Thursday, February 3, 2011

Plans for spring

I’ve read it on several other blogs from sewista’s in the northern hemisphere too: I’m soooo tired of winter. We don’t have snow anymore, but it’s cold, the days are often grey and cloudy. I do notice that the days are getting longer, it’s always such a pleasure to notice that.
Right now I’m working on a lingerie set, but mentally I’m preparing for spring sewing. Time to dive into my closet with fabrics and see what I have to start with. Quite enough, don’t you think? I’m not committing to not buying fabric, as that is a commitment I’ll certainly break (especially as a Pattern Review gathering is planned in Brussels in April. A visit to the Antwerpen fabric market is part of the plan!).
There are more plans than time probably, but I’d like to start with two capsule plans for the moment. The first one is in light colors: top left will be a Chanel style jacket, to the right is a beautiful cotton with a woven stripe that’s hardly to be seen in the picture. It will be a blouse, just like the silk below it, which I bought in New York last August.
Bottom left is an ivory fabric that will be a pair of pants. The plan should be extended and should probably include a few simple knit tops and another bottom.


The next plan is very different in color. More bottoms than tops at the moment: the brown top center is heavy bottom weight cotton. I’ll probably try another style of pants with these, there were so many nice ideas in the Knip Modes of past months. Bottom left is a linen/silk blend for a pair of pants, bottom right a  linen that will be a skirt. Top right a knit fabric for a t-shirt and top left a more or less sheer fabric for a tunic. Probably a tunic from Knip Mode, think it was in the issue of September.
Other patterns still to be decided upon, it was just nice to get out the fabrics and see that I had quite a bit to get started for spring. My own impression from my fabric closet is always that I have too many dark fabrics and it surprised me to find enough fabrics for two plans that are not mainly black or have to be worn with black.


ETA: you were all right about the last project: nothing ventured, nothing gained. It's what happens.
And Shams asked whether there is a source for old Knip Modes. Alas, the online shops that sell Knip Mode usually only have issues till a few months back. The September 2008 issue is not to be found anymore. There is a local site (I assume that Craigs list is something similar) where people sell their stuff and regularly older items are sold. But it's only in Dutch.

21 comments:

  1. Pretty fabrics. We have no colors where I live in Michigan. Just gray and white. That's it. Gray and white. Blah.

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  2. Beautiful colors! I'm from Michigan too, funny how two of us from there are posting about needing color! I love the turquoise grouping. It reminds me of the ocean.

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  3. I too am getting sick of winter. I bought double knit wools yesterday but knew I wouldn't be making them up until Fall 2011 because I am sick of winter. Bleh.

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  4. What great taste you have , they all tone so well with each other .

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  5. Pretty fabrics. I love he turquoise with gray. In fact I have an animal print in those colors. Pretty for spring.
    I am sick of winter as well and as soon as that damn coat is done it's spring all the way.

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  6. Sick of winter is an understatement. Unfortunately, I'm very bad at actually anticipating seasons in my sewing, it just emphasizes how icky things are at the moment. I should work on it in this direction though, where the expectation is improvement :-).

    I would like to point out that I've had some success ordering things from Holland and such places where I'm totally ignorant of the language with the help of translate.google.com. They're hopeless at specialized vocabulary like what sort of wool this yarn is, but if you've got something very specific (and especially printed) you can find it, and they're just fine at translating standard stuff like 'shipping method' and 'billing address'. Don't be shy about the foreign sites..

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  7. I first noticed the days getting longer yesterday! It is such a relief. But February is usually the worst month of winter here in DC so I am bracing myself. Can't wait for Spring!

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  8. Pretty pretty pretty - those capsules will look lovely together. I bet it was fun to go in to your stash and put them together.

    Now here we have the opposite problem. I am over summer. This morning we all woke up at around 5 am because the house was too hot to sleep in so we had to put on the air conditioning before we could go back to sleep! Yesterday we had 94% humidity but temperatures were mid 20's so it wasn't too bad - it still feels very sticky though.

    Looking forward to autumn very much, with its cool crisp settled days.

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  9. I love the colours of the second group of fabrics, especially the top left is really beautiful. Where did you get that fabric? Ik ben ook weer heel benieuwd naar de nieuwe lingerieset, leuk. Hoop dat je die ook weer laat zien.

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  10. Here too we are tired of the winter.

    Love the turquoise fabrics.

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  11. Sick of winter...hm. This week, I'm just sick. In sewing, I'm working on, slowly, on what will become a suit. That's winter-y. So are the ideas for coats which keep coming up... but not so the day dreams of bright big-skirted dresses...

    About the Knip modes... I thought knipmode.nl used to offer the option of backordering old issues. And for anyone trying to buy from a Dutch-only site: emailing the seller in English usually works.

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  12. What a wonderful colours! It was good to read about it.

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  13. Love, love, love the turquoise set.

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  14. Thanks for that info, Sigrid. It's as I thought, though maybe one day I can find it.

    Those fabrics are pretty, especially that boucle, but I'm not ready for spring sewing yet!

    No no! ;D

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  15. Lovely fabrics. Can't agree more with Valerie's comment about extreme climatic events. I have been living through Sydney's heatwave. Peaked at 42.6 degrees celcius.

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  16. These color combinations look sophisticated and so chic. We were visiting model homes yesterday to make some of our own home decorating decisions. The turquoise and grey tones were everywhere, looking so modern and cool. I'm joining the AU and NZ people since Fort Myers Florida was the warmest spot in the USA last week. But even here the birds are starting to chirp looking for springtime mates.

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  17. Beautiful fabrics. Great combinations.

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  18. Hallo,
    This is the first time I read your blog.Personally, I really like the Dutch fabric way more as the fabric here in Canada. What I do, search for a clothing store and see what kind of skirts they have and made them myself. We ordered some clothing for the girls at www.fashionforthefamily.nl and you can read it also in the English. It is not always cheap,but is was in sale.
    But I don't like the patterns here and don't talk about the measuring of the patterns.Once I tried a size 12 and at the end it was horrible at the end.
    And for sure I miss the fabric markets,I'm Dutch but we love this side of the ocean way better.
    Love, Wilma

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  19. These are pretty colors. Grey is a great basis to combine with anything from red to even yellow. And your turquoise selection really looks fresh and bright. Spring cannot come fast enough for me, too. In Germany we're probably having the same weather as in the Netherlands and it's about time for some sunshine!

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  20. Very pretty fabrics! We've had unusual weather here in northern California --- it has been spring-like and nearing 70 degrees F for the past couple of weeks, which has made it difficult staying indoors to sew! Unfortunately, though, things are changing back to normal and we'll have rain again this week.

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  21. Two very nice capsules! Blue and turquoise are supposed to be big this year.

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