Monday, December 14, 2015

Effects of the 2015 RTW Fast

Friends, I know that I haven't talked about it a lot throughout the year, but most of you know that I was a participant in the 2015 RTW (that's "ready to wear" for any new to sewing blog readers) Fast hosted by Sarah Gunn of Goodbye Valentino.  What that means is that for the entire year of 2015 I did not purchase any clothes.  I made everything.

Luckily, I didn't need a new bra this year, because despite the luck many of my sewing friends are having with bra making...I am not interested!  Whole engineering classes are built around bra design, so don't tell me it isn't rocket science.

I have done well with the fast.  I haven't purchased any clothes for myself all year long (but there are some sweaters on my Christmas list).  My husband bought me a beautiful red Calvin Klein dress for our anniversary, and that is the only garment that I have received this year.  I have to admit that it was a nice fit.  Could have used a small FBA, but other than that it was divine.  Please ignore all the garage junk in the picture!

Dress by Calvin Klein

When I thought about joining the RTW fast at the end of last year, I thought that I would end up buying a lot of accessories.  Shoes, purses, jewelry.  My thought was that while I couldn't buy clothes I would bulk up those areas of my wardrobe.  The truth is the RTW fast has curbed my consumerism as a whole.  I think that is a trend I see happening in our life more and more anyway, and I will expound on that more at a later date.

I haven't purchased a lot of fabric.  I certainly haven't been hoarding it the way I was in 2014.  The fabrics that have been bought have been sewn into garments almost immediately (for the most part).

As the RTW fast is coming to an end, I have started to peruse some of the places I would buy clothes in the past.  I realize that I may now be ruined for buying clothes off a rack.  As I look over the sea of clothing, all I see are shoulders that are going to be too big, combined with hips that will be too small.  I see issues that no amount of tailoring will fix.  Will I ever be able to purchase RTW again?  I am sure that there will be items that I will feel fine taking what is offered on the racks, but for the most part, I will be making my own clothing from here on out.

I never got around to making my dream bathing suit.  That will have to be one of 2016's projects, I suppose.  There were a few other items on my sewing list that didn't get made as well, and they too will be pushed to 2016's list.

All in all, the RTW fast has been very positive for me, and I encourage any of you who are considering it, to take the leap.  It's only a year, and there aren't any RTW police coming around to give you a ticket if you have to buy something.  Your sewing skills will grow, and you might even save a little money.



Friday, December 11, 2015

The Misty Jeans Sewalong Winner Is....

Andie from Sew Pretty in Pink!  




Congratulations to Andie, as well as the rest of the women who were brave enough to share their pants!  Fantastic job everyone!!!

Friday, December 4, 2015

Misty Jeans Sewalong Voting

Friends, forgive me.  I have been a bad blogger.  I didn't send out a reminder that the time to enter the Misty Jeans Sewalong was coming to an end.  Now, here we are days in to the voting stage of the contest, and I have not made mention of that either.

Go vote here for your favorite Misty Jeans.  You can vote through December 10th.  Let's show these ladies some love!!!