Summer sewing plans

At the moment, it seems like we, in the Netherlands, will skip spring altogether this year. We went from cold winter-on-its-last-legs to summery warmth in what seemed like just a week. So, if you wondered why I never formulated any spring sewing plans, there's one of the reasons. At least that cold I had last week is almost gone now.

The other, maybe even more important, reason is that I find it hard to communicate my plans. Because I make my own patterns, my sewing plans can be pretty changeable right up to the moment I start drafting. Of course, that hasn't stopped me from sharing my plans before but it adds an extra challenge.

I'm not good at sketching. I usually draw a few rough lines with the aid of a technical croqui. I can make proper technical drawings in Illustrator but that takes a lot of time. Time which, at the moment, I either don't have or would rather spend sewing.

I have also learned, by reading other blogs, that some people a

re put off (put off commenting or even put off reading) by bloggers who make their own patterns. They feel kind of left out because even if the garment makes them think "I want one of those" they can't get the pattern. I can relate to that, but not so much that it makes me change my ways. As much as I love getting comments, I don't think anything could make me give up on drafting my own patterns. I will, as I have before, try to make how-to's of those projects which don't really require personalized slopers or advanced pattern making skills. It's a lot of work, but I think it is also a nice way to share some of my projects (and I especially love it to hear back from those of you who used my how-to's).

When work gets a little less busy, I am planning to make a tutorial or a (on Burdastyle) downloadable pattern of the loose fitting top I made recently.

Well, on to those plans then. I addition to the issues I raised above, I also think it is almost impossible to do any justice to a piece of fabric in a photograph. However, these are four fabrics which I intend to use soon.

From left to right, the blue and white print is fairly stiff cotton. It is actually a kimono-like garment, put together from narrow uncut lengths of fabric. I plan to make a fitted dress from it, but I don't have a sketch I'm really happy with yet.

The second one is a dark blue silk blend of which I want to make either the jumpsuit sketched on the right or a complete rip-off of that YSL one.

The two other sketched jumpsuits are more hypothetical. There's a 50's-style playsuit which might be nice in cotton or linen. And there's a rather serious pattern making challenge: a jumpsuit in which one would use a fold in the fabric to close it and bring in the shape.

The third fabric is a textured cotton I bought last year, with a bold print. I want to make another big skirted dress from it. I know I probably already have more 50's dresses than I need, but I love them and I think such a design would suit this fabric very well.

The fabric on the right is a slightly heavier beige cotton. I want to make trousers from it. One pair high waisted with straight or wide, long legs, the other one belt pleated and tapered with a front fold which is also used as the closure (sorry, no pictures).

As usual, there are many more things I would like to make, several of which I need in my wardrobe more than any of the above and added to that there is stuff I promised to make for other people. So, we'll see what gets done. But these are all things I want to make. What about you? Do you plan by chaos theory, like me? Anything you're specifically interested in right now?