A stitch in time

Today I plan to make a foray into the world of sewing. I've sewn a lot in my life. There was a point where most of the boys clothing, and most of my own clothing was handmade. For most of the many years I worked in an office environment, my clothing was sewn. It was only the last 5 years that my sewing dwindled.

Working in the yarn shop this year I realize how much my clothing choices were tailored to fit that office environment. I have a lot of suit type things. Jackets to coordinate and match almost everything. I have several black jackets so I could have a variety of sleeve lengths. I never had to worry what fabric they were made from because the office was always cold. There were summer days where it felt like we were sitting an arctic cavern, and winter? Don't get me started on winter. Heavy sweaters were a must. A lot of my knitting goals were designed around that office.

Now that I no longer spend all my time in that office, I have come to realize, people don't wear long sleeved heavy polyester fabrics in summer. People have actual short sleeve shirts and blouses. People wear jersey knits. I mean really, for 15 years I did not know these things, because I worked in a cold space.

In the store, we work under normal conditions. It is warm (a mild understatement) on Mondays before the air conditioning cuts in. It is still warm the rest of the week, only not unbearably so. Cotton and linen are my new best friend. It is urgent that I have some cotton and linen in my wardrobe, and has been urgent for some time.

So today I'm starting with tops. One simple pattern, and two mildly more complex patterns. Next will be a couple of skirts from 2 different patterns, again, one basic and simple, and the other a little fancier and new to me. I hope to squeeze in at least one simple sleeved dress in there somewhere too. These are goals, mind so don't hold me to it.

Usually when I do a mass of sewing, I work up the main sewing, and get the garment bodies sewn together. I leave all the finishing to later for one long sit down session of hemming and button sewing. If you work off just a few patterns you can do an amazing amount of work in a very short period but I expect to have some finishing to do through the evenings next week.

Sewing is not nearly as much fun for me as knitting, crocheting and embroidery, but I do it because it is very hard for a plus sized person, such as I to find stylish garments at a price I want to pay. OK, that is not really true. I'm not into stylish at all. I'm into ordinary, I just don't want to have to pay 40 dollars for a simple lightweight polyester blouse that won't last a full season. I am so tired of paying big bucks for ill fitting clothing. I am so tired of clothing fitting my bottom but not my top, or my top but not my bottom.

I shop in the discount aisles and I watch for sales. Even when I wasn't sewing I shopped. So yes there is some stash here, and only a little new stuff. My choices tend to be plain and classic fabrics and colours, so I usually get away with a deep clothing fabric stash.

Really the knitting stash is just in its baby stages in comparison to the age of some of my other stash. Thank heavens for small mercies.

PS.

Thank you Kathryn for your comment about knitting machines. I love your website and I already learned a ton from you.