Pattern Sorting Day--the 80's

It's the first day of my spring break--the perfect time to finally sort through my patterns and organize them.

Way too many of my patterns are from the 80s and they take up a lot of space, but I refuse to let them go. When my husband asked me why I keep them, I explained that I'm waiting for them to become cool again. Are we not grateful to all those people who stashed their patterns from the 30s, 40s and 50s, even though they undoubtedly thought the styles were dated and ugly? I admit, I have a hard time believing that the 80s will come back, but if they do, I have a lot of authentic patterns at the ready.

As near as I can tell, my patterns fall into five categories:

1) Good Memories:

I made this safari coat and wore it until it fell apart. I got lots of compliments on it and kind of wish I still had it.

I had a lot of fun wearing this dress. I love shoulder pads and this dress had an abundance of padding in that area.

I'm not sure if this the 80s or early 90s, but regardless, I love pleated pants. I don't care how many times I'm told not to wear pleated pants, I ignore the advice and wear them. Also, the artwork on this pattern is wonderful

2) Victim of the 80s:

My husband called the divided skirt I made from this pattern "The Culottes from Hell". I ignored him and wore them anyway. I probably should have listened.

3) What was I thinking?

I never made this dress. I don't know why I bought the pattern, although it would have made a fine maternity dress. Let's hope that was what I was thinking.

More culottes from hell. I didn't make these either. I don't know why I didn't understand that short, curvy people shouldn't wear boxy clothing.

4) I want to be Rene Russo:

And the final category....

5) Perhaps I can do something with this...

I think the short white sarong is adorable. Hope my daughter things so, too, because she's getting it when I make it.

I love these Paddington Bear coats. I had one in the 80s and just recently sent it to donation. So hard to let it go. Now I need another.

Honestly...isn't this the 50s all over again? The copyright reads 1989. I never made this skirt, but I will. Love the back kick pleat.

And here they are, my memories of the 80s, sorted into Zip-lock bags

 with an index sheet on top, just in case I need to find a pattern to  make something from the 80s.

Because you never know when that decade will come roaring back. 

A Little Unfinished Business

I am determined to make a dent in my pattern and fabric stashes this year. When I moved to my "new" house a few decades ago, I brought with me seventeen boxes of fabric. (You don't want to know how many patterns I have. Truly.) It's very hard to stash that much fabric in a small house, so I loved having more room for it. However....I didn't do a lot with the fabric in those seventeen boxes. I bought new fabric for new patterns.

Finally a few years ago, I donated all of the quilting fabric to charity. I don't quilt, but quilting fabric made cute kids clothes and when I found the stuff on sale, I stocked up. My kids were in high school when I finally donated, and no longer fancied clothing sporting cowboys and hearts and the like. That left me with three boxes of usable apparel fabric and one box of scraps from clothing I'd made for the kids, just in case one of them took up quilting in the future.

Now my stash is under control, right? Nope. The stash is once again growing,. And growing. I've cut back on pattern and fabric purchases, but I'm still losing ground, so in the name of reducing stash stress, which in turn will allow me to indulge in more patterns and fabric without guilt, I'm making an effort to sew what I have first. And I have a lot.

My first projects were two UFOs (unfinished objects)--a melton wool jacket and a challis summer
dress. I cut the jacket out last winter, then spring sprung and I lost interest. I cut the dress out two years ago, but kept pushing it back to the end of the production line. Both are now completed (hurrah!). I'll post a few details in a day or two, but right now I have a novella calling to me, and since writing is helping to pay for my fabric habit, I'd best get to it.