February Projects / My Travel Wardrobe Contest Submission

Although I have certainly had some #FAILS I'm proud of what I have been able to accomplish in just about a year of sewing. I've made dresses, skirts, tops, pants, followed patterns, self drafted, remade RTW items, installed zippers, learned to serge, done a blind hem and more. Still I want to continue to learn and challenge myself.So I set some 2015 sewing "resolutions" at the start of the year. This month I've managed to hit one, be well on my way to another and accomplish something that didn't even make the original list.

1. Sew buttonholes. Even though my machine has a autobuttonholer stitch this has been a sewing "fear" of mine. I finally tackled this while sewing my black and white duster/dress which, since I modified it, required 7 buttonholes. I first tried a few on scraps then jumped right in. I don't think any of them were perfect, but they function.
2. Sew 2 items/month. This was originally 1 item per week but I didn't want to set myself up for failure if a particularly busy week threw me off. Due to the contest I entered for February I was able to hit this by completing not TWO but FOUR garments plus one quick piece for my stepdaughter.
3. Enter a sewing contest. Last year I saw a few contests on Pattern Review that I wanted to enter but never did. I also failed to join a few monthly sewing challenges in the Facebook sewing group a part of despite good intentions. I even watched one of my favorite sewing bloggers, Sew Crafty Chemist, as she competed in Fabric Mart's five week Fabricista Fashion Challenge and thought "That's looks fun". There are a few reasons I didn't enter mainly I didn't think my stuff was good enough and I did not put aside the time to complete the pieces.

On to the contest. As I mentioned in a few reviews I entered Pattern Review Travel Wardrobe Contest. The challenge was to create a travel wardrobe for a real or imaginary trip to include 4 sewn pieces (during the contest period) and two other pieces (RTW or sewn before the contest period) .Then you were to style these 6 pieces together and create at least 5 different looks. This one really jumped out at me because it was a whole collection and therefore quite a challenge. Usually I just sew what I like and what I'm in the mood to make at the time. I keep a sewing to do list but this list gets redrafted often as I'm scatterbrianed sometimes and change my mind all the time. Additionally I actually had a trip coming up and really wanted to sew my entire wardrobe anyway. So the timing was perfect.I decided to have a black, white and red theme mainly because it's a classic combo. Who doesn't love black and white?! Also I love red and it added a necessary color punch. I ended up including a leopard print piece as well because I really treat leopard like a neutral and I felt it went with the other pieces. Here is what I made:M7099 - A white jumpsuit. I had planned on making this piece eventually anyway so it was a no brainer. I think its great for travel because its one piece (no matching), is knit (NO IRONING)  and can be layered (for unexpected southern cool spring weather). It can also be dressed up with booties, heels or sandals and a nice belt. Or dressed down with flats and a scarf belt. I was really pleased with this piece despite the fact I thought I hated jumpsuits on myself.Three looks!NL6735- Floor length duster/dress .I had wanted to make this since Mimi G did a sew along on Micheal Levine's blog. I did initially want to make this out of a bright floral or geometric print for spring but I chose the black and white geometric print to work with my color theme. I love the piece I think it turned out great despite my newness to buttonholes and the amount of ease I had to remove. The belt piece that comes with the pattern was very thin so I styled it with a belt instead.Three different looks!S1325- Leopard Jumper. This piece had been on my to sew list for a while but I had just never gotten to it. When I started thinking about the contest I realized it would be a great opportunity to sew it up. I altered the deep V neck to allow it to be worn as a sexy dress or a casual jumper. This gave me a two in one look with just one piece which was perfect for the challenge.Ankle Pants (self drafted) - Theses pants were going to be made anyway. As soon as I tried on a pair of black Merona pants from Target I knew I wanted a red pair (like I said I love red). However Merona didn't make the pants in red... houndstooth, army green, yes but not red. So I decided to deconstruct them and make myself a red pair. And that's what I did.M6844 - Polka dot peplum cardigan - I had made this some time ago but it's still one of my favorite pieces and since it fit the black and white them and could be paired with the pants and layered over the jumpsuit it was added.

• Black Tank - I had plans to do a reversible tank to add yet another look to my collection but I ran out of time :(. So I just threw in this black tank from Gap I've had for years to pair with the pants and wear under the jumper.

Well that's it!!! If you like my collection and you are a patternreview.com member (you can be a free member) please vote for me!!!! I really appreciate it.