Made By A Fabricista: The Grand Sewing Plan

Spring is everywhere you look! Full winter jackets and thick sweaters are no longer daily wardrobe requirements, and new spring fabrics are blooming at Fabric Mart! Every Spring, I try to make myself a new dress to celebrate the turn of the seasons, but this year I had a grand sewing plan to make 5 new spring garments.

It all started one day while browsing the Fabric Mart website. I saw an adorable cotton veggie print shirting fabric and envisioned it becoming a special little button-up shirt for my son to wear on Easter. The cotton veggie print shirting reminded me of the Peter Rabbit stories I used to read as a child and then all of a sudden I got carried away with my ideas.

My initial idea grew into a mother-and-son outfit coordination idea with button-up shirts and ended with an entire family outfit coordination plan. I ordered 2.75 yards of the cotton veggie print shirting fabric to make two button-up shirts and a tie.

Most sane people would have stopped there with the matching shirts and tie, but I felt the need to keep going. I searched the Fabric Mart website for something great to coordinate with the vegetable print fabric and I fell in love with a beautiful green smoke stretch denim. This green denim furthered my Peter Rabbit inspiration and had me envisioning a little green denim vest for my son to wear over the shirt. Since I have zero green in my wardrobe, I decided that I needed a denim skirt too.

You would think that making five garments would be expensive and would require a lot of fabric but I managed to make everything for just under $50. For the grand sewing plan to work, I only needed 2.75 yards of cotton veggie print shirting fabric, 2.25 yards of green smoke stretch denim, 1 spool of matching thread, and 1 pack of forest green lion buttons.

And just like that, I found myself sewing five new garments before Easter. Since my sewing time these days is limited to my son's nap times, I knew I would have to hustle to get everything accomplished on time.

The button-up shirt is the Little Lizard King Bayfield pattern in size 18 months. I made the straight-hem shirt with long cuffed sleeves and used metal snaps instead of buttons and buttonholes. This saved sewing time and also made it much easier to get my son in and out of the shirt.

The little denim vest is the Little Lizard King Benton pattern also in the 18 months size. I made welt pockets, perfect for storing a pacifier and other tiny treasures. The vest is closed with three of the lion buttons and is lined with the cotton veggie fabric matching the shirt.

My denim skirt is the Seamwork Sawyer pattern in size 10 with no adjustments. I love the design of the hidden pockets, the A-line silhouette, and the button closure. I used the remaining seven lion buttons on my skirt.

All three of those patterns included projector files, which prevented me from having to cut and assemble paper pattern pieces. This saved tons of time and allowed me to cut out my fabric in a jiffy. It also helped that the first three sews didn't require any pattern adjustments, so they ended up being fairly quick to make.

My husband's tie is the Sew Over it London Tie pattern which I've made multiple times before and lengthened by about 4 inches. I find that the additional 4 inches of length are necessary if you want the tie to be similar in length to a ready-made tie. Having the pattern pre-adjusted, pre-printed, and ready to use also made the tie a quick sew.

I saved my button-up shirt for last, knowing it would be the most complicated sew in my grand plan. I loved the Seamwork Romie blouse pattern but preferred the Romie bonus pattern with a button-up front instead of a notched front with ties. I wanted the blouse to have long sleeves due to the unpredictable nature of early spring weather. Unfortunately, the Romie blouse pattern only includes a short sleeve with gathers at the top and bottom, so I knew I'd have to make changes to the pattern if I wanted long sleeves.

I pictured my blouse having long sleeves with cuffs that you can tie into a bow. The Seamwork Bertie Dress has this sleeve design, and thankfully I own the pattern. To make sure the Bertie sleeve would fit on the Romie blouse, I grabbed a sheet of paper and traced the Romie sleeve head and armscye stopping at the bicep line.

Next, I used the Bertie Sleeve pattern piece and traced everything below the bicep line. This gave me a new sleeve. The sleeve head would be gathered, just like the original Romie sleeve, and my long sleeve would end with a lovely tie cuff, just like the original Bertie sleeve. One final adjustment was made to enlarge the original Bertie tie cuff to make the bow larger. With a newly drafted sleeve and enlarged cuff, I was able to make the long-sleeved Romie blouse of my dreams. The best part is that I finished it right before Easter!

Now that I've written and reflected on my grand sewing plan, I'm a little bit amazed that I was able to complete it on time and exactly as I imagined it. Making 5 new spring garments isn't for the faint of heart, but it was really fun to wear our coordinated family outfits to church on Easter Sunday. While we probably won't wear our coordinated outfits on the same day again soon, each item is versatile enough to be worn with other items from our wardrobes. Yay for my grand sewing plan coming to fruition!

SHAINA  |  @shaina_sews 

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Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: COTTON, SHIRTING, DENIM, & BUTTONS.