Doctor T Designs

Since I’ve already blogged about my first six items for my Spring Sew Geeky plans, this post is a bit redundant, but I figured I’d repost my official Pattern Review 6-in-6 Wardrobe Contest entry here for posterity.

Wardrobe Contest Composite Review

Inspiration: At the start of 2018 I had made it my goal to sew with more intention this year.  Last year I participated in both the Pattern Review Wardrobe Sudoku Contest and made it to the finals of the Pattern Review Sewing Bee.  From the Sudoku Contest I learned that I really liked the idea of sewing a collection (though perhaps not the constraints of sewing to a 4×4 grid), and from the Sewing Bee I realized I really liked having a theme or inspiration to making my garments.  So for myself this year I hatched a plan to “Sew Geeky” – I’d make mini wardrobe capsules inspired by my geeky fandoms.  I spent January planning out my mini wardrobes – deciding on patterns, and a color scheme, and thinking about fabrics in my stash to use.  So when the 6-in-6 Wardrobe contest was announced, it fit nearly perfectly into my preexisting sewing plans, so I decided to enter.

For spring, my geeky inspiration was The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  I loved both the Disney movie and the book as a child, despite the bad rap it often gets.  I wanted to pull colors and design inspirations from the costumes, setting, and general feel of the movie.  My full wardrobe plans had more extensive colors and garment options, but for the 6-in-6 I decided to scale back to 1 neutral (black) and 2 accent colors (teal and purple), leaving out the brighter reds, blues, and yellows I had in my full wardrobe plans.  All of the items for this contest were part of my initial plans except the topper.  Since the goal was not to make full outer wear, I had to find a pattern that would meet the criteria of a “topper” but also fit in with my overall plans and theme.

On top of this, I wanted to sew mostly from stash.  The only fabric I specifically bought for any of these projects was the tencel I used for the Burda wide-legged pant, the jeans zipper for my Gingers, and the trim for the black Burda top.  I actually bought the fabric before the contest started (after I’d made my own wardrobe plans), but it wasn’t ever in my possession long enough to be considered “stash,” and I don’t usually consider notions purchases to be a problem if I’m buying them for a specific project.

For this contest I made the following items:

1 Topper:

BurdaStyle Magazine 03-2003-109A – Hooded Jacket

3 Tops:

BurdaStyle Magazine 06-2014-103 – Black Knit Top

Simplicity 3536 D – Purple Knit Top

Butterick 5388 C – Teal Top

2 Bottoms:

Burda 7195 – Purple/Teal Wide Legged Pants

Closet Case Ginger Jeans – Teal Jeans

Conclusion:  I am so happy I decided to do this contest!  Doing a mini capsule reconfirms my Sew Geeky goals for the year – I loved making all of these pieces!  Knowing that they would have items to go with them, and choosing details to be consistent with a theme was so much fun!  I do think the one let down in my mini wardrobe is the topper – I enjoy it with the jeans, but I do not think it coordinates quite as well with the wide-legged pants.  However, as a standalone item I think I’ll have it in heavy rotation; it is so comfortable!  All of the tops are awesome; I’m going to wear the heck out of them. The Burda pants are just so cool looking, and, I made jeans!  Overall I think my wardrobe is great, and I plan to extend it as I sew more of my planned Sew Geeky items.  I’m so happy that I decided to do this contest – now I have a core of 6 items (12 looks!) that will coordinate with the next several things I make.  This has been a crazy 6 weeks, but the end results were so worth it!