Category: JCC

 
After much deliberation I have definitely decided that the June Capsule Contest entry will come from grouping number 3:

I have found that I have quite a few things in my wardrobe and my stash that coordinate and work into this wardrobe and given the available time and my own tendency to distracted mental wanderings, this seems to fit the time best now.  This plan also calls for at least one TNT pattern and another garment based on a TNT pattern with slight modifications.

Although this collection will evolve into something bigger than the JCC, but the Capsule Contest provides the perfect jumping off point.

I can't get my story board attempt (version 1) to show up here so I will just go through my plans garment by garment.

All the garments discussed here are part of a collection but they will not all necessarily be part of the JCC, mostly because the more I look at the fabric and its coordinates in my stash, the more I realize that there are more than 4 pieces to this collection as it is evolving in my mind.  At the moment I am calling it either "Elegantly neutral" because I love the soft neutrality of taupe as a color, or "stones in the dessert" because the color also reminds me of dessert stone outcroppings.  Actually neither description probably fits but it is all my poor brain has come up with so far.   I hate naming collections. 

I would like to make this thin, mesh-like knit from Emma One Sock into a top with some soft draping.  I am hoping that it will work for something like the Sandra Betzina pattern shown in the photo.

I will need to make a muslin or this pattern before making the top to work out any fitting details as shoulders tend to be one of my problems, but from what I hear this is not a particularly difficult pattern to fit.

This is a lovely lightweight linen.  The subtle plaid still says pencil skirt to me, but I would hate the wrinkles in the linen and a pencil skirt would drive me up the wall.  Instead I am going to make my TNT pleated skirt pattern.  I will underline it with silk organza because I would like the skirt to have a little body and it would otherwise be rather limp (especially since I washed the linen) and it will be lined as well.

These two garments are the two definite players in my JCC submission.  I think I can do both of these.

Other options follow:

I want to make a skirt inspired by this Doo-Ri skirt.  I have been thinking about it, in various iterations, since I first saw it in a fashion magazine over the winter.  My first thought was going to be gray and purple organza, and that is still a possibility, but for this collection I am going to make this skirt in four shades of beige and taupe silk, using chiffon for the layers.

It should not be particularly difficult.  I think I can work from my basic pencil skirt pattern for the lining and silk underskirt, then I just have to add the layers of chiffon. 

So even though I don't really have a particular pattern, and I don't yet have all the fabric, some of which is on order, this skirt looks pretty much like it can be accomplished during June.

Then I get into the undecided part of my quest. 

I want to make a blouse inspired by this one.  I would use a chiffon that matches one of the layers in the Doo-Ri inspired skirt.  And rather than leaving it full through the body and belting it, I plan on reigning in some of that fullness with tucks at the waist, adding a little shape.

I definitely want to make this blouse.  I can probably find a pattern that will work for the silk under-layer.  But I will have to do some draping to get the outer chiffon layer to work just the way I want it.  That might take time and I don't yet know how much of it will be able to get done with the June deadline.

So far I am OK with the rules for the contest.  Both tops go with both skirts.

I also have fabric to make this jacket:

The fabric is a stretch cotton from Emma One Sock.  I am going to line it with a soft yellow stretch silk charmeuse.

The pattern doesn't look that difficult so I might be able to pull this off if I can't quite manage the chiffon.  However I will also have to make a muslin before cutting the jacket fabric. 

So the choice is really whether my time and my attention span is adequate for draing the chiffon blouse, which may be easier but the fabric is more difficult to work with, or doing the jacket.  The cotton fabric should not give me many problems, and hopefully the jacket is easy to fit as well.  But I am always a little reluctant to count on those "should be easy to fit" plans.

If it all falls apart, I also have some taupe silk knit that is destined to be made into a simple tank or sleeveless top which will also work with both skirts.

So, I joined the June Capsule Contest over at Stitcher's Guild and I have been struggling to put together a workable capsule.  The problem is not that there is nothing I want to sew, more like there is so much that I want to sew but it is scattered all across the map in terms of styles and garments.  Many things don't work into a capsule that fits the required parameters, or is too complicated and will require several muslins or attempts at creating the perfect pattern, and I really am trying to make this as stress-free as possible.

I had three basic ideas in my head, involving three groups of fabrics (click on photos to enlarge in another window):

FIRST IDEA
  You might recognize three of these fabrics from my recent trip to Fishman's in  Chicago:

Clockwise from the upper left:
>blue duoppioni for a blouse
>blue/brown linen for pants and a jacket
>darker gray organza for a blouse
>Gray wool/silk fabric from Michaels (a while ago)

The problems with this plan are:

!. I haven't refined the pattern choices

2.None of them are TNT's (I know this much)

3. I think I would like the glen plaid in a pair of pants but fitting them will take a while due to issues in pants fit and wandering side seams I have in all pants.  My previously refined technique works for solids but not for plaids or stripes.  I have an idea that I am pretty sure will work, but I have not begun to test the technique so a contest might not be the best time.

SECOND IDEA

My second plan revolved around this printed linen/cotton blend fabric that I picked up from the sale table at JoAnn fabrics a couple of years ago.  It is a home dec fabric and therefore has its issues, but I absolutely love the print and the colors.  I want to make a casual jacket but once again I haven't picked out a pattern.  For this piece I suspect I am going to have think of a few likely choices, and then I am going to end up laying the pattern out on the fabric and figuring out which shape style I like best with the print.

Below the cotton are two pieces of silk matka which match the colors in the print perfectly.  The green will be a sleeveless shell of some sort.  I plan to use the red for a dress. 

I believe that the jacket fabric will work with all kinds of light colored chino and khaki-type summer pants or white, but obviously to form a capsule, I need at least one more piece and I haven't yet found the perfect coordinate.

Well, there is one possibility:

The middle piece of fabric in this photo is another silk matka, this one is a greenish gray and I think it works with both of my first two capsule plans.  It works well with the Michael's wool and although it doesn't match any of the colors in the JoAnn floral print, to my eye it seems complimentary.

Of course, if I use the gray-green, which capsule do I work with?  I am sure that I am going to make something with these groupings, but at the moment I am really having trouble focusing my attention on just what I am going to make.

So perhaps my best choice, for the June Capsule Contest, at least is to go with option number 3:

THIRD (AND MOST SUCCESSFUL) IDEA

Again, here are more of my Fishman's fabrics, as well as many of the fabrics that I had swatched for my trip to Chicago.  From the top Center:

>two pieces of pink/coral silk duoppioni for a blouse  
>yellow/gray/coral cotton/spandex print from Emma One Sock.  Jacket weight.
>light weight linen from Michael's. 
>light weight knit from Emma One Sock
>taupe silk/linen/nylon rainwear.

This grouping is coming together much better in my head at the moment. 

I know I want to make a skirt out of the Michael's linen.  The weave of the fabric says "pencil skirt" to me but the light weight and the fact that it is linen tells me I need something with a little more volume.  I have two or three patterns in mind which will work and I can narrow my choices from there.

I also have good ideas as to what top I want to make with the deep taupe floral knit from Emma One Sock.

I have plans for another skirt and a blouse which will work with these fabrics, but I don't have all the fabrics out yet and there is one fabric I need to order. The two tops would work with both of the skirts so that should not be a problem.  The skirt could be adapted from my basic pencil skirt pattern.  The blouse will have to be draped, but will hopefully not be too difficult.

I could also make a jacket using either the rainwear or the printed cotton.  I will make both jackets eventually, but I need to refine pattern choices, and I suppose I need to commit to which garments will be my contest entries. 

More as I refine my plans.