Fall Wardrobe Project: Planning

After last weekend's PR outing, I'm all jazzed up about my wardrobe project, and am pouting a bit that I can't get started. I won't be home from my business trip to Toronto and Montreal until Friday.

Over the last few weeks, I've been buying up fabrics and amassing zippers, buttons, interfacings and linings. In fact, on Sunday night I did a major re-org of the Craft Lounge so that it won't be a disaster area when I'm ready to get down to sewing. I just need one or two more pieces of fabric and notions, but other than that, I am just about ready.

I will be making 3-4 knit tops, a pencil skirt, a sheath dress, 3 pairs of trousers and a hobo bag, roughly in that order. I might run into trouble along the way, since all of the patterns I am using are new to me. If I do, I'll revise my plans. But here is how things ought to go.

I'll be making this purple bamboo from Mood and this black jersey from Metro into the Three Graces shirts from Hot Patterns. I've never worked with bamboo fabric before.


I've been planning on making this very fun plaid with silver splashes into a pencil skirt since the spring. It's time to get going on this one. Photos don't do justice, but the fabric has a lot of dark brown (espresso?) in it. It really pops with the purple bamboo.



I confess that I have always had sheath dress envy. I've never really been able to buy a fitted dress off the rack because my top and bottom are just different sizes. So, I am making myself a sheath out of this beautiful Vera Wang Lavender Label boucle suiting. It really is lovely in person. I plan to do view B of this pattern:

And finally, pants. As you know, pants are my arch-nemesis.


But I have three beautiful fabrics. On the far left is a light grey wool suiting from Metro Textiles, that Kashi says is from the Loro Piana mill in Connecticut. It feels gorgeous. In the middle is black tropical weight wool suiting, also from Metro. And on the right is the mystery, possibly Armani fabric from my mom.

What is left to buy is a piece of ultrasuede or faux leather to make into a hobo bag. Also, I need to decide on another fabric or two (I'm waffling on colors), and pattern or two for tops. Black and purple is fine, but I definitely feel the need to inject more color into this mini wardrobe since it is very grey/silver, black and white.

So, there you have it. And here I am still in Montreal for another day. Pining for my sewing machine. Sigh.