Sewing for Spring/Summer: Inspiration and Planning.

I don’t know about you, but my normal sewing planning process looks like this:
“That’s a cute fabric! Let’s make X out of it!”
And I make the garment. The end.

Now let me be clear, there is nothing “wrong” with this process. I get exited about a fabric or pattern and make a garment I’m happy with. But it does lack planning. It’s the reason why I have a lot of dresses and no inspiration for matching tops with certain skirts. So I decided I need to plan my sewing better.

I started this last autumn. Inspired by the a-ma-zing sewing in collections by Emily Hallman. I decided that I wanted to sew more in color themes so things would match more with each other. I decided to focus on autumn colors with burgundy, dark green and an ocker yellow accent.

This kinda worked. I went to the fabric market, bought fabrics in these colors and made a few garments that actually work well together. So for spring/summer I decided to take it up a notch and plan more elaborately.

This is still a work in progress but I thought it would be fun to share my progress so far.

I started by thinking about the things I already have (patterns and fabrics) and things that are on my to-sew list. Then I also thought about things that I feel I need in my closet. And then I thought about things that would combine well.

I came up with the following:
– a navy blue skirt
– a navy blue top
– an ocker yellow skirt
– striped lemon top/blouse
– blue cotton with lemons dress with green accents
– white and pink flowers dress
– deep purple Jenny pants
– light blue (cropped) Jenny pants
– striped dress from black folklore fabric
– pink/red cardigan

To visualize this for myself I printed the line drawings of patterns I want to make and colored them in to resemble the colors/print I want to make them in. (most of the things listed above are in here.)

The navy blue skirt and top can be worn combined to resemble a dress but the navy top will also look good with the ocher skirt. The striped lemon blouse will look good with both skirts but also with both of the pants. And the pink/red cardigan will look good on many of the things on my list, including most of the dresses.

Writing this list down, I know it is very long. But it’s only March So I’ll have a good few months to sew all of this 😉 Also some of these are quick projects like the skirts. Others will require more time like fitting the pants. But there is no rush and if I decide to drop a project it won’t be a big deal for me.

There will also be projects that are not on this list because I can’t resist a nice fabric or get inspired for something along the way. And that’s oké. I’m not going to deny myself anything. I just will focus more on things that fit into my plans or save the fabric for another time.

For some of these projects I already own the pattern, fabric or both. For others I will have to shop. But the fabric market is around the corner and my shoppinglist will be ready!

I’m looking forward to sewing for the warmer weather, it’s always a more inspiring season for me then the dark days of winter. I also just booked a holiday for the end of the summer and am already dreaming about light dresses and kimono’s to wear to the beach!

Do you plan your projects? Does this inspire you to do so? I would love to hear how you plan your sewing!