Things to sew

Now that I have quit my job, and suddenly find myself in possession of both more time (because I'm taking a few weeks fully off before diving into writing!) and a clearer head, I want to tackle my pile of "things to sew". I have two main categories of things that I want to make for my lolita wardrobe, or at least, they are divided into things I want to get done in time for my wardrobe post next January and things that are a little more “it’ll happen when it happens”. So in the interests of blogging I thought I’d briefly share the lolita things that are on my sewing horizon (there's cosplay in there too, but that'll go on my Facebook page instead) in those two categories.

Things to Sew Now

The biggest thing that I want to get done in the near future is turning my handmade chocolate JSK into a skirt. I've got two main reasons for this. The first is that almost immediately after making it I felt bad for ripping off the pattern from my underbust Lyris JSK. I mean, no dress cut in lolita is particularly unique, but still in retrospect I wish I hadn't done that. Secondly, it was also a poor choice of cut for this dress, and I somehow botched the front panel. I have not worn it, and haven't ever really wanted to (only once that I remember), so I want to turn it into something I may actually wear, like, and feel proud of. As the skirt portion is quite simple, I may add some lace or braid trim to it somewhere, but I'll see how I feel once I complete the modification. I don't think this should be too hard to do, and here's hoping it turns out!

Still love this fabric so much!

While I'm working with the chocolate fabric, I also want to make myself some matching chocolate hair accessories. I'm currently thinking of making a headbow, a pair of two way clips, and a beret. The beret will probably be the first thing I do, as it will be the most unique and also will be totally awesome!

On the topic of hair accessories, I also want to whip up a pair of two-way clips to match my handmade green floral skirt since I don't really have much that matches it aside from the headbow I've already made.

I also need to replace the elastic in the sleeves of my Berry Stripe OP - it's been sitting in my mending box for like half a year (or more!) and I miss it. I may have other mending that I've forgotten about, but if I do I'll find it when I open the box to get to that dress!

Keen to wear this pretty thing again...

Those are the more "urgent" things that I want to sew, and I'm confident I can get them done in pretty good time.

Things to Sew Later

There are a lot of things I want to sew. Whether or not I ever do is a different matter, but hey, by publicising them here it may make me a little more likely to actually do them!

Starting simple, I want to make myself some more headbows and berets (provided I can figure out a good pattern for the berets). I don't have any fabric I want to use in particular for these but I'd love to get a few simple pieces in less common colours, and maybe some dramatic layered bows as well. Basically, stuff that would be good to have but that I don't want to spend any money on!

I would also love to decorate some berets, and in fact I've already bought myself a few more blanks. I definitely want to attached loads of flowers to one, and love the idea of doing a few with contrasting braid trim in colours that work with my wardrobe (black x pink, anyone?). If I ever feel up for it I'd also be interested in learning ribbon embroidery, because I think it's beautiful and would make for  gorgeous beret decoration!

In bigger projects, I really want to make a sweet black or black and white skirt. Just something simple, comfortable and casual that I can easily wear in simple coords, or super casually with t-shirts. I have some black and white tartan that I'll probably use for this, or I may pick up a striped or dotted fabric or do it in just plain black. Mostly leaning towards the tartan though!

Dots are super cute though!

On a similar note, I also want to make a simple brown skirt - either solid brown, a floral, or in a neutral pattern like stripes or plaid. Once again this is just to give me some more easy to wear options and there's not much more to say about it.

A while ago I also bought some black classical painting fabric to make an opulent classic dress. It probably won't surprise you to know that said fabric has been sitting in my stash for a few years now. My main problem with this, I think, is that I want to make something truly OTT and sumptuous, and I honestly don't think my sewing skills are at that level yet!

Beyond these projects, I have a lot of other ideas floating around. I always have ideas! But these are the ones that have metamorphosed from tenuous concepts to actual plans and therefore warranted blogging about. Hopefully I can make some headway in my newfound free time...and if I do, I promise I'll blog about it!