Tuesday 4 May 2010

Chosing from a wardrobe

Now that I have finished sewing, I need to take photographs for the Stitcher's Guild Sewing With A Plan challenge.
This is harder than it may seem, particularly as the only way I seem to be able to manage to fill the requirements of these plans is to sew more garments than are actually required. Now I have to choose.
This year, I was aware of my basic planning problems, and did not start out with a strict storyboard and list of patterns and fabrics. Instead I made a knitted cardigan first, and pulled out all the fabrics that I thought might co-ordinate with the cardigan. I started sewing outfits - a bottom and a top, pretty much as patterns took my fancy, only restricting myself to wovens, and "office suitable" patterns. This random tendency meant I had to meet the extra criteria (buttons as a feature and pattern or stripe matching right at the end- but I have already ranted about this and am trying to forget how tricky it became)
I ended up using mostly fabric I selected at the begining, only introducing some white batiste at the last stages.
I have 7 blouses, 6 bottoms, and 2 short sleeved cardigans from which to select 6 blouses, 4 bottoms, and one additional item.

SAM_0773

SAM_0775

SAM_0843

First I think I will exclude the non-photogenic items. One of the blouses has a slight rayon shiny stripe through it which looks smart in real life, but very tacky in every photograph so far. This is rather annoying as it is one of my favourite garments. Another 2 bottoms, made from the same fabric as each other, show every minor crease and wrinkle in photographs, but I may end up including one of them because I really like the topstitching.
Just to make things more tricky, the weather is very windy, and now raining.
I am almost sure that photography is harder than sewing.
I think this is the best wardrobe I have sewn so far. I wonder if it becomes easier with practice?

8 comments:

Rosa said...

gratulations! You should be very proud :)

Sue said...

It must be veryu satisfying to get all the items out and enjoy looking at your productivity!

Uta said...

Wow!! You may have something to do with my current obsession with blue. I would love to have/wear everything you've sewn! I hope you gave yourself a big pat on the back.

Vicki said...

What a great wardobe. Lots of options. Good luck with the photography!

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

I'm thinking you should win just by virtue of all the sewing you did! :) And I have a striped garment but I sure didn't do any fancy tricks with it...I had to make those requirements fit into my work atmosphere!

Mary Nanna said...

so many times people make great things which are not shown to their best by equally great photography.

Still, getting that great photography - doing hair and makeup - choosing the right background and taking lots and lots of photos - can be as much work as making the garment itself, which is where I shrug my shoulders and say, "that's all I can be bothered with."

hope things come together for you and you get photos worthy of the skill shown in your sewing.

Carol said...

I worked the same way, although I did start with a plan of sorts. I loathe the picture taking bit. I'm like Mary Nanna, I end up saying 'that'll have to do'.

Sharon said...

Your daughter has a wonderful wardrobe to choose from and you should be very proud of yourself.

I also think the photography is the hardest part.