Sew For A Year Challenge

Several years ago I pondered the thought of opening up a fabric store. That idea soon faded when more and more of these shops were closing.

About a year or so ago there was an article in the paper about a man that was opening up his second sewing school location. I thought that idea sounded a little interesting too and tried to work up some business figures. I suppose a person could live modestly off of such a venture but I didn’t see how a business could thrive off of just teaching sewing. A business would really have to have several income streams.

But what I really wanted to discover was is Fashion Sewing dead? Then along came the show Project Runway which has intrigued me and resurrected my interest back to sewing for fashion.

I thought of a fashion sewing challenge for myself and actually thought 2007 would be the year I would start it. I came up with the idea during the first season of Project Runway and just never had enough time to dedicate to it. I guess that would answer the question right there…but was it time or was it something else like sourcing fabrics, crappy sewing skills, cost, fitting, patterns that kept me from giving it a go.

So beginning January 1, as all New Years resolutions go, I am going to do this challenge. The challenge is to sew every article of new clothing for the entire year. The few exceptions that I will grant myself will be undergarments, socks, nylons, and probably some athletic apparel.

I can’t think of a better way to understand the Fashion Sewing business as it is today then to do this experiment. I think it will go a long way to understanding how we sew, what we sew, and why sew.