Earth & Spring 6PAC: Items #1 and #2 plans

Argh, time is just flying past me. I haven't managed to do much for my Earth & Spring 6PAC yet other than assemble some patterns and notions and spend time Thinking Seriously about it, which has resulted in MULTIPLE changes from my original plans, for various reasons.  I have to admit it's not all quite as colour co-ordinated as I would like. I got kind of worked up about that until I remembered that, oh yes, I have a whole existing wardrobe that the 6PAC can fit into and also, while it's preferable not to make a whole pile wardrobe orphans, there are no actual wardrobe police to come get me if it's not all totally co-ordinated. So maybe it's not going to be the perfect co-ordinated "capsule", who cares? I'm better off sewing SOMETHING, partially co-ordinated, than nothing at all because of inertia/freaking out. (If you're thinking 'you're taking this too seriously!', yes. Yes, I am. Apparently I am not constitutionally capable of anything else.) I have managed to settle on the first two items I'm going to sew, and so here are more specifics on those plans.

Item #1: Skirt (McCalls 5431)

McCall's 5431; fabric choice; View C line drawing (which I will be making minus the giant pocketses)

The Earth & Spring 6PAC is really built around my desire to have more brown-as-a-neutral in my spring/summer wardrobe. It started with an idea that apparently ~~~came to me in a dream. I woke up one morning and realized I knew exactly what to do with some brown self-patterned fabric I had bought, loved, but had never really worked out what I was going to do with: make a full, floaty skirt. I have already made a brown skirt but eh, it's wool and not really a spring/summer item and also, I hate how the hem turned out on that skirt and so it's presently in the ugh basket waiting for inspiration on how to fix it. Item #1 is therefore my key item, around which everything else was chosen.

Originally I planned to use the By Hand London tutorial for a simple half-circle skirt, but I prefer skirts with yokes and I also really want a contrast band full skirt for another 6PAC later in the year. I was kind of pondering this problem when I happened across McCall's 5431 second-hand but unused and uncut and in my size on eBay for a really good price. It's the perfect pattern for both of my two planned full-skirt projects and it gets good reviews as well. For this first version I'm not quite making any of the views. It's going to be basically view C, but a little bit shorter and without the giant pockets. I am a little nervous about sewing The World's Longest Hem in my slightly slippery fabric, but I'll figure it out. I'm also going to be lining the skirt, though, so although McCall's call it a "quick and easy" pattern I doubt it will be quite that straightforward.

Item #2: Skirt (Ottobre 02-2010-15 "Debra")

Ottobre 02-2010-15 (terrible shot, srsly); my fabric, looking dingier than it really is; the (mis-leading) line drawing

The second item is a wardrobe staple that I currently don't have, a khaki skirt. I wanted a more casual style, only because the last khaki skirt I owned was also a casual-looking skirt and I was ultra sad when it finally bit the dust.  I had already bought this fabric in anticipation of making a skirt of this type at some point. It is not really that murky colour, the light was terrible when I took that photo. Actually, all the photos of the pattern I've chosen are terrible. That is the only photo in the magazine, and the line drawing makes it look A-line while the pattern pieces suggest it is straight. Fail, Ottobre.

Actually choosing this pattern was harder than I expected. In my original notes I wrote "khaki safari skirt" and I had an image in my mind of what I wanted: something straight-ish, with some details like pockets, topstitching or straps. Then I had to try to match my mental image to patterns that were actually available and came unstuck. It's not that my perfect pattern doesn't exist -- I had too many choices! However, a lot of them involved a lot of extra work, particularly since the many really nice Burda patterns I found were all in size 34-42 only and would therefore need grading up. Grading is fine in the ordinary run of things, but I wasn't excited, particularly, at the idea of repositioning a lot of pockets and other details. In the interests of not driving myself crazy I've settled on something at the simple end of the spectrum that needs no grading. I figure I can always make a more complicated version some other time. For this version, I'm using Ottobre 02-2010-15, the "Debra" skirt. This review is way better for showing what the skirt will look like, and is also in a similar colour. It's just a straight skirt with some side pockets, really, with an invisible zip and a bunch of topstitching.

Amy Butler Everything Wristlet

In other news, I've assembled all the parts for what might well be the most expensive bag I've ever made. I mentioned last time that I plan to make an Everything Wristlet, the larger version, for the wedding I am going to in June. I also decided I wanted to make it in leather and silk. I've worked a little with silk, but never with leather before, so that should be exciting. I am still trying to decide whether to make a trial version and then shove it on my shop, just to see whether there are any challenging construction steps before I cut into the leather. It's really not that challenging a pattern, from a read-through, but the leather was so relatively expensive that I'm nervous about it.

And in OTHER other news, my knitting is going really well. I'm still doing the increases for the shoulders at the moment (I am knitting top down) but I whizz around my circular needle a few times every day and it seems to get the job done. Watch this space for jumper news, I guess!