sewing plans: winter 17/18

My autumn sewing plan worked out really well. Excluding the "maybe" list, only the fancy purple dress went unmade - you haven't seen my Shakespeare dress or Patrick's dressing gown yet, but they have been made and will be posted next week and after Christmas respectively. Working to a longer and more ambitious plan was actually way more helpful than my usual five vague things, as was having almost all the fabric and patterns ready and waiting in my stash. Initially I said that if this worked out I might move to twice-a-year planning, but I'm not going to do that. For a start, the dozen things on my autumn list took me almost exactly three months to make and I might as well as accept that as long as I'm ill and have a lot of spare time, I will be sewing a lot of things. So my new approach is going to be to start writing my three-month plans much further in advance to allow me to collect up at least 90% of what I need before the season starts.

This winter plan has more or less written itself, and it's very different from the autumn one. I have a decent selection of easily-paired, richly-coloured pieces and I've got no interest in reworking it all for the next three months. I'm quite happy looking like a peacock. So for this season, rather than coming up with outfits and concepts, I'm focusing on a few specific categories that need beefing up a bit. I will almost certainly make a few simple tops/skirts/dresses over the next few months when fabric leaps out at me, but in terms of planning, I'm looking at three areas: outerwear, loungewear, and toiles.

For visual reference, here is the world's quickest composite of the patterns I already know I'm using:

(given that they're all completely different types of garment, I'm assuming you can tell which is which)

Outerwear

- A vaguely MaxMara-type winter coat. I've wanted something like this ever since I first saw a MaxMara coat, and I've never been able to find the right pattern. For the first time I've seen a couple of things that might be close; I'm waiting to get a proper look at By Hand London's new coat pattern, and I've also seen a Burda I like (though that would require grading and I don't know if I can be arsed). The lack of a longer coat has been the one thing I'm most aware of missing in my wardrobe, so this is my number one priority.

- A cropped jacket made of pale pink suede. I bought the suede ages ago when I realised that some of my outfits really need a lighter-coloured jacket to go with them, but I've been putting off making it because I can't decide what pattern to use. I'm not totally sure the Lupin will look right in this fabric, but also I can find literally no alternatives. I want to get the jacket made, though, so if I'm not struck by inspiration in the next couple of months, a Lupin it will be. I'm open to suggestions, though!

- A ridiculous Vogue cape. I'm not sure that this one will get made because I don't actually know if I'd wear it, but as soon as I saw it in Vogue's new releases, I shouted "Oh my God I want it" at the screen. I think it will depend largely on being able to find the right fabric and buttons (especially buttons, because I am NOT a button person and they'll have to be very specific for me to think about wearing them). I am definitely in the market for some sort of unnecessary flamboyant outerwear, mind you, so if this doesn't happen then something else will.

Loungewear

- A dressing gown for myself. I've made two toiles of a Butterick pattern for Patrick's Christmas present robe so far, and I made the second one using a cheap fabric I really liked so that I could use it as my dressing gown. Except that hasn't worked, because it looks terrible on me. I'm going to have a go at Vogue 8888 and see if a womenswear-specific robe is any better. (It might just be the pattern. I have THOUGHTS about that Butterick pattern, and you're going to hear ALL of them after Christmas.)

- A nightie that matches the dressing gown. This is lower priority, but I quite like the idea of a matching set so I'm planning to get extra fabric for the purpose. I'll probably have a go at one of the two included with Vogue 8888, though I haven't decided which yet.

- A sweater knit cardigan for chilling in. I want to try the Papercut Circle top, which intrigues me; I bought it from Sewbox on the strength of the photos, but it looks very much like Papercut has erased its existence from their actual website, so I'm now wondering what's wrong with it. I'm going to give it a go anyway, but definitely not with anything more expensive than £2 per metre Walthamstow sweater knit.

- Some more pyjamas. I'd like a few pairs of jersey pyjama bottoms, and a couple of tops with different sleeve lengths that I can mix and match with them. I want colourful prints for the bottoms (most of which I have) and solid neutrals for the tops.

Toiles

- Vogue 8814. I think this is an absolutely beautiful evening dress, and ideally it's what I'd like my expensive silk crepe to be, but there is so much potential for a pattern like this to go wrong. I've basically already decided that it's going to be a disaster, but I own the pattern so I'm going to try it, goddammit. I found some very cheap but very pretty green satin-type stuff so it can be a wearable toile if it works but I won't cry if (when?) it doesn't.

 - Victory Patterns Esther trousers. Similar to above, I think the pattern is stunning but I'm not sure if it'll suit me. I so want it to, though. I want to be that cool.

- A shorter Named Kielo with sleeves. I downloaded the free sleeve add-on ages ago but never got around to trying it out. It would be nice to have a version of this pattern I can wear for more than a few weeks a year.

- Simplicity 1370 skirt. I really need a wider range of skirt patterns I like, and step one is to try out a simple mini. If it works, it'll probably be a good pattern for using up leftover fabric, and if not, I'll try something else. My plan for the next year or so is to find at least three other skirt patterns that work for me.

- A woven T-shirt from a personal block. I have a metre of black silk hanging around and I'd like it to become a super-basic, fairly loose-fitting top, so I'm going to have another go at drafting one myself.

- Pants! I've bought a Jalie PDF of men's and women's underwear, and I'm going to have a go at both. I don't expect to start making all my underwear, but it seems like a reasonable way to use up jersey scraps and I'd like to see if I can do it.

Again, this is about a dozen things, which seems to be a good number. I still need fabric for most of the things in the loungewear section, which I think ought not to be too difficult to find (I also don't have cape fabric, but that's going to be a buttons-first shopping job anyway). I've not had a great week for various reasons up to and including credit card fraud (YAY) so I'm hoping to be able to channel all my feelings of YARGH into some early productiveness.