Change of Plan...

 Well...Easter has passed, I have collected the traveling sewing supplies and moved them home; I rather randomly decided to accompany My Sweet Babboo on a weekend road trip; sat in a hotel and hemmed a pair of RTW pants to length whilst he did some training so we could have dinner together in a different city and am on week THREE of a dysfunctional dryer.  So, yeah, been hauling the essentials, a couple of wet loads at a time, to the laundromat to blast them with the industrial - strength quarter-devouring dryers.

I wanted to get some personal sewing done, so I pulled out some stashed cotton/lycra and whipped up a t shirt.  Well...cut it out one night, sewed half of it another and finished it a week later. Only problem was I pulled out the 'floppy rayon jersey' sized tracing of the Jalie pattern instead of the 'firm cotton lycra' sized tracing of the pattern without realizing it and...it fits like a sausage casing.

Bummer.  Maybe the current calorie-counting will pay off and I'll be able to wear it in a couple of months.

But I have been reflecting on the Hydrangea wardrobe...aka the 'Start with a Scarf 2022' wardrobe, for which I was working on a crinkle velvet Hippie Earth Mother Skirt for the 'November' set.

And I had an epiphany.

See, the schtick for the November set was that each heroine walked into a store and bought herself a new outfit.  All from the same retail establishment.

Now, I knew that wasn't a go since I was sewing stuff so I just thought I would add something my wardrobe needed, but over the weeks...er, ok, months...since that prompt was released something percolating in the back of my head finally surfaced.

What if I made all the stuff from one designer's patterns?

I have a few that I had enough of a variety to use...Sewing Workshop, Cutting Line, Jalie...  but I actually thought I had TNT patterns for pants, a jacket and a top or blouse from my Loes Hinse patterns.

Well, sort of TNT.  They fit 10 years/ mumble mumble pounds ago and will need tweaking.  Ok, I will need to trace a larger size.  But whatever.

I did some stash diving and, while I could find some kinda sorta almost might work fabrics, what I really wanted was something I could use for pants and a jacket...have a 'suit', so to speak.  I bit the bullet and ordered some fabric online.  It's a 'rayon blend'...which almost certainly means polyester is in the mix, but it's a 'double woven' fabric and it drapes beautifully...and weighty, drapey fabrics are exactly what Loes Hinse recommends for most of her patterns.

 It is, however, waiting on a functional dryer to be pre-shrunk.

Then I pulled the patterns I have on hand for consideration:

The first one is the obvious one, and it's why I decided to go with LH...I have a pants pattern that pretty well fits and have made multiple times, the Oxford Pant:

Straight legs are classic no matter where we are in the skinny leg/ wide leg/ flared leg pants fashion cycle.  

Next, I pulled the jackets that I am considering.  I have made the original Bolero a couple of times, and I have also made the Bistro (just realized I didn't get the name of the pattern in the frame. Oopsie.) and loved wearing that one.  But I picked up the princess-seamed Paris Jacket not too awfully long ago and have been itching to try that one.  Decisions, decisions.

Finally, I need to pick a top.  The knit tops are very fast and I have some garments that have been in the closet forEVER and are still worn from those patterns.  But I kinda would like a nice dressy blouse...like the long sleeved Italian Blouse.  I've made the short sleeved version a couple of times...but it's been a while.  I *think* I have some drapey white rayon crepe that would do nicely for this.  If I am remembering right...If not, I might look at some navy blue slinky knit for the Sweater Set.  That little v neck shell is extremely versatile.

Being as how I have at least TWO more weeks before the dryer is back to functional (I don't even wanna go there), I'm not likely to get the pre-washing done on the suiting for a bit so I have time to noodle around, trace patterns and maybe even throw a mockup together for the Jacket.

Because I really think I want to do the Paris Jacket. I can at least muslin it up and see how it might fit, right?  

I pulled it out and started tracing.  

And almost immediately noticed that the closure for this jacket is something Loes Hinse likes...a button on the edge with a thread loop.  It's what she used for the original Bolero...and it's not something I'm terribly fond of.  If my jacket is to be buttoned, I want it to BUTTON, lol.  But look at the Bolero Multiples...which is just a set of alternate center fronts for the Bolero Jacket.  I haven't checked yet, but I bet I can morph the front/collar from the Bolero Multiples onto the front/ collar of the Paris Jacket and get my button and button hole closure.  

I got one piece traced before I had to go do other stuff and didn't manage to get back.  Such is my sewing life right now, lol.

So the velvet skirt...which isn't going to be suitable for wearing for another 6 months anyway...is going on the shelf and I'm pressing on with my, ahem, 'November' wardrobe.

Stay tuned for updates, lol.