I’m not much of a hoarder, but like most I do accumulate stuff at a rate of knots. Moving continent has given us a great chance to have a bit of a purge and if I can’t take it, it’s either going in storage or to the Tooting Oxfam.
As we’re going to be travelling light I can’t take much sewing stuff. I’ll be buying a new machine in the US and I’ve been thinking about what equipment I can take from my sewing box to get me started. This means some pretty straightforward decisions, but I’ve had to be ruthless with my many paper patterns. The ones I know I’ll never make went straight to the charity shop. Then I had to choose what would make the trip and what would go into storage. I limited myself to taking ten essential and versatile printed patterns, with the aim of creating a capsule wardrobe.
So what made the list?
- Sew Over It Vintage Shirt Dress – great office wear in the winter and makes a wonderful summer dress in cotton lawn
- By Hand London Anna dress – multi-purpose dress that works in all the fabrics, plus the instructions are so clear on inserting an invisible zip. I forget how to do it every time, but the BHL ladies help me through.
- Tilly and the Buttons Cleo dress – I made one of these the other day and now I want more! Watch out for a post on this coming soon.
- Deer & Doe Chardon skirt – I wear my Chardons all the time – in the office and at home. You will be seeing more!
- Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt – I’ve worn my previous versions of this into the ground. Need more.
- Tilly and the Buttons Arielle skirt – this is purely a work skirt for me, but I love it as it’s so different to my usual fit n’ flare skirts.
- Sew Over It Ultimate Shirt – I’m taking the class at the moment and I’m pretty pleased with my progress. It’s a fitted shirt that will work best for smart/office wear.
- Grainline Archer shirt – it’s been in my stash for ages. It’ll be awesome for all sorts of casual wear.
- Tilly and the Buttons Agnes top – I haven’t made this one either, but it’s a wardrobe basic, and the online class will hold my hand as I get to grips with jersey.
- My copied Oasis top – I’ve made loads of these, but they’re so useful to have for layering under cardies.
- Simple Sew Shannon trousers (free with Love Sewing magazine in Sept/Oct last year) – I haven’t made these yet but I will need some pants, and these wide-leg trousers will suit my eastern European shotputter’s legs quite nicely.
- By Hand London Victoria blazer – because I need something to throw over the top of everything.
So I may have gone slightly over my target of ten, but I’ll just have to sit on my suitcase to get it closed (and let’s not talk about the bonus home décor patterns I ripped out from some sewing magazines. They totally don’t count).
How about you? If you could only take a few patterns with you to a new place, which ones would you choose?
Stuff Jo Has Made 
Best of luck with the big move! This week we are moving across town to a smaller place, I have not needed to be as ruthless as you, but I still had a bit of a purge ;o)