Saturday, January 23, 2010

New Year, New Wardrobe


Well it is a new year and, as always, I have made a neat little pile of resolutions. Some, I have already broken (like stop eating so much sugar) but others, I really do plan keep! My most serious resolution is to sew myself a whole new wardrobe of clothes, all from vintage patterns. This blog will follow my attempts to recreate beautiful garments from "once upon a time"...
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While I think sewing a complete wardrobe of clothes in a year is definately achievable, what makes my plan particularly ambitious is the fact that I can't sew. I will be starting from the beginning and teaching myself stitch by stitch. I also understand vintage patterns are much tricker to use than contemporary ones (so you can rest assured many disasters will ensue!) but I have decided to use them because I have always preffered vintage styles. I love the sweet full skirts of the 50's, cute shifts of the 60's, flowing maxidresses of the 70's and crazy ruffles of the 80's and I can't wait to have a wardrobe full of them! I have ordered a whole bunch of patterns off Etsy (including the lovely ones above), which should start arriving in my mailbox next week. I plan to begin with the simplest ones and work my way up to the more complicated styles.
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I have wanted to sew my own clothes for as long as I can remember. About four years ago I bought a little sewing machine, with dreams of sewing pretty outfits, but after a couple of half-hearted (unsuccessful) attempts, I lost interest. Until now I have just lacked the motivation to give it another go, but recently, I have been so disappointed with the clothes available in stores. The prices go up and up and the quality goes down and down! I am also fed up with seeing other people wandering about in the very same clothes I have hanging in my cupboard! I want my clothes to be unique and I want them to be precious. I don't want clothes that are disposable, I want clothes that will endure the test of time. I want beautiful hand-made dresses that I can pass down to my daughter and when people say "I love your top! Where did you get it?" I want to be able to say "I made it!"
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I'm so excited about this project and I just can't wait to get sewing! Thanks so much for popping by and taking a peek. I know it is going to be a fabulous year, so do come back to check up on me often!