Workroom Notes No.4: One Dress, A Corset and Perhaps a Hat?

Another week and another plan for the workroom this week! Woop woop! Though there will be less to do in terms of garment making and pattern development as I also need to finalise the course materials for the final three weeks of my new online course How to Design & Make Your First Me-Made Garment.

I’ll also be AWOL for a full day as we have a ‘groom’ day booked in to get D’s suit acquired and fitted mid-week.. wish me luck!

There are business tasks that need to be done as well, but I can’t realistically add those here as they don’t fall into the ‘Workroom‘ angle. So please know that I will also be doing sales activity, email activity, and much more besides!

I do still have ‘making’ projects to do though, so let’s take a peek at the goals for this week and my plan of action!

Week No.4 Goals

Not everyone likes to set goals. They find it too restrictive. I get that. But for me, setting my goals is about putting into words what I would like to have in place ready for the following week.. and it keeps me on track to achieve that.

Goal No.1: First up is the biggest unfinished goal from last week – progress with wedding / bridesmaid projects! More on that below.

Goal No.2: Next up I would love to finish the final sample for my fabric tote bag.

Goal No.3: I digitised a fun summer pattern late one night in week two which I mentioned in the Workroom Notes No.3.

Goal No.4: Have one new sewing pattern up on my online shop.

Goal No.5: Publish one new YouTube video!

Disclaimer: This will be written up at the beginning of each week as a workroom ‘To Do’ list and then added to on the weekend with progress updates and photos.

A Brain Dump of All The ‘Week 4’ Things

Okay, with the top five goals in mind, let’s look at what I really need to get done this week in The Workroom!

The Bridesmaid Dresses

I visited a fabric fair over the weekend with my friend Chiara – who was wonderful at spotting fabrics in the right colour for the Bridesmaid dresses – but sadly those that I found were either poor quality or over budget.

However, I do have a better idea of the fabric I need. I found what is probably the perfect option online at Core Fabrics, but the cost of shipping plus import duties on top of the fabric cost puts it out of budget.

So, my plan is to hit up the fabric shops in London when I’m back in the UK again in June.

This week though I will be sewing up the first toile for Bridesmaid ‘SA’, as I need to fit that when in the UK in June.

The Bride’s Gown

I have already mentioned that I have fabrics at my dad’s to pick up when I’m back in June, but I did also find a fabric that is suitable for toiling the skirt I might wear for the church ceremony.

It’s too white for the final skirt, but the fabric weight and sheerness will give me a good idea if my design will work.

Aside from that – and after a good chat with Lesley, one of my Creative Dressmaking members – I am going to get the final corset started this week. I can always tweak it later if I gain / lose weight – which is my main concern – but I need to stop procrastinating with it.

Fabric Tote Bag

I loved this sewing pattern when I created it. Its not as basic as the free tote sewing pattern and tutorial I have on the blog, but it’s still very beginner friendly and looks fabulous when sewn up in the right fabrics.

I mentioned in my Workroom Notes No.1 that I had put it aside, but a couple weeks away has this project high up in my head now.

The Floppy Sunhat Pattern

I know this is in no way a priority.. but I have struggled not to think about it when I close my eyes at night. I know, weird!

Initially I thought I would use organza ribbon for this project, but now my mind is going down the lace route. Totally different vibe and I’m not sure I’m on board with it, but we need to follow these creative meanderings don’t we? So the goal with this is to go through my stash to see what lace I have that might work. If any.

And then maybe start cutting it out to sew next week. Maybe.

The Next Sewing Pattern

I would love to have one new sewing pattern up on my online shop. I’m thinking it will be the Starling Summer Dress – which is perfect for little ones this summer – but it does require a lot of photo and video editing to get it ready. We shall see…

The YouTube Video

There’s also a YouTube video I would like to hit publish on and a second one that I would like to finish recording.

YouTube is one of my main sources for product and course sales, so I need to keep up with this!

Cheeky Shorts Pattern

This one is a ‘want to do’ rather than essential, but as the pattern progressed well last summer, it would be great to move this one closer to the finish line if possible.

The previous iteration wasn’t quite what I wanted in terms of volume, so comparing that to the pattern and my block will help me decide what to do next.

Pouch Pattern

I did complete the leather coin purse version and I do still need to get the construction notes written up and the photos edited. But as I am no longer offering free patterns – doing so has just ‘watered down’ the quality of my email list – this has dropped in terms of priority.

Member Project Plans

Talking of my Creative Dressmaking membership, I’ve been thinking about releasing the projects as standalone products. The starting point for this would be creating a standardised InDesign File – I’ll see if the existing InDesign file that I use for my sewing pattern booklet would work – and then see what content can be put into it!

But, I’m also realistic and suspect this is something I don’t need to worry about right now. Maybe in late June…

Pattern Making Course

The final thing to think about is the pattern making course I’ve also been working on. Sometimes a deadline makes something happen, and I have been putting it off because I don’t want to overwhelm my people…

So this week I would like to plan out what promoting that might look like…

Right’O… that’s all for this week’s Workroom Notes plan.. Shorter than previous weeks I know, but slow and steady wins the race!

Talking of which, if you’ve not read about my slow and steady race, I have this post celebrating / looking back at 10 years of The Creative Curator which we celebrated on Saturday. What a win!