Updating the Sewing Plan for 2022!

I was discussing my Beatrice (EEEEEK! Blog posts to come!) and was going on and on about how excited I am to improve my fitting. While I do work toward a good fit, there are some things that I just accept because the "fix" is too complex to figure out with the muslin, trying to assess while twisting and turning or taking photos, having to remove the garment to pin/pinch out or add and BLEH! The dressform should really be beneficial for that (and it SO looks like meeeeee!)

I tried just a few garments on the form and the next time I wore that garment type, it's like the fitting issues lit up and jumped out at me! 

I have thoughts and ideas about which patterns fit me best. And often times, if I want/need a specific garment, I'll usually just go to Burda because I don't want to figure it all out. 

So I've decided to embark on a new journey for 2022! I am going to sew a dress from each of the pattern companies in my stash. 

The Rules 

• There are no rules because it's my challenge and my blog! :)
• The focus is on dresses as it's a better view of fitting the whole body - neckline, shoulder, front, back, bust, waist, hip, etc. I'm going to try to ensure that I choose some patterns with sleeves since I have large biceps and have issues at times with the relationship between the sleeve and the bodice.
• I have some one-offs that I purchased as a newbie/newish sewer and am not going to force myself to use any company's designs. I will focus on the pattern companies whose offerings I like.

• There is no specific order, just one per month (there happened to be 12 pattern companies I was interested in!)
• I'm inclined to make it wovens-only, but I'm not sure yet how to translate tissue fitting to knits when there's negative ease, for example. And if there was ever a time where fabric choice mattered, it's with knits. Which is why I don't generally muslin them. But, we'll see!
• I don't need to or plan to pre-select the patterns from each company. It will all depend on how the mood (or fabric inspiration) strikes!
• I will document my findings! 

I followed a tutorial to drape a bodice and EUREKA! My body always forces fabric into an armhole dart. I have definitely had garments where I went ahead and sewed that dart...but now I know that I need to make that adjustment! 

This has been a busy month, and I will confess that I was tempted to use a previously sewn pattern since there's only a week left in the month. But I'm going to actually go for it!

January's project will be a Simplicity pinafore dress from 1325. I've wanted to sew this pattern for FORVER! But at the time, with my thirty-four-5th-letter-of-the-alphabet measurement (I don't want to attract weirdos and spam to my blog), I didn't want to even consider working on that front pattern piece. I have a couple tie-neck tops with more planned (cause I love 'em!), plus I wear turtlenecks more often now that I'm a 3rd letter of the alphabet size :-p, and it's something I feel confident I can get done before the month is out.