Crafting A Rainbow

You know those times when you are chatting with a friend online, and you’ve suddenly agreed to do something outrageous? Yeah, that happens to me a LOT!

This time, Jennifer Woofter from @WeBoughtAManor dared each other to a challenge: Could we wear Cashmerette me-mades every day for a month with no repeats? (We started off with the plan to make it competitive to see who could last longer, but decided we are both stubborn enough that it would end with us sewing a t-shirt every night just to stay in the game!)

Now, just in case you are wondering if this is just free advertising for Cashmerette… sure, but only because we both love the patterns! Jennifer does great posts on the Curvy Sewing Collective, and we’re both off-and-on pattern testers for Cashmerette. There aren’t many great pattern lines for women who are plus-size, so for me, this falls into the category of “putting my money where my mouth is”, and supporting inclusive designers. But really, more than anything, this is just FUN! It’s like a variation on Me-Made May or One Week, One Pattern, or frankly, a month-long #sewingdare!

So, what do I have to wear for the next month? Well, let’s start with what I don’t have any more:

These 9 Cashmerette makes have been passed on my my sister, or were made for her originally. Luckily, she’s only 30 minutes away, so if I need to, I can raid her closet!

Then there are these 6 summer projects, which won’t work in a Canadian winter. Then again, necessity is the mother of creativity, so anything could happen!

Here’s what I really have to wear this month: 

9 shirts (with at least 2 more unblogged) and a lone ONE pair of bottoms! Thank goodness the challenge is to wear one piece of Cashmerette at some point in the day, because a lot of these tops are pyjamas now!

6 sweaters, all based on the Concord tee…

…and 9 dresses, plus one I forgot to include in this collage!

By my count, that’s about 28 seasonally-appropriate makes, plus a few summer things I can wear if I don’t feel inspired to sew anything new this month!

The only part I’m sad about is all the other great clothes I have, particularly dresses and tops. Still, hopefully I can work them in with some of my cardigans or on days I’ll be wearing Cashmerette as pyjamas!

What designer is most popular in your closet? I could definitely go a month wearing only Canadian pattern lines (Closet Case Patterns, Sewaholic, Helen’s Closet, etc), but I don’t think there is any other single designer I could wear for a month. If you’d like to join us in the #CashmeretteChallenge for a day, a week or longer, just post outfit selfies on Instagram with the hashtag – or if you’d like to do the same for some other pattern line, that would be fun too!

Wish me luck! I’ll tell you how it goes in a month!