School started here in Canada a few weeks ago, and the weather is suddenly chilly. It’s been about 7C/45F every morning, which means that the quilted jacket I started sewing in late August to “get ahead of the season” is suddenly the perfect layering piece around the house!
That got me thinking: Do you sew for the season you are in, or the weather that is coming next?
Myself, I tend to sew for the current weather, because I want something to wear tomorrow… except from time to time, a particular fabric or sewing challenge will inspire my to do some unseasonable sewing. For example, check me out pretending it’s sundress season in the snow during the first Sewcialists Mini Challenge, and sweating buckets in August taking pictures for the November issue of Sewn Magazine last year!
I’d love to hear from you in the comments: Do you sew ahead for the next season, or make clothes you could wear right now? Do you live in a place with consistent weather, so you can wear the same things all year round? Maybe you sew whatever you want, regardless of the time of year! Let us know below.
I pretty well sew for the season that’s coming up soon IN MY MIND. That means, if it’s May – I’m sewing for summer (like that’s gonna happen before mid June?!) But by mid August, even if it’s bound to be hot and humid for another 6 weeks, I can’t get excited to make another sleeveless thing.
I think I’m similar! I guess I mostly sew for the season I’m excited for… aka. at the hot end of summer, fall seems cosy… by late winter I’m making sleeveless dresses…
I also sew for the season I’m in! But with like someone next to my throne whispering “remember you are mortal, um, I mean going to be chilly soon”. In New England we’re pretty much always going to be chilly soon. 🙂
HAHAHA – that is so true! i sit under wool blankets in my living room all summer long!
Sewing time is a precious commodity for me, so I tend to try to time projects for when I will need to wear them. So I usually end up with a project or two for the season that the calendar says it is, but I’ve also started more involved projects, like winter coats, in August before! It’s still feeling summery here, but my next project is sweatshirts for my boys, and the few projects that I have prepped for myself to sew next are definitely geared towards colder weather.
That’s a smart way to manage your limited time! It would be so sad to work on something for three months and then have it be completely unseasonal when it’s finished!
I think I generally sew for the season I’m in, although I have on occasion got really smart and sewed for what’s ahead. Like when I sewed a dress for a party in the tropics (2,500 km away) well ahead of time, then managed to leave it at home…..
Oh Lord – that must have been a bad moment when your realized it! (Mind you, you were in the tropics… :-))
OH NO!!!!!!!
I try to plan in advance but I am on the whole an instant gratification sewer. I also have fits of willfull deviations where I can’t help myself from making something completely inappropriate for the season. And frequently I make something at the tail end of a season that’s just not going to get another wearing for several months. In short, plans dont necessarily translate to orderly production 😏
Willful devisations sound fun! And a hobby should be fun! 😉
I sew for the moment, I try to get ready for the season but that never works for me lol
I didn’t know about the magazine you mentioned, I just bought an issue.
Ooh, awesome! I think Sewn Magazine is such a fabulous publication!
you think is there with sew news magazine?
I love the planning process as much as the sewing process, so I tend to plan and sew coordinating pieces for the upcoming season.
Planning is SO much fun! I make little lists of my someday-projects in my spare time just to unwind.
I too love the planning! Sometimes, though, I get a little bit more plan-y than sew-y 🙂
Planning and petting the fabric stash is so fun! Of course, I never stick to my plans… but I like making them!
As a fellow Canadian I feel your pain with the weather being all over the place. I’m in Ontario. Last week it was summer, two weeks ago was fall and now I think we are moving back to fall… I think?
I tend to sew for right now but I do have winter coats planned for soon, but I know I need to start Halloween sewing soon too! At the moment I’m finishing up a few projects for a wedding coming up in a few weeks. (I may get the coat ready for that too because I have no idea if I’m going to need a winter coat for that or if I can get away with just a cardigan 🤷♀️ who knows what the weather will be in early October!
After I finish with Halloween (which will probably take until Halloween) then I’m looking at Christmas sewing projects.
Somewhere in there we will be moving and my sewing will have to be on hold to pack, move and unpack.
To answer the question though, most of my sewing is on a deadline. I need an outfit for a wedding, Halloween costumes, the Christmas presents. Other than that I want to wear what I sewed as soon as I sew it.
Fellow Ontarian! You are SO right about not knowing if you’ll need a coat for october or not… I mean, every childhood halloween costume had to be wearable over a snow suit, am I right? At least now your costume doesn’t have to be 4 season! 😉
I’m in the UK, somewhere in the middle and there are clear seasons here though not smooth transitions. I like to sew small collections in the same colourway for a particular season.
For example these are my sage green pieces I sewed this summer.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WvAzcLYXKKg/XOavxoUPzKI/AAAAAAAAMb0/hD9OYSfGgDMHlX8zqkQBUFL-yAWhI33iQCLcBGAs/s1600/SafariColl%2B%25282%2529.JPG
Cardigans and a few long sleeves for large parts of UK summer even though we had a few hot weeks too.
Now I’m working on dark purple for the Autumn.
http://ruthieksews1.blogspot.com/
I sew in the moment for me. But I do try to sew Back to School clothes for grandchildren in July and August. That means long sleeved dresses and hoodies! This was the first summer I actually made the deadline. Well, mostly! 😉
I find sewing summer things in winter sensible as I take so long, but as I resist taking off my clothes to fit, brr.. the projects usually hibernate.
I live a few hundred miles from the equator, so our weather is pretty constant. It’s always fall/spring here since we’re at high altitude. But when I lived in a place with four seasons, I usually sewed for colder weather in the cold season, but I would start sewing for warmer weather a little early. I think that’s because I love warm weather and am not so much with cold temps.
A bit of both. Ordinarily, I’d start sewing for fall in August by making some transitional pieces. And by October, I would be full fall/winter sewing.
I have to stop myself from starting summer garments around this time because the weather can turn so quickly!
I work in health and it is usually warm inside, regardless of the external season. I primarily sew clothes that I can wear at work. So lots of trousers and shirts/tunics. My work sites are increasingly relaxed so I’ve been making more knit tops than woven tops. Aiding this transition is my frail (older) sewing machine that doesn’t do buttonholes too well anymore, and my much newer coverstitch machine and overlocker.
I sew for the season that just passed, because I can never get anything finished in time to wear it.
I usually sew (knit) for the season I’m in, which meant this year that I had several sleeveless tops ready and a light weight sweaters nearly ready middle of September – good thing I’m currently on holiday in a hot climate so I get some wear out of the tops before going back to cold and rainy UK 😉
Once I’m back, I’m planning to 2 woollen skirts, 3 long sleeved wool jersey tops and a nearly ready thick jumper, that should get me through winter.
I’m planning to start on spring/summer projects in January/February next year!