Stash-Bust 2011: Eggplant Tweed Jacket

(So those super-easy pajama pants I was making? They're now in the "I don't know what went wrong but these are totally not what I wanted and now have to be completely ripped apart and remade" pile...otherwise known as "April's Sewing Room Graveyard" because I never seem to get around to working on the stuff in it. Anyway...moving right along...)

My next project (for myself, anyway...after I finish the two pillows and four Roman shades I got from my boss today to work on) is going to be a jacket/coat made out of this eggplant and fuchsia plaid tweed. I think it will be quite a "statement" garment. Hopefully, I'll be brave enough to wear it when I get it done! ;-) I got twelve yards of the fabric at the Hancock's going out of business sale for $1.20/yd. (I had to buy the whole bolt.) I've already made a knee-length, four-gore skirt out of it, but I feel like the fabric is just begging me to make a jacket, too. And no, I will not be wearing the skirt and jacket together. That would be too much of a statement (somewhere along the lines of "I have no taste!!!").

To be honest, I'm pretty much petrified of this project. Maybe that's a good thing, since my pajama pants project, which I was so confident about, turned out so wrong. If I know and acknowledge that I don't know what I'm doing, maybe I'll be more careful. While I'm using the pattern in the picture (princess-seamed jacket with a single row of buttons and collar), I'm planning on making some changes and constructing it following the instructions in Claire Schaeffer's Couture Sewing Techniques. That means I'll be doing backings and interlinings and linings and all kinds of other scary things. I've never made something tailored before, so I have that "fish out of water" feeling.

And hopefully I'll get it done before spring! Wouldn't that be novel?

Hello, 2011

Dear little sewing blog, how I have neglected you! It's not that I haven't been sewing...I just haven't been blogging about it! And, dear me, how you do desperately need an overhaul!

In honor of the new year, I am making just a wee little resolution about my sewing. What with the drain being a full-time student has on my finances, I know that buying new fabric will not really make it in the budget this year. That's okay, though, because I have so many bins of fabric, not to mention the entire bolts of fabric I bought when our local Hancock's went out of business. (What a sad day that was...but at least everything was 90% off!)

My first project will be a highly complicated and technical pair of.........pajama pants. ;-) I actually have never made any before, but after this past week's contract job (six roman shades with accent banding along the tops and sides that took me probably 30 hours start to finish), I'm looking forward to a simple hour or two, instant-gratification job. The fabric is a blue and black plaid flannel that I bought eight years ago to make...something...I can't remember what.

Also on the roster of other projects are a couple of summer dresses. I will be accompanying my sister to a conference in North Carolina this summer, and I'd like to have a couple of new dresses to wear. At least one of these will be out of my Hancock's stash, and I'll see what I can dig up for the other.

Are you planning any stash-busting projects this year? I'd love to hear about them!