The Great Sewing Challenge Begins **edited with a picture**

Alright, this may be a little, um, anticlimactic, but I have no personal photos to share in this post. My camera's little thingy that connects to the USB cord is broken. I'll let you guess which two people in this house may be responsible for its demise.

At any rate, the show must go on. I've decided that one project per month isn't really going to cut it. Mostly because when I started compiling the fabrics and patterns I really want to make, there were more than twelve of them. So some months I may post up more than one project.

Hopefully I'll be so organized and fabulous I'll actually finish one project before starting the next one, but I'm not making any promises.

The other thing I've decided is I want to try patterns that will somehow make me a better seamstress. Techniques that I haven't tried before or have avoided for whatever reason. This includes sewing with schmoozy fabrics like silk. And I want my finish work to be phenomenal, which would be a total change for me when I sew for myself. So there should be a lot of variety in the projects I choose and plenty of challenge to go around.

So, without further adieu...

Drumroll, please....

January's projects will be....

BurdaStyle's Kristen dress with short sleeve modification, line drawing pictured here.



If you click the link above, you can see a full color lifelike version of what theirs looks like finished.

I plan to make it out of this very lightweight British lavender striped 120s wool I got a while ago for a sickening $1.97 a yard. At another little boutique fabric store here in town the same fabrics sell for $100 a yard. Score!

This pattern calls for two contrasting fabrics for the collar and the front inset. I will be using either a pink or blue silk and cotton blend for the contrast.

The second project on January's list is the Jazz Hall skirt from Wenlan Chia's Twinkle Sews book. It's a fairly basic pencil skirt, but with triple layered bias cut flounces in contrasting woolens for the hem, it adds just enough sauce for me. I plan on making it out of charcoal grey wool with a Pendleton ivory and navy check contrast hem. Preppy chic.


As soon as I get the port thingy fixed on my camera I'll post pics of the fabrics and my progress.

Thanks for following this project and keeping me on task!

- H