Back to School sewing plan

It is that time of year again! Shopping for pencils, pens, paper, and various school supplies; endless hours at the mall trying to not spend all your money on school clothes. And the nervous excitement about the first day in a new grade.

My daughter is very much looking forward to the first day of 6th grade. We are in a new town so she is nervous about making friends, but she is ready to not be hanging out with her brother all day.

This year, I am making most of her back to school wardrobe. In June, we went summer clothes shopping for her and because she has gotten so tall, she is just straddling the children's and junior department and I have noticed the cost of her clothes have significantly gone up.

Making an entire back to school wardrobe is a little crazy if you ask me. I have done it once before and it was fairly chaotic. So this time I am trying to be more organized and deliberate about it.

I am choosing some basic patterns and making several duplicates in different patterns in order to get the foundation of the wardrobe established. And then, during the fall I will had more specialty items to give her basics more character and give her more variety.

My methods are also more assembly line style. I am following the advice of Melissa from Melly Sews and cutting multiple layers of the same pattern at one time. And I am stacking all my cut garments in piles according to colors.

Melly Sews

Right now I am in the midst of cutting knit shirts out. I have a stack of pinks, darks, and greys. I will then sew them up in that order so that I can minimize changing my serger thread. What this means is that I spend days cutting and not sewing a single stitch and I have to be careful to keep all the pieces together. But I think in the end it will be more efficient if not as much fun. I take great joy in finishing, so this is a serious practice in delayed gratification.

So what basics did I choose?

I have a vintage tee shirt pattern that my grandmother tested for Stretch & Sew in the late 60s that I treasure. I have a raglan version too that I have been using extensively for my son. (not yet a tween)

The most elaborate pattern I chose is the Mimi top/dress by a French Canadian designer Files a Maman. I am doing the tunic length with some silly fabric. Sally shared this dress as part of its debut blog tour HERE.

The Day Tripper top by Swhin &Shwin designs. This top is designed for women but and XS is just a little big on Abi and looks good as an over-sized top (previously reviewed HERE).

Next up is the Jalie dolman. I am so excited for this top. I have always wanted to sew a Jalie pattern and see what all the fuss was about. And this pattern comes in child and woman's sizes so once I have made Abi a couple, I will make one for me too.

Just about every tween girl loves leggings so I am adding a couple of those. I am using Dressage legging without the panel to make a neutral and a wild print pair (reviewed HERE).

Finally, I am sewing another Jalie pattern, the Drop Pocket Cardigan. Again, I think this will be on my sewing list for myself. But first I need to get all the back to school sewing done!