Approaches to Sew-Alongs and Challenges: Inspiration for Summer Sewing

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Hi all! Like many, I'll be participating in Zoe's Me Made June, and I've mentioned that the Summer Essentials Sew-Along accommodates other challenges and sew-alongs because it's so flexible.

I was new to the blogosphere when I created SESA last year so perhaps "challenge" is a better way of talking about it. Sew-alongs are typically when folks sew the same garment together and a challenge seems to be a motivational way to approach a self-built plan. But I do like sew-along since we are sewing together, and challenge feels like it's supposed to be difficult when the point is motivation and inspiration.

Either way, I wanted to share with you three recent approaches to sewing challenges I've thought were just brilliant, in hopes they may inspire you while you're coming up with your own list of 5-ish essentials. Many go over five, some clock in with less, hence the "ish." Alessa created a Flickr thread to share your list whenever you're ready!

Here they go:

The Colette Patterns Spring Palette Challenge

This is such a great way to approach a sewing challenge, with enough guidance and enough freedom to create community. In this opening post, Colette maven Sarai lays out the idea:

The idea is very simple. You choose an inspiring palette for Spring, then you sew a tiny wardrobe based on that palette. You choose the color palette, the number of colors, and the pieces you sew. The palette can be based around fabrics you already have (so you can use what you have), or you can do something new.

• Week One: Define your challenge. Gather inspiration, make inspiration boards, review fabric choices, pick your palette, and decide how many garments you’d like to sew from the palette.
• Week Two: Plan your projects. Choose your patterns, sketch out your ideas, and make a plan.
• Weeks Three through Ten: Sew! Make your mini Spring wardrobe, and share your progress with everyone else.

I loved the focus on color and creating an inspiration board that added a cohesiveness to sewing plans. You can view all the inspiration palettes here.

Looking at them, you can see each sewer has a specific style, an ethos if you will, that drives all of their individual projects. And the great thing is, you could use fabrics in your stash and create a sense of story around them. I may use a similar approach for SESA this year, and I understand Colette may do another in the fall.

Closing the Gaps Project
Thanks to SESA cohort, Sarah, I discovered Vintage Girl's Closing the Gaps Project. Here's a snippet about it:

A full closet, but still nothing to wear. Sound familiar? Since cleaning out my closet, the outfits I have for the summer and me-made-June clothes, are limited. I realized I had only done half of the job of cleaning out my closet. Now it was time to really look through my wardrobe and find the gaps. Gaps are those little annoying reminders that occur when you get dressed. It's when you realize that you don't have a blouse to go with that really great skirt.

Readers know that I'm I'll about having a gap-free closet, where the items within it serve you over and over. It's idealistic, but it's something I learned through the first Me-Made-May and that I brought into SESA, asking the question: What could I really use this summer? What garments would serve me again and again? The categories of summer wear are just ways to get you thinking about what you have and what you need.

The Closing the Gaps project is similar, thinking about where the gaps are and how you can fill them.

Sewing Through The Decades

From Debi of My Happy Sewing Place and Sarah of Rhinestones & Telephones. Debi explains it in this January post:

The basic thought is to challenge yourself to explore different time periods (which can be three years in one decade—1943, 1944, 1945) or several patterns across several decades (50’s, 60’s, 70’s). You can sew blouses, skirts, dresses, trousers…whatever you want! It will be fun to share our experiences in sewing from different time periods. The patterns can span both vintage and modern years.

I'll be the first to admit that I've had a love-hate relationship with vintage patterns. On one hand, I love them: they're gorgeous. On the other, they're hard. For a long time I lacked the sewing skills to approach them, as instructions are spare. And also, some styles can by iffy on me, who tends toward contemporary wear.

But now that I'm a better sewer, I'm ready to approach vintage again. What is it about these patterns that make me giddy, give me some wonderful sense of accomplishment? Perhaps it's the little details and the fit that differ from modern patterns. Perhaps it's the feeling that we have complete access to the history of fashion through our sewing machines.

This is a great approach because it gives you the opportunity to try your hand at vintage. I'm definitely going to up my vintage sewing this summer.

And more!

The approaches are endless. You could:

• Go an eco-friendly route and only sew with organic, natural fibers or use only reclaimed fabrics
• Do a self-drafted summer, where you take a whack at pattern drafting
• Do a stash-bustin' summer where you only use fabrics and patterns in your stash
• Create a mini-wardrobe for a summer vacation

It's entirely up to you, and I can't wait to see what you come up with. I'm working on my essentials list!

More ideas and approaches? Please share them! And as always, happy sewing.