Squeezing in the Sewing - Personal Project Kits (Organizing)

Kit 3 - My Duct Tape Dummy, Helen, has
been such a help as I learn about fitting.
Here, she's hanging out on her chair as
I fit  the
Hot Patterns Weekend Sunshine Top 
to her physique.
I'm taking a dress-form making class in
summer school, which is why I haven't concerned
myself with improving Helen's filling or
figured out some kind of stand for her.

I've been making myself the gift that keeps giving- several sewing kits.

Our household has been going back and forth when it comes to time for favorite activities, mostly on the negative side for sewing. Yet, by dint of staying up  really late a couple of different nights, I managed to get a couple of different pattern fitting projects in along with putting in a little more time on jeans techniques sample sewing.

It was tempting to simply cut one thing out from my fitting work, and sew it, for sheer satisfaction, but instead I made myself a bunch of ready-to-go sewing kits, because I know I've just got a short lull  before things get super busy in the house. Bet you know the difference it makes to have a project all ready to sew and go when you have twenty or thirty minutes to squeeze in some precious sewing time.

I made four kits so far, and am hoping to squeeze in one more before I put away all the fabric and patterns I dug out. That' something I have to do, since I share my sewing zones with other folks. The other residents of the household have needs too, and none of them involve stiching!

My kits are just zip lock bags - the gallon size (I think). There the same ones that hold a pattern and all it's pieces so handily. Do you have a big tote bag of those that you recycle from sewing project to sewing project like I do?

Kit # 1: B5526 Shirt - a.k.a. my No. 1 Lady's Detective Agency Shirt cut out in lavender Robert Kaufman gingham with a half meter of Liberty of London Tana Lawn for cuffs, collar and other contrast/highlight areas.

Kit # 2:  B5526 Shirt - a.k.a. my No. 1 Lady's Detective Agency Shirt cut out of 1 and 1/2 meters (Woof! how did I squeeze that one out!) of a green and cream Liberty of London Tana Lawn print with a half meter of Tana Lawn in purple background Strawberry Thief print for cuffs, collar and other contrast/highlight areas.

Kit # 3: New (to me) tee shirt, the Hot Patterns Weekend Sunshine Top . I've had this half-muslined since last fall (!). It's now fitted (thanks to my Duct Tape Dummy Helen) and cut out in a pink jersey knit (rayon/poly from Fabric.com) with white pin dots. I sure hope I see that note in the zip lock bag reminding me to use a streeetttcccchhh needle when I go to sew. If I don't use one of those needles with jersey knits I definitely get holes.

Kit # 4: A test garment tee from my standard most-basic tee shirt pattern (B3383). This is the kind of thing I'll get some use out of (assuming I'm happy with the actual fit) but not a long-term commitment garment. I cut out the shirt from two commercial tees that I bought on a trip to Vancouver Canada last summer. Inexpensive tees are my favorite way to get a test garment going on a tee shirt pattern, and I can always use another basic tee.

Kit # 5: Butcher's Apron-  In progress. About a yard of very appealing "Dick and Jane" fabric I've been holding onto for too long (I don't want to see my fabric inventory get stale!) , in combination with another remnant - a kind of stiff black cotton with white dots - and some red bias binding is going to form an addition to my wardrobe of much-used household aprons.

Organizing personal project sewing kits is a gift to myself. 

It keeps me enchanted by sewing.