WiaW: Planning Session 1

This is my week of planning before doing a "Wardrobe in a Week" sewing blitz next week (for my summer wardrobe only).

I started by making a blank book for this project by stapling several sheets of white paper together along the top, and then turning it sideways. (Using the paper sideways gives more room for ideas to spread out and blossom, I recently learned.)

I began my analysis by figuring out how many waking hours in a week I have--about 119 hours out of 168--and how I typically spend my time during the week...the idea being that I will need more outfits for the activities that I do most often.

I found that I spend 95% of my waking hours working at home (on various things), running errands, or on informal outings. The other 5% is mainly spent at church and church events, along with errands in less informal settings, such as going to the bank. There is also the possibility of having weddings and funerals to attend, or of having unusually messy work to do somewhere.

Next, I made a chart of how many outfits I estimate will need this summer, based on the above activities, and a laundry schedule of one laundry day per week. I temporarily filled this chart in with outfits consisting of clothing I already have; this is to expose some of the more obvious gaps in my wardrobe. More will appear as I choose to retire or repurpose some items.

I also started making a list of repairs and alterations and new sewing that I want to do next week. Since I will need to be very efficient with my time next to accomplish everything I want to do, I am thinking now about how to minimize sewing machine set-up time, such as time spent changing needles or thread, or winding bobbins. So I'm going to be sorting and batching these tasks by the needle and the thread that are required.