Saturday, December 31, 2011

SWAP 2012

The SWAP (Sewing With a Plan) has begun over on Stitcher's Guild, and I'm in. The emphasis for this year's swap is to make garments that are well-fitted and will become TNT (Tried and True) patterns. 2 garments can be previously sewn, and here are the basic rules:
Choose any seven garments from this list:


Button Down Shirt w/Collar
Blouse or shirt (collar is optional)
T-Shirt
Vest
Overshirt
Dress
Jeans
Trousers
Shorts or Capri Pants
Skirt
Jacket (jean jacket, windbreaker, hoodie, etc.)
Coat (suit or sport coat)
Overcoat or Raincoat
Bathing Suit & Coverup


From those seven, choose four to make twice for a total of 11 garments that will work together. Those four may either be repeated garments from the same pattern, or one each from two different patterns.

You can see the complete rules here.

I think I've only actually completed one swap, although I have attempted a few. I'm hoping to "make it work" this year. I did not do 2 of the garments ahead of time, so that means I need to really get busy. I did make a "practice pair" of the pants and the Licorice dress. I have also made the coat before, but it is much too big now. I think it was a little too big when I made it the first time! Wow, I just looked back through the blog to find the picture of the coat and realized that it's been 5 years since I made that coat. I guess it is time to replace it. The new one will be a plain taupe colored wool. However, I LOVE the fabric of my gray coat and wish there were some way to salvage it. I guess I could take the whole thing apart and try to recut it. That would probably all work fine except for the buttonholes will make it tricky to recut the coat. And, I don't know that I'd ever be able to match up the pattern again either.

Well, for this year, this is what I'm planning..



The Burda jacket I also made years ago. I'm thinking about taking the Classic French Jacket class at Pattern Review. The class is $53.00 for memebers. One of my early Christmas presents was the Threads archive DVD set, so I may just follow the instructions in the past issues of threads on how to make a Chanel jacket. I haven't decided yet, but need to since the class starts on Jan 5th.

4 comments:

Mariela Alethia said...

I will be cheering you on during the swap. Swap is a great sewing concept, however I've made so many attemps at swap and felt overwhelm and failed so many times. For all those sewist who have been succesful with swap "hurayyyyyyy".

Unknown said...

Why not make a cute handbag or laptop case from your old coat? That way you get to keep it close to you and still maybe change up the fabric on your new coat? Good luck on the swap - sounds intimidating to me...but I am more of a novice! :-)

Leah said...

So cool! I haven't seen a SWAP for a few years. Too fun! Happy 2012!!

Anonymous said...

I am with you with the SWAP. It is such an exciting way to begin to sew again :)

I like the way you put together your board.

M.