>Self-Stitched September Day 7. Starting to see what it’s all about

>Here is my Day Seven outfit…

It looks like I’m holding a cigarette in my right hand! Does it make me look cooler? I spent the day working on the dress for a wedding we are going to on Saturday, doing chores and running some errands. It’s definitely cooling down here in Minneapolis! The shirt and jacket are both from old navy and I’m considering a refashioning project on the shirt. Converting from a turtleneck to a scoop neck, removing the evidence of a food-realted incident. The trousers are Simplicity 2562, worn for the second time this week! I’m hoping to get another pair sewed up today, but had to seriously redraft the wedding dress and may have to do another muslin round, so I’m not sure if I’ll have time!

So it’s been a full week of self-stitching and I see why everyone was so positive about me-made-may! I’m really enjoying a lot of the aspects of this online-project so far.
1) Anything that helps me focus on sewing goals is, as Martha says, a good thing. ! I just started sewing garments around January of this year and wearing ‘plus sizes’ (good lord, I hate that phrase!) I’ve never gotten to really express my style, being constrained by what was available in my size. So I’m like a kid in the candy store, buying expensive, impractical fabrics and focusing on dresses… dressess… dresses. And jackets. But right now I’m a stay-at-home wife and hound-mom and the garments I’m making aren’t practical for my lifestyle. More pants. More casual shirts. Less compulsive purchasing of wool suiting, silks and upholstery fabrics!

2) Related to #1, SSS forces me to focus on closet (and sewing stash/supplies) organization. We live in a fairly small house, although at least it’s a 50’s ranch so we have decent closets. But… I’m starting to run out of closet room. My husband and I are anti-pack rats. If we don’t use it in six months, it gets donated, sold or tossed. This project is helping me evaluate what I really need in my closet. And clothes that I sort of like, but don’t fit well or aren’t quite the right color or really my style are out of here!

3) Getting up and facing the world with a little style! Again, stay-at-home hound mom! I was laid off over two years ago and have learned that it’s very important to continue with routines and ‘dress’ for the day. I still wear lipstick, even though it’s just the basset hound and the mailman who see me. I feel better when I look better, and I think it’s nicer for Dan to come home to me looking the way I did when we started dating, instead of wearing pajamas! Self-Stitched September really has me focusing on what I’m wearing and how I look (knowing I will have be snapping a photo at some point helps!)

4) Allocating sewing time. It’s easy for me to get caught up in the details and not plan out what I’m doing when. SSS helps me stay focused and balanced. I’m going to a wedding on Saturday and am still working on the dress, but I also have to keep working building my basics wardrobe!

5) Blogging! My first blog was a a general cute-animal-pictures and interesting-news-stories blog that I started when my husband and I first started dating. He likes to blog about the same general thing (less cute animals…) and it was fun when we weren’t living together to ‘communicate’ that way. When we moved into the house, I started this blog with vague thoughts of more home decor/improvement projects, but wasn’t consistent. I like blogging for a variety of reasons – I like being able to look at projects I’m working on, I like working on my writing skills, I hope to be a resource to others, Dan enjoys reading it (less so, now that it’s SO sewing oriented!) and I like the discipline of a daily (or nearly daily) responsibility. This is really helping me get something posted every day!

6) The sewing bloggers! Wow! I love the energy of the sewing bloggers! There are the blogs focused on technique, on style, on vintage life, on feminism, personal observations – I love them all! And it’s really fun to see a comment or a new follower (I have FOUR!!) of folks coming to look at my blog! And seeing everyone’s projects by reading blogs on bloglovin and on the Flickr pool is inspiring and fun!

Here’s to 23 more self-stitched days of September!