Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everybody! This is our last day and a half before The Complete Colette sewing challenge officially begins. Now is the time to get any last minute supplies, give our sewing machines a clean and oil, and sketch out any final plans.

Hope everyone has a spooky and safe Halloween, and I'll see you back here on Thursday for Violet!

The Vanishing Poll

Hi again! You may have noticed the poll I had going in the side bar has disappeared. I don't know what happened but for some reason the poll was resetting itself to zero at the start of every new day?! So I have taken it down, but would still like to know what your favorite Colette patterns are. Help me decide which ones to plan for next, leave your votes in a comment! 

A Thoughtful Plan

At first, my plan was to map out each pattern week-by-week for the entire six month sewing project. To save money (and be green) I want to use up as much fabric from my bow tie business days before buying new. It turns out I have a lot of great stuff, perfect for certain patterns, so I've decided to use these first, which throws a wrench in my original plan. Now I've decided to map out a week-by-week plan at the start of each month and work my way through the challenge that way, and it just so happens I've mapped out my plan for November already.

30 patterns in 6 months works out to be 5 a month ( a little over 1 a week) - totally doable! I have given myself 6 patterns for our first month, riding the excitement of starting the challenge.

November's Projects

week one - Violet

week two - Meringue and Truffle

week three - Taffy and Licorice

week four - Anise

My theme for November's garments - blue, black and lace.

The first week in November is a short one so I'm sticking to one pattern, Violet. I haven't finalized anything yet but I think I am going to go for a black silk with tucks and lace collar.

Week 2 is going to be a little tougher with both Meringue and Truffle. I found this great, white and blue floral, crepe-like fabric at the thrift store which is perfect for Truffle, and I have this beautiful grey linen that I think would make a lovely Meringue.

The third week will be the toughest, Licorice and Taffy. For Taffy, I have a ton of black chiffon to use for the blouse, and I hope to make black and white gingham bias tape for the seam finishes. For Licorice, I thought I'd change things up a bit and try out a different collar variation. I'd like to draft the existing collar into a peter pan collar with a lace overlay, and pair it with a navy or royal blue viscose, similar to the blue dress in the Getting Started post. Anyone who wants try it out on their own Licorice dress, I'll be posting a tutorial on how I did it when week 3 rolls around. This is the pattern I am most excited for.

For the last week in November, I am dedicating it to Anise. I have no idea what I am going to use yet, I thought maybe the leftover camel wool I have from making my Mod Trench (see Flickr), but I really want to try something different, maybe a denim or something. We'll see.

Any sewists who are following along can sew as many patterns as they'd like, in whatever order. Please feel free to send photos of your completed garments for me to share on the blog.

 Now, I am an extremely organized person in spirit but sadly not in practice, so I've created a board to organize my tasks and track my progress. I attached a master list of all the Colette patterns divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced with check boxes to mark when complete, the weekly breakdown of projects for the month I am working on, as well as fabric swatches and supply lists for each one. I also included some small notions like heart buttons and lace straps as something I may want to include in some of my garments. Oh and a photo of a really cute squirrel pin cushion to keep an eye on things for me. Hopefully the board will be able to keep me focused and organized so I can spend more time sewing and having fun.

I also, finally, got around to setting up my Flickr account. I used to use my business' blog to show some of the garments I've made, but that was the extent of it. Now you'll be able to visit the Flickr page and see even more photos of The Complete Colette finished garments. Also, I already uploaded a few pictures of some of my most recent projects to give you a sense of what I do. There's only a few but if you'd like a peak, head over.

Since we are only a week away from the start date, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my situation in case any of you are wondering how on earth I will find the time to do this. I left my full time job as a bow tie designer about a month ago, since then I have been working a serving job on the weekends and custom seamstressing, until I begin visual merchandising next fall. That, along with my volunteer work, leaves me with four full days a week for sewing and a few hours here and there. Plenty o' time! So if it seems like I have all the time in the world, it's because I do. For now.

So that about sums it up for today, but as promised, here is my sewing supply haul to complete my tool kit upgrade.

1. My handmade Tailors Ham and Sausage from the Tilly and the Buttons tutorial.  
2. Some new marking tools. Carbon paper, tailor's chalk and fabric marker.
3. I didn't need this but, new pin cushion and pins, mine have seen better days. 
4. Invisible zipper foot.
5. 1/2" Bias tape maker. Excited to use this!
6. New sharp point scissors for clipping notches on curves etc. I desperately need these
7. Fabric stiffener. I looked everywhere for Sullivan's brand spray but could only find this one so hopefully it works the same way.

So I am all set! I've got my tools and I have got my plan, only one week left and then I'm sewing!

Getting Started

There are a few things I need to do before I can begin sewing my garments. I need to make my personalized croquis using the tutorial in the sewing handbook, I'd like to fill in any gaps in my tools, and create some inspiration boards to get me thinking about the kind of looks I want to create.

The first thing I've done is make my croquis. I took a photo of myself, traced my silhouette and lightened the lines on Photoshop. It turned out great! The photo I used was a pretty stiff, straight on shot, I think I might make another one using a slight pose or something to add life to the sketch. My fashion drawing skills are a little bit rusty so I think this sewing project and personalized croquis are going to help sharpen my skills. Here's what my first ever personalized croquis looks like, yes that is the Pastille dress from the front of the handbook.

Next I went through all my sewing tools to see if there was anything I am missing. I am pretty well stocked except for a few (very basic) things I am ashamed to not own already.eek. My pressing tools consist only of an iron and ironing board, so wanted to bulk that up a bit with some tailors hams and sleeve roll. Thankfully I found a great tutorial over on Chance Of Rain, the wonderful, Australian sewing blog. Her tutorial even included free downloadable patterns to print out at home. Anyone wishing to make their own can visit the tutorials here. Last night I ended up making the sleeve roll, small ham and kidney ham. I'm excited to use them.

I also made myself another set of pressing tools from a tutorial over at one of everyone's favorite sewing blogs Tilly and the Buttons. This ham and sausage are a little meatier, pun intended, they have darts to round them off a bit and I altered the free downloadable pattern a bit to make them bigger. If you'd like to check out this tutorial as well, head over to Tilly and the Buttons.

I made a shopping list for some of the other tools I'll be needing to get as well.

• Invisible zipper foot (I only have a regular zipper foot)
• Bias tape maker ( Not necessary, I just really want one) 
• Chalk wheel or chalk pen (I use marking pencils and they never seem to work)
• Small snippers

I am heading to the fabric stores on Wednesday to gather up supplies, I'll do a haul post we I return to show you what I got.

I think as far as tools go, with my new pressing tools and my small shopping list, I think I'm well stocked to start my project.

Lastly, it's all about gathering inspiration and thinking about how I am going to turn these Colette patterns into something that is totally me. I had a hard time trying to articulate exactly what it is that I love to wear, so I spend the morning trawling the internet for things I like hoping I would find a pattern.

I put together a couple of inspiration boards from the things that I found, and upon looking at them I realized that it's pretty easy to explain. I like dresses with full skirts that highlight the waist, and printed cardigans. It took me all morning to find this out.  

Another thing that I notice upon looking at this board of dresses is that while the silhouettes are relatively the same, all the necklines are different. I also obviously like solid colored dresses or dresses with micro-patterns.

I really love cardigans, I swear by them. They are the perfect addition to any cute outfit. I am not an accessory person. I don't wear jewelry or own lots of shoes or purses, but cardigans are my way of adding color or pattern to myself. I could mix and match those nine cardigans with those dresses forever.

So now that I have to tools and the inspiration, I can go ahead and start making a plan of attack, which is the next thing on my To Do List. In the next couple of days, I hope to have a weekly break down of the Colette projects. I will use this break down as a guide and motivator for myself, as well as a tool for you to follow along with or plan your projects as well so check back soon!

Full Steam Ahead!!

A Colette Patterns Sewing Challenge

My name is Dominique and I love to sew. I am self taught, which is to say I was taught by the talented and generous people on the internet and in books. Until recently I had a small business sewing men's bow ties and accessories under the name O'Darlin. I also had a blog of the same name where I would showcase my products and write about them. I made a decision to leave the handmade business world in pursuit of a professional career in visual merchandising, and spend my free time at home sewing beautiful clothes for myself to wear. I am immensely happy I made that choice, for I find I only enjoy sewing when it is just for fun and just for me.

However, now that I am no longer in business, I have nothing really to blog about over at O'Darlin. Everyone who visits the site sees it attached to bow ties and my business. I have tried to turn it into a blog about my personal sewing projects, but it doesn't quite fit. So I have decided to take a page out of the books of Julie Powell and Gretchen "Gertie" Hirsch and give myself a challenge to blog about.

Recently I bought The Colette Sewing Handbook online and I love it. Initially I bought it for the free patterns, but after opening it and reading the intro I was so inspired that I can't believe I didn't buy it the second it came out. Sarai Mitnick obviously loves sewing very much and it really comes through in the pages. She has made me fall back inlove with a hobby that I had begun to resent, and has breathed new life back into my passion. I have been an adorer of Colette Patterns for a while now but have never actually bought one. After buying the book, I bought my first one, the Violet blouse. I haven't used it yet, nor have I used any of the patterns from the book. Which brings me to challenge.

I am going to undertake the task of sewing my way through the complete collection of Colette Patterns, every single one, and blog about it. I will take you into my sewing space and share with you every project, my trials and tribulations, and of course the finished garments using the handbook's five fundamentals as a guide. And of course throughout all of this sewing madness, I urge you to pick up some Colette patterns for yourself and sew along with me. I am on a quest to freshen my closet and sharpen my skills one pattern at a time.

So, there are twenty five patterns at the Colette Patterns Shop and five in the book, which gives me a total of 30 projects to complete. I am really excited for the Violet blouse and the Ceylon dress, and I'm a little intimidated to work up to the Juniper pants and the Lady Grey coat. I have also decided to make this challenge one with a time restraint to force me to see it through. Initially I was thinking twelve months, which works out to about 2 -3 projects a month, but that's too easy. Also winter is sewing season, what else is there to do but stay inside and sew up a storm. So I've decided to give myself six months instead, now that's a challenge. October is almost over so I'm going begin my challenge in November, starting with the Violet blouse as my first project. I now have about two weeks to get ready - prep my sewing space, make my personalized croquis and start gathering inspiration, but once November 1st hits - I'm off to the races.

So there it is - 30 patterns, 6 months and 1 handsome new wardrobe. I honestly cannot wait!