Fall 2011 Project & Palette Board

Colette Patterns Fall Palette Challenge

I finally have gotten most of my ideas together now for what projects I’m planning on sewing for the fall but how do I tell you, dear readers….

Well, I’ll just say it….

I counted everything up and I have a whopping eleven projects set to sew for the fall/winter!  I think the ‘normal/healthy’ range of items to sew would be somewhere between 4-6… heh  I feel like I even trimmed my list down a lot, too.  (I just double counted to make sure I really do have 11 projects on the list, and I do!)  Oh boy, am I going to be busy!  It’s a good thing I don’t have a hard deadline for myself on this stuff.

These 11 projects include: 3 dresses, 1 knitted item (but have at least 4 in the queue after my first is completed), 5 skirts, 1 blouse, and 1 jacket.  I love sewing up skirts, but realized I had no tops on my list besides my knits, so I decided to add one into the mix.

I loved participating in Colette’s Spring Palette Challenge so much that I’d decided long ago to sew with the same thought for the fall, whether or not there was another challenge.  So I was thrilled to see that she’s hosting another Palette Challenge for the autumn.  While I won’t be completing all 11 projects in the 6 weeks she allotted, I’ll be doing as much as I can reasonably do until then to help motivate me to complete a good chunk of these items.  Who’s also participating in the Fall Palette Challenge?

My wonderful husband created this little project board for me since he’s much better at photoshop than I am.  :)  But what he doesn’t know is that all these images are items that I’m planning on making for coming months; I truly think he would call me nuts if he knew…

As you may be thinking, I have a lot of skirts in the mix and not many blouses.  In truth, I’m not a fan of sewing sleeves since they’re quite difficult for me to perfect, fit-wise.  But I had to add in at least one that I’m hoping will work out so I can make a few variations of it, to go with my multitude of skirts.  The other thing I love about skirts is that they’re so versatile.  The Twinkle skirt (1st column, 1st row), for instance, can be either styled as a modern skirt or it could also be styled as a skirt from the 40’s with some perfect shoes, hat and a vintage knit.

Sources (From left to right & top to bottom):

Row 1:  A-Plus A-Line Skirt by Twinkle free via Burda, Vashon by Berroco, Skirt with Bow Details via Burda, Godet Pencil Skirt via Burda

Row 2:  Tie Front Blouse via Burda, Diamond Jumper via Stitchcraft, 40’s Cardigan via Stitchcraft, Linda Skirt via Burda

Row 3: Front Pleated Skirt via Burda, Vogue 7924, McCalls 6677, Vogue 7561

Due to the long, labor day weekend I’ve been able to have a really good chunk of time to sew up a few muslins so I can work on some fit issues, and I’ve even cut out the fashion fabric for two of my skirts.

I don’t want to show you the same exact images from above, but I have a few highlights of some of my recent fabric/yarn finds to share.

This is a mustard, navy, and cream colored tweed fabric that I bought in DC and it’s been sitting patiently in my stash for about 9 months now:

It’s a looser weave, not suitable for an actual coat, but perfect for a jacket of some sort.

I initially picked to make the Vogue 8146 jacket with this fabric but the muslin was really, really bad.  So I’m thinking I may just pick another pattern instead.

I’ve had these two patterns in my favorites for a while:

McCall’s 5530:

I saw sewithought’s jacket on Burda a while ago, but have loved it since.  I know this pattern is now discontinued, so I’ll have to do a bit of hunting to find it if I want to make it.

The other jacket I love is McCall’s 5759:

Again, I first saw this jacket on Burda and went out and bought the patten for it.  It’s such a lovely, tailored jacket and I love this 3/4 sleeved version by dstasko.

Which jacket do you guys think I should make: Cropped Bow jacket or the 3/4 sleeved button-up jacket?

 The other finds I have are not fabrics but yarn.

At stitches I found some wonderful kid-silk yarn that is going to pair wonderfully with the regular, cascade yarn (at the bottom).

I’m planning on using this yarn with this 40’s cardigan:

The fuzzy-yarn sections will the the bottom and the trim, and the ribbing will be with the non-fuzzy yarn.

I’m really loving my classic-fall color scheme, but I’m having second thoughts about the mustard color.  I don’t have a stitch of yellow in my wardrobe since I’ve always considered it a color that doesn’t work for my skin-tone.  But here we are with a few pieces of mustard… I just decided I was going for it no matter what since I love the color.

Anybody else have experience sewing with a daring color?  I’d love to hear your thoughts about color and also about which jacket I should make.

In: Knitting Sewing

Blogger for 6 years and counting, I am a passionate creator who loves to tinker.

Comments (6)