt, not a dress/tunic).

I'm not sure if I am unusually tall or just tend to buy cheap pajamas, but all of my pajama bottoms are highwaters. Do you know what highwaters are? :) I don't know if it's just a cultural thing or not, but around here we grew up calling pants that were about four or five inches too short "highwaters." When I get pajamas, they might fit me until they've been washed once or twice, and then *boom* they're instantly too short. So I need to find a cute novelty flannel and wash it two or three times to make sure it's through shrinking, and then sew pajama pants.

{Isn't this a cheesy pattern envelope? :) The first real item of clothing I ever sewed was a pair of pajama pants from this pattern.}

I'd like to try the dress from this pattern, only with longer sleeves and the collar from the pink plaid version.

This isn't clothing-related, but I plan on making a bag this fall with this cute printed corduroy my mom got me a while back.

I got three yards of this brown/cream/orange plaid for Christmas last year...need to make a shirt out of it.

Some other random fabrics that have been sitting in the sewing room for too long and need to be used this fall/winter.

{Silky print, corduroy, printed cotton, Lisette lawn}

And finally, I want to make a skirt like Penelope's. :) You know this one- the brown one with vertical stripes and some sort of floral print at the bottom? I make sloppy notes and sketches, pausing the film every time I watch it. Yeah...I really can't even read some of my writing on the sticky note. :)

I'll use ribbon for the stripes and maybe do some sort of embroidery at the bottom. I think I'll either use my trusty McCall's full skirt pattern or do a half-circle skirt. And I might use this brown wool that I got from Fabric.com and originally planned for a circle skirt.

About eight garments...very optimistic, I know. :) We'll see how many I actually complete. I'm not sure that this post was of interest to anyone, but it helps to get my ideas out.

What are you planning on sewing (or knitting, crocheting, etc.) for the cooler seasons?

Until next time,