Monday, March 21, 2011

Some People Just Shouldn't SWAP

I've always found SWAPs fascinating.  Imagine owning eight to ten coordinating pieces.  Wow!  I was inspired by SWAPs I'd seen on blogs, on Stitcher's Guild and on Pattern Review.  I dreamed of the day I would sew my own SWAP.  I found a group of suitable patterns.  I found fabrics that worked together.  I finally started the SWAP I'd dreamed about. Then I woke up.

Sewing a planned wardrobe has not been as much fun as I originally thought.  I feel like I'm bogged down and plodding through quicksand.  So much is working against me.
  • I just don't have the temperament for a SWAP.  I prefer to work projects from beginning to end but I'll be bored to death if I stay with this SWAP.  I may have to put it aside in order to save my sanity.  I'm considering interspersing SWAP pieces among other projects.  Following this schedule, it might very well  be August by the time I finish my SWAP and that may make me crazier than if I stay with it until the end.  I do much better when I can make two pieces - a top and a bottom - and move on.  Two coordinating pieces is a SWAP in the broadest sense, isn't it?
  • So far, my blouse fabrics have not been user-friendly.  The print fabric is very stable and the sleeve caps didn't ease well.  The solid color fabric ravels and frays like crazy.  I basted a pleat, then by the time I got back to it the fabric frayed beyond the line of basting and the pleat had disappeared.  The fabric was heavily treated when I bought it.  I had no way of knowing it would fray so badly until I got it home and washed it.  Things will get better (I hope) when I get to the skirt, jacket and pants, which will be made from a lightweight wool crepe.  This brings me to the next problem.
  • Time has not been on my side.  Sewing wool crepe makes me think of Winter just when I'm finally seeing hints of Spring in southeastern Pennsylvania.  (It hasn't snowed in almost a month!)  After a miserable Winter,  I want to sew Spring fabrics.  I'm already looking ahead and planning pieces for PR Weekend in May.  Yet here I am, fussing with 5 yards of wool crepe.
Once again, I learned what I already knew:  SWAPs are not for me.  Maya Angelou has been credited with saying, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them."  I should have applied that advice to myself.  I showed myself to be a sewer who prefers sewing outfits, not wardrobes.  What made me believe I could sew an entire SWAP?

10 comments:

  1. I understand what you mean-- I tried one a couple of summers ago, and almost everything went wrong. Like I had to order all of my fabrics over the internet because I'm extremely limited in my store options where I live, and colors didn't turn out to be what I thought they would be, so things didn't match the way I'd hoped they would. The pattern styles ended up not working together as well as I'd thought either. I did successfully finish the jeans, and they ripped in an unrepairable fashion after wearing them 3-4 times (and before I'd even halfway finished the swap!) I ended up not finishing it. Honestly, I got bored and wanted to make things outside of that color scheme. I think I still have fabric for a pair of shorts that I never made, though I may get to it eventually, I have a bamboo skirt in a weird shade of brown that doesn't really go with anything I own, though I'm hoping to remedy that at some point. I had one crocheted item (which I had to get my mom to make for me), and the yarn color I had to pick because I thought it would match the most stuff was just plain ugly. Now that I'm teaching myself to knit, I unraveled the whole thing and am going to try and dye the yarn to be more fun.

    Though I'm trying to get better about making things that will go well in my pre-existing wardrobe (which is hard since I love crazy prints), I don't think that SWAPs are for me either. Though I may eventually give it one more go, just to see if it would go better with other patterns....

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  2. What if you sew it by outfit? Do one top/bottom/jacket then move to a different project and come back to the SWAP pieces and pick a skirt/top, etc. I tend to work this way when I read book series so I don't get bored. I read the first few, then a totally different book to refresh myself, and then I go back. You can do it! I know you can!!!!

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  3. Sometimes it's okay to put the fabric back in the bin and wait for the next season. If you need permission, then I'm giving you permission. Move on and sew spring because your hobby should make you happy not tense and uptight! :)

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  4. I couldn't agree more. A whole swap is too much stress on my brain. I like doing it in 2 tops to a bottom with a jacket. Not necessarily a jacket for every group because I don't need that many jackets. Or whatever strikes my fancy.

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  5. I am with you Elaray, I like the idea of a SWAP, my closet would appreciate the SWAP but I don't think I can do a SWAP. I get distracted too easily and move onto different things.

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  6. If it's making you crazy, walk away. This is what you do for fun. I've had that feeling when I dread going in to my sewing room because I really must finish something I don't want to before I can make something I do want to.

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  7. I know what you mean, I've been trying to pull together a "SWAP" sequence of items for the longest time, but I find it a bit frustrating. That makes me feel like I have to finish that sequence in order to go on. I like ot sew an item or outfit and move on. On the other I want a well coordinated closet "wardrobe" of clothes. So, I've actually been thinking of my problem another way. I'm looking at what I really need in my wardrobe and stick to colors (both plain & patterns & prints etc.) that look absolutely great on me and sew from these fabrics. I'm actually going through my stash pulling out some fabric that were impulse & oops purchases. I think I can work on the plan without as much structure as a "SWAP" in it's strictest sense and I'll pretty much have a pretty well coordinating wardrobe. OK, so this is my current thinking....absolutely subject to change. (See there I couldn't even commit to my current thinking....)LOL!

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  8. I used to sew SWAPs, but stopped when I realized that my personality is better suited to sewing individual pieces, outfits, or capsules. I like a lot of colors and different styles, and a SWAP is just too constraining for me.

    SWAPs suit some people, but they are not for everyone. Please know that those who don't complete SWAPs are not failures. I think it's a temperament thing.

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  9. Good for you! I think it's great that you know this about yourself, and are willing to move forward in a direction that best for you. I like the fact that you make complete outfits, rather than just random pieces. At least you know each piece has a coordinating top or bottom. Now, that wool crepe will still be there in six months, go sew something for spring!

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  10. I've completed a couple of SWAPS in the past, and have always really used the pieces. However, life lately has just not let me make this big of a committment to sewing, although I'd love to do it again. I'm hoping to finish one or two garments over my Easter break, but I'm going to have to SCHEDULE in sewing in bewtween all the other "must dos" on my list! Enjoy your time off coming soon :-)

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