Shamelessly stolen from a currently running 6-pack on the Stitcher's Guild: just as an idea for the way a theme can be interpreted to suit inividuals, I thought this was great.
:Welcome, welcome to the Winter 6PAC! The purpose of this sew-along is to inspire us to work on the "workhorse" garments of our wardrobe, in a seasonally-appropriate, thoughtful way. The aim is to sew two garments a month over three months, to add up to 6 garments which mix and match and form the foundation of a well-dressed you.
To get maximum use of your 6PAC, your garments should be classic for your style, well made, in colours that suit you and in styles that suit your body type. They are made for the upcoming season, not for some future time when you lose weight or gain muscle or transform into another person with a different sense of style. The "rules" I outline below are derived from considerable conversation with members of this forum over years, and are meant to give you a good idea of a starting point. I encourage you to first go through your own closet and see what you already have for the upcoming season. This will reduce your sewing of unnecessary garments and give you more sewing time for frivolous and exciting projects (which are NOT generally 6PAC things). This sew along may not be for you if you: 1) already have a lot of garments that fit (because then you should just go through your closet and pick; 2) hate following rules of any type; 3) already know exactly what you are going to sew; 4) really want to spend some time creating a special project in the next few months. If you are a slow sewist, aim for one garment a month, and look through your closet and your budget to see if you can round out what you are sewing. I also encourage you to close your eyes, imagine reaching in to your closet or dresser, and pulling out the garment you are thinking of -- do you imaginarily pull these things out and wear them delightedly? Or is your impulse to wonder how on earth you will wear them? I urge you to use the 6PAC for every-day-no-sooner-clean-than-worn type garments.
With all that said, here are the rules for winter:
2 jackets or cardigan sweaters, one in dark neutral, the other in a neutral or a colour
2 tops, one in a neutral and the other in a print or a colour
2 bottoms, both neutral, at least one to match one of the jackets
For this particular sew-along, please combat your urge to choose many colours and focus on one primary accent and two neutrals. This will pay dividends as these clothes serve as the backdrop for many other accessories. If later you decide to make a turquoise moto jacket covered with beads, you will have something to wear with it...
OK, here are some examples of how you can use these rules with different personal styles.
Say you are a classy dresser and are pursuing an important investigation of wrongdoing amongst politicians with your legal firm. You must be perceived as serious and not to be trifled with. A fiendishly classy black Italian wool suiting with a subtle pattern is made into a classic jacket, skirt, and trousers. You machine knit a dark grey cashmere sweater, and add two long-sleeved silk blouses in pale gold and pale green, which complement your green eyes and black hair. Ha ha let them sweat. And save your pennies for your Hawaiian vacation when the indictments come down...
Say you are a retired artist living in the desert of New Mexico. It's sunny and even hot in the day, but cold at night. Your colours are the rusty brown and turquoise of the land. A sweater in jean-jacket style made of local churro wool in brown, plus dark brown ponte knit trousers and rusty brown jeans are where you start. You add in a fleece jacket made up Alabama-chanin style in turquoise and brown, plus two long-sleeved t-shirts, one turquoise, one rust. Your silver jewellery will make everything sparkle...
You are an urban dweller in a moderately sized city with a couple of kids to look after and a busy work life. But this year, you want to stop looking frumpy and start dressing for you. Navy blue brings out your eyes and makes your skin look porcelain, so that's your foundation, and you decide that the seafoam green silk you bought on a whim is going to be used. You make a navy blue a-line dress and a short navy bolero (lined in the silk). You add indigo jeans, navy wool trousers, and a seafoam green silk blouse. You also knit a beautiful fuzzy sweater in a very slightly darker green. OK, you made seven pieces, but WOW, the dress really adds something.
You're at college and you want to make an impression! You choose a beautiful rusty red that brings out your chocolate skin, and decide to accent it with mustard. Rusty corduroy jacket and trousers, and a rust herringbone skirt that goes past your knees but with a slit up the thigh. You find some mustard sweater knit and make an honest-to-goodness twinset but not like grandma's! You also use some giant wool to knit up a little tweedy rust vest. You've got a couple of turtlenecks to round this out... ooh, look, mustard coloured tights!!
You're at college and you could care less but you haven't got too much money to shell out and the cheap clothes don't suit you. You find a local thrift store with millions of t-shirts, some good quality cotton, not to mention jeans etc. and even some sweaters that could be good. You get all the t-shirts you can in acceptable colours (red, navy, white, and black as it turns out, good thing they are 4 for $5), four pairs of regular indigo jeans in mens sizes, a big navy-and-red plaid skirt in a size far too large for you,and a giant cabled 1990s sweater with huge shoulder pads in pink wool. The jeans become a long skirt and a buttoned vest. The t-shirts are re-cut into two raglan colour-blocked numbers. You remove the waistband of the skirt and refashion it into a straight skirt (the remnants make pockets for the jean vest). Finally, you unravel the pink monstrosity and overdye the yarn red before reknitting it into what is possibly your favourite cardigan sweater ever. Not bad for $40 total. You even found some shoes...
Have fun and let us know what you plan!:
Anyone fancy a go? I see no harm in sticking this here- the Guild is in financial trouble and may soon have a paywall, let's hope we stay free to all xx