Hi! You may have seen the recent blog post I did for Roz over at Sew Much Fabric; a couple of people wanted to know how I got so much sewn all at once! That’s eleven pieces I got done, in just about 10 weeks.
The answer is – I did it in steps. And a lot of planning….
First step – what do I need, and how best to get it? Roz suggested simple TNT patterns with familiar fabrics so the process would be pretty painless. To the pattern stash Robin!…
Second step – selecting all the fabrics. Everything was in my stash, save the cotton lawn for the two-piece dress, and the yellow knit. So those were ordered, along with any notions like matching thread that I needed.
Third step – prepping all the fabrics. A few were pre-washed, most weren’t. But they all went into the washer, and most of them went into the dryer, so not a lot of ironing or line drying.
Next – cutting it all out! Since many were the same patterns and similar fabrics, it was easy to layout, cut out, then load up the next fabric on my cutting table.
Afterwards, sewing! I used my serger as much as I could. In fact, the tees were all done on the serger and coverstitch, and even the skirts were all done on the serger, except for a bit of hand sewing and waistline topstitching (did you know you can do a blind hem on your serger? Yup…) Same for the pant and shirts; serged seams, then “faux-felled” with topstitching on the sewing machine.
The only exception to all this speed and coordination was the butterfly blouse; it was new, the pattern was a bit of a puzzle, and I thought it might frustrate me. (Which it did; I haven’t gotten cranky and teary-eyed over a pattern in a long time.) I started it early on, went slowly, took my time, then took a one week break from it all so I could get back in a good place to finish the remaining sewing.
And now, I’ve got all my sewing done, I can relax and make myself some matching travel bags for shoes, my shave kit, perhaps even more hair scrunchies for the beach!
Kasey Sasser Embroidery and Gifts 