It’s been a looooong time since I’ve sewn.. I’m not sure how it happened (well, maybe I do.. lots of visitors, and traveling for the holidays) but I am ready to jump back in. I’ve been eying a patchwork dress for years. If I had to guess I’ve been saving pictures of patchwork dresses since 2021 and I’m finally ready to give it a shot!

If I were to give you a snapshot of my history with sewing clothes it’d look something like this:

fall 2019- I saved my first quilted coat on pinterest. I remember laying in bed in the Faroe Islands scrolling pinterest after a long day of exploring and thinking “wow, I want one!”

fall 2020- One year later, after seeing @rudyjude post about a quilted coat she made from a thrifted quilt I decided I needed one *now*, and it was time to sew!

My first quilted coat was self drafted and I didn’t use a pattern! I’m not sure where the confidence came to sew a piece of clothing without a pattern, but I supposed it speaks to my “I can do anything if I try hard enough” mentality, paired with my delusion because not only I can do anything, but “I can do anything really well, if I try hard enough” 😂

winter 2021- I made 1 more quilted coats, this time using the All Well Cardigan Coat pattern.

summer 2021- After exclusively sewing jackets/ coats I thought it’d be fun to try sewing some pants… which brings us to the summer I attempted to sew at least 4 pairs of pants/ shorts and none of them worked… I tried the Pomona Pant multiple times, I tried this short pattern, I was so convinced that I was going to master a pair of pants/shorts that I spend $70 on fabric so I could make a matching set …here we are winter 2025 & I still have the fabric 🤦🏼‍♀️

fall 2021- I ditched sewing pants and went back to quilted coats. I made 1.5 quilted coats. The .5 is accounting for one that I planned to include a zipper front but at this point I’d never sewn a zipper anddd the jacket is still unfinished- a familiar story where I start a project & it takes longer than anticipated to finish.

fall 2024- Since then I have almost exclusively sewn quilts and zipper bags. So when I came across @hisydgraham patterns, specifically the skyline dress I immediately thought of all the patchwork dresses I’d saved on pinterest. So I did what any rational human would do, I stopped everything and started sewing. But it wouldn’t be sewing without some hiccups- first, I sewed the wrong size and then I sewed things inside out and I was quickly discouraged and started sewing a quilt instead of finishing my dress. Most of my fabric is more suitable for quilting, so the fact that my dress wasn’t draping how I envisioned definitely contributed to my discouragement, understandably so.

spring 2025- I am ready to cross off one of my 2025 bingo squares “sew a dress” because I am committed to finishing what I started! I’m hoping the fabric I thrifted will work well 🤞🏻🤞🏻 Part of why I am determined to finish this dress is because I told myself I cannot purchase a new sewing pattern until I finish this one and I really do want to successfully sew a pair of pants and I have heard really great things about The Lane Pant, so I want to give them a shot next!

Sometimes I forget how much time and energy goes into the planning stages of projects. But it’s also one of my favorite parts because you get to dream and imagine and carefully come up with a plan. I love using Figma to help plan my sewing projects, and will probably use it to design a layout for this dress. Since I’m working with thrifted materials I have some constraints- some of the pieces aren’t as big so they will have to be used for the top of the dress, and the bigger pieces will be used lower, but I want to make sure I like the color placements, which is where Figma, and probably some quick pinning will come into play. I can’t wait to share more about those steps!

I also found these corn cookies that look delicious & lots of quilt inspiration… is it time for me to sew another quilt??