2014's top 5, part 3: Reflections and Goals

 

Finishing up my series today, with what I've learned this year and what I'd like to accomplish next year.

Reflections: 
1. I am not the fastest of makers. This is especially true when it comes to knitting, but it's true for sewing as well. I looked back at last year's reflections, and this was actually the first thing on my list then, too! I think the difference this year is that I'm more ok with it. Looking at my top 5 makes for this year, aside from the Tiramisu dress, everything on there was projects that required more thought and detail-- welt pockets, underlinings, linings, bound seams, etc. But they ended up fitting really well and getting a lot of use. Yes, I know two of them are coats, but still.

2. That being said, I've also learned that I really like having a quick "palate-cleanser" project between the more detailed stuff. Usually some kind of knit project.

3. I feel like I've kind of rediscovered how much fun refashioning clothes can be this year. I didn't really do any last year, but I've definitely picked up on that more this year. I've ended up wearing these zipper leg jeans quite a bit, as well as my Amy Pond shirt. (Generally minus the tally marks, though.) I've definitely been doing more of that lately, since I'm literally running out of things to wear! So I've been maternifying unwanted pants. Since one pair I'd had since college wasn't fitting so great anymore anyway, and the others were pants that my mom was getting rid of, it's been gratifying to be able to get some much-needed maternity pants into my wardrobe for just the cost of a half-yard of black knit.

4. The Wardrobe Architect project was really an invaluable process for me to go through. Even though I was trying to buy less fabric overall anyway, and I'm pretty sure I succeeded, I feel like what I bought will mostly fit in well with my existing wardrobe. It's also easier to weed out some of the new patterns now, since I have a better idea of what I actually like the look of on me. Of course, this is all subject to change now, since I also have no idea what sort of a waistline I'll have when this whole pregnancy thing is over!

5. I've actually developed some self-control on adding to the stashes. Though I sort of fell off the wagon at actually tracking pieces of stash used up before buying more, as stated in my Stash Diet pledge, I did a good job of sticking to my plan! Aside from pieces of fabric that my mom gave me because she didn't want them, almost everything I bought this entire year fell into one of three categories: a) Fabric I bought on vacation, b) Fabric I bought because I needed it for a specific project and I literally did not have anything else that would work (i.e. Thinsulate for my coat, yellow knit for the minion costume, etc) c) Stuff I would categorize as the "extenuating life circumstances" exception--mainly buying a few pieces specifically to make things for the baby, or the 3 things I've bought specifically for maternity clothes. I also didn't buy much yarn at all this year--I think the one skein I bought in Paris may have been it--and I didn't really buy many new patterns this year, either. Maybe 6 total, and 3 of those were ones I won in a Pattern Review drawing because my Robson coat randomly got picked when they were highlighting Sewaholic. So yay me?

Maybe not. I just looked at the numbers, and I actually added 10 more yards to the fabric stash than I started with at the beginning of the year! But it does look like I used about 70 yards overall this year, and I'm already in the process of using up those baby-related fabrics. So not too bad.

Goals:
If you had asked me this three months ago, I probably would have said "learn to make bras and/or undies". I don't think that's going to be happening this year, lol! Especially the former. So here's what I think will be the best things for me to focus on for 2015...

1. Finish a capsule wardrobe that will get me through the first half of the year. I've quietly been working on this anyway, between my most recent makes and things I've bought. I'm attempting to use the Wardrobe Architect principles for this, and I do have a definite palette emerging. But I definitely need more clothes, since I didn't have too many things in my wardrobe already to get me started. That's definitely a downside to favoring styles that are more fitted at the waist! So once I sort out what I need to survive/see if I get any fabric for Christmas (a safe bet, knowing my mom), I'm going to see if I can sort out a decent plan of attack.

2. On a related note, I need to work on my pattern hacking skills. I've noticed that there really aren't that many good maternity-specific patterns out there. I have managed to acquire Megan Nielsen's wrap top pattern, also this pattern that can double as a maternity and a nursing top. The latter sounds like a really good use of my precious sewing time. But aside from that, I really haven't found anything that looks interesting to me, so I guess I'll have to create my own. I've got my Renfrew hack to keep tweaking, and I did pull out several other patterns from my stash that looks like they might be useable for this purpose. If I can figure out how to do a couple of other things that will be good for both pregnancy and nursing, great.

3. Get as much sewing for "Hobbit" (what I've been calling the baby while we don't know the gender) done as possible, before June. Obviously, though I may sew a few outfits, I'm not going to make every little piece of clothing. They'll get too small too fast. But I will need to do some things like curtains for the nursery, and I have some bibs that I'm already working on (which will hopefully be done by the end of December, since I'm using them for The Monthly Stitch's current theme). I have a piece of printed suedecloth that has stumped me for a couple of years on what to use it for, but I think it would make an excellent gender-neutral diaper bag. And my mom and I are planning on working together over the winter to make cloth diapers. I know it'll be a lot of laundry, but it's cheaper to make cloth diapers than buy them, and it'll definitely be cheaper in the long run than buying all disposables. More money saved means more money to spend on fabric, right? I still need to get most of the supplies for that, but I did get some of the waterproof outer fabric already. Because there was one yard left on the website and it has TARDISes on it. Seriously. I couldn't pass it up.

4. Since basically everything I'm going to be able to sew for myself for awhile is knits anyway, I might as well work on things like finishing techniques and getting my serger tension right. Right?

5. I think probably the biggest goal for after Hobbit comes will be finding time to make things. I know it'll be a challenge, and probably impossible for at least the first month while I'm a sleep-deprived zombie cow. (Not the best time to work on a hobby that involves sharp cutting/pinning implements, I'm guessing.) And I do also need to prioritize music time, since I do plan to continue teaching lessons. I've been following Cindy's blog with a lot of interest lately, given that she recently had a baby herself, and I think what jumped out at me the most is the idea of doing one thing a day that lasts, since so much of caring for a newborn is laundry and feeding and changing over and over again. Practicing music can also feel repetitive and like it's never done, since you spend so much time working on the same passage or the same piece for days or weeks in a row. So hopefully I can find a way to make that happen. Even if it's just sewing one seam, or knitting one row, or sticking just one picture in a photo pocket. I guess it's a good thing I've gotten more ok with being slow, right?

2014's top 5 Highlights

Continuing with the lists... I was originally intending to lump the last 3 topics into one post, but this particular category ended up being pretty wordy. So I'll spare you the mega-post.

The new category this year is "Highlights", which is pretty much anything not sewing-related going on in our lives. I don't know about you, but sometimes I find it hard to share life stuff on here, mostly for fear that I'll bore people. So this seems like a pretty good way to keep it real! (Of course, I have actually talked about some of this stuff on here...oh well.)

1. Travel. This was a really good year for that, and I'm really enjoying that I can say that I went fabric shopping in both New York and Paris this year! And there was also my girls' geekout weekend in Atlanta for DragonCon. Aside from those three trips, Doug and I took a day trip down to Washington, D.C. for our first anniversary, which was also a lot of fun, and I also got to spend a day hanging out with some of my cousins down at the Delaware beaches. That's been a tradition since I was a kid, and I'm glad I found some time to go down this year, even though I wasn't able to stay overnight at all this time. (The picture is me and Doug at the Eiffel Tower, because why not?)







2. I got a piano this year! Both of my grandmothers have been trying to downsize their belongings recently, because it's getting difficult for them to live on their own since both of my grandfathers passed away in 2013. So one of the big things going on in my family right now is that my parents are building a new house, and both of my grandmothers will be moving in with them in the spring. My mom's mom had two pianos, so she asked me if I wanted one. She actually gave me the bigger one! So this is a baby grand that my great-grandfather originally purchased in 1928. It's horrendously out of tune, which I'll need to remedy at some point, but I like the family history behind it, and it's been fun brushing up on my other instrument. I took piano lessons for about 7 years when I was a kid, but my parents didn't want us overloaded with too many extracurriculars, so once I got to 7th grade, they asked me to choose between continuing with the piano or the flute, which I'd been playing for about 3 years by then, for my music lessons. Obviously, I picked the flute, though I still played the keyboard at home for fun when I could, and I also had to take one semester of basic piano as part of my music degree. (Which, since I already knew how to play scales and stuff, I basically spent learning the "Linus and Lucy" song from Charlie Brown specials. The professor didn't care as long as we tested well.) The other thing connected to this is that I'm actually teaching one beginner piano student now at a local school, in addition to the flute. So in the long run, this could be a very good thing for my music teaching career.

3. In the category of non-sewing/knitting hobbies that I don't talk about on here much, I am still scrapbooking. The Project Life system has turned out to be a really good fit for me--I can save photos without feeling like I have to make a layout for everything, and the pockets make it really easy to finish pages quickly. I still do "real" scrapbook pages from time to time, usually for bigger events. And I still use my older supplies, usually in the form of cutting down big pieces of paper to make cards when I don't have a color I want. But aside from still needing to write in a few notes and paste down a few pictures, I'm basically done with everything from the wedding to our first anniversary. And I already have some stuff in an album for year 2 as well. That's a nice feeling.

4. Meeting writers. As if I didn't have enough to do to keep myself busy, I've always loved to read. And I got to meet two of my favorite living authors this year! A couple of friends and I went to see Brandon Sanderson at a quasi-local bookstore signing, and I briefly got to meet Jim Butcher when he was signing books at DragonCon. (I was wearing my Belle costume at the time, and when he saw me next in line, he sang one of the lines from her intro song: "Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar..." So that's a fun story.) One of the friends I went to Atlanta with is a published author herself, and she introduced us to another writer friend, Diana Peterfreund. I bought two of her books and read one on the plane on the way home from Atlanta. I have yet to read the second, but I quite enjoyed the one I read, so I'm sure I'll get to it before too long.

5. Family stuff. Being able to say I've been married for a year was pretty exciting for me, since I wasn't sure I'd ever get married in the first place. And, of course, what's been mostly occupying my brain lately is being pregnant with our first child! (And all the nausea that goes along with it, which is sadly still going on. I thought the second trimester was supposed to be better!) I'm sure this will be occupying a LOT more of my attention for 2015.

What about you? Anything exciting going on for you this year?

2014's top 5 hits and misses

Time for the Top 5 lists, as hosted by the fabulous Gillian! I'm going to start off with hits and misses today.

Top 5 Hits
Looking back over my posts this year, I guess this was the year of pants, coats and dresses.

1. The Thurlow Trousers-- all 4 pairs of them I made this year. I'm just showing the grey pair here, since they show up in photos the best. Along with the brown test pair I made in 2013, these got a ton of wear during the cooler months this year. And unlike most of my jeans, I was able to wear these pretty much all the way through the first trimester--it was just last week that I had to resort to safety-pinning them closed rather than buttoning them. So I'm feeling hopeful that, even though I'll have to retire them for the remainder of this winter, maybe I can pull them out again next fall.







2. The Robson coat. I love the color, and I'm quite happy with the inside finishing. I will confess I need to do a tiny bit of repair on one of the pocket flaps where the stitching has come out, but aside from that, everything's holding up nicely. I actually took this with me to Paris and ended up wearing it pretty much constantly, and it was the perfect added layer. Also, dragon buttons!












3.  The teacup Cambie. I loooove the print on this dress, and I have to admit that this is probably the dress that I'm most nervous won't fit again post-pregnancy. Here's hoping, because I really feel like this dress deserves more wearing than I was able to give it in one season!














4. The Tiramisu maxi-dress. This one did get quite a bit of wear over the summer, since it's a little more casual of a dress than the Cambie, and that makes it easy to wear for teaching and such. This one did adapt very nicely to the longer skirt, and I'm glad I got a chance to try this hack out!













5. Even though it did take forever to make, I'm going to have to say the peacoat. The time I spent on the tailoring seems to have been well worth it so far, as was the investment in the Thinsulate. It's much less stiff to wear than the old one, and so far, it seems to be keeping me warm.













Top 5 Misses: 
Not all of these are necessarily sewing projects, or even entire sewing projects. But still...

1. The daisy Sorbetto. It's not so much that this project was a fail, as that I just haven't worn it much. I pretty much have this one skirt that it works with and that's it. Plus it got cold pretty quickly after I made it, and, well...you know, all my clothes starting to not fit. I'll probably pull it out again sometime, though I doubt I'll get much wear from it next summer, as it's not the most nursing-friendly top.











2. My jeans hardware installation skills. I think I would have gotten a lot more use out of the skinny jeans earlier in the fall, if the button hadn't started to get loose after one wash. My dad used some of his epoxy-type stuff to ensure that it wasn't going anywhere, and that's worked. But it's also made the inside waistband really scratchy right behind the button. I managed a quick fix for awhile by just sticking a band-aid behind the button, but I need to stitch a patch over it for a more permanent solution. I just never got to it, and now that those jeans won't fit me for awhile anyway, my motivation to do so has been quite low.



3. This hat. I think it would have been better for me if it had been about an inch longer. It barely covered my ears at all, and that bugged me to no end. I ended up giving it to my mom, since it fit her much better. I guess I have a big head or something?













4. The Tauriel costume, which I attempted to make for the Sewcialists' "March of the Shieldmaidens" sewalong. A combination of bad choice of fabric and less-than-stellar pattern alterations left this looking pretty awful. And though I love making costumes, I wasn't having much fun with it, and was just getting stressed at how many more things I'd need to make for DragonCon vs. how long this was taking. So I ended up throwing it out and wearing my old Eowyn costume instead. Which was probably for the best.

5. Honestly, I think the biggest miss for me this year, or at least the last couple of months, has just been sewing time. It's not that I didn't want to, or even that I didn't have any free time in which to do so. It's just that my "morning" sickness ended up being so bloody awful and I just didn't have the physical stamina to do it as much as I would have liked.

So what's your favorite thing(s) that you've made this year? Anything you wish had gone better?

Top 5's of 2013, part 3: Hits and Misses

Time to look back at what I actually made this year! Let's start with the hits, shall we?

Top 5 Hits of 2013: 
1. My wedding dress, aka the "One Dress To Rule Them All"! Yes, I only wore it once, but this was easily the most time-consuming and expensive thing I've ever sewn, so I have to include it, right? Plus, I never showed a really good full shot of the finished product, so here's my excuse to share some of the professional pics. Don't worry, they gave me the copyright as part of the photo package! We did get a couple of outdoor shots, but the lighting on the ones inside the church actually shows off the details of the dress better, so I went with those.

At Gillian's request, I'm including a mini top 5 of things I learned or loved about making my wedding dress.

a) I loved working with the fabrics! It's not every day that I can justify using a whole bunch of different silks, so this was both a lot of fun and a very big learning experience.

b) I learned and/or developed skills in a lot of different couture techniques. I'd worked with underlining before, for instance, but this had underlining, sometimes multiple layers of underlining, boning (and not the cheap plastic kind ,either!), regular lining, the works! So I think my handstitching improved quite a bit in this process!

c) I love that I was able to design an entire dress around that sunflower lace, since the only two things I'd wanted for my future wedding for ages was having sunflowers, and making my dress! So I got to combine them! I also love that my pattern modifications to the Cambie top worked so well for really showing it off. (Now I just need to figure out what to do with the rest of it, because I have probably at least 3 yards left! Any ideas?)

d) I learned that sometimes muslins, or even multiple muslins, are a necessary evil. I'm really glad I allowed myself the time to do that. My usual attitude towards them is to try to make them as wearable as possible, or just skip them altogether, because I have so little sewing time and "ain't nobody got time for that." But I'm glad I really took the time to perfect the fit before I started--especially since I was just barely able to squeak out the skirt with the yardage I had estimated! Plus, now whenever I do get around to making a "real" Cambie, I have it all modified and ready to go. Assuming I can find those muslin pieces. Gah.

(Disclaimer: I'm still probably going to stick more with wearable muslins for most things, because I still mostly don't want to take the time for that.)

e) I love that being able to sew helped me keep the costs down significantly! All together, I think the supplies ended up costing about $500. I think the most expensive fabric I got was the dupioni for the outside, at around $16 a yard. Given that I have a hard time paying more than $12 a yard for most fabrics, that's a LOT. But at the average bridal shop around here, that would get you a pretty low-end polyester dress. Mine was silk, custom-fitted, and I didn't have to deal with sorting through all of the trains and strapless bodices to find something I was ok with!

And now, on with the rest of the hits...

2. The Thurlow trousers. I'm quite happy with the fit, they're very comfortable, and I've worn them at least once a week since I finished them. In fact, I've washed and worn them so much that the fabric is already starting to pill on the thighs a bit! Not a huge loss, since this was only ever intended to be a wearable muslin, and the fabric was free, but that means I may have to make a new brown pair sooner than I thought. (After I finish the other 4 pairs that I actually bought fabric for.)

 










3. The TARDIS Hummingbird-esque skirt. Subtle geekiness for the win! This got a lot of love on Flickr (by my standards, which is pretty much anyone commenting at all), and I'm always happy when my pattern alterations turn out as I envision them. Plus, since it's basically a denim skirt, I have a feeling this is going to be a rather versatile addition to my wardrobe!














4. My plaid flannel shirt. Even though I'm still not a huge fan of the collar, it's warm and cozy, which is exactly what I need in my life right now. I'm also still feeling a bit smug about how many sewalongs I was able to apply this to! (And now I'm wondering if it's a crime against fashion to wear flannel shirts that aren't plaid, because I want a lot more flannel in my life!)















5. The purple Sadie tank top, which has proved to be quite versatile, even though it's not the most exciting thing I sewed this year. (Aaaaahhhh, look how sunny and warm it is there! Much nicer than looking out the window--it's actually pretty unseasonably warm here today, but it's also grey and rainy, which is why I'm home to finish this post. Work is soooooo sloooooow on rainy days that the manager told me to stay home!)

Thankfully, since I didn't have a huge output this year, I don't feel like I really had a lot of misses as far as my actual finished projects went. So I'm taking a slightly more tongue-in-cheek approach to this.

Top 5 misses of 2013:

1. The one true sewing fail I had this year was my Pavlova cardigan--the one that tore apart in the washer before I even had a chance to take a photo of me wearing it. I hardly even got a chance to wear it, either. Despite my usual cold-blooded ways, I was sufficiently comfortable both indoors and out to not wear it at all while I was in Jamaica, so I only wore it on the plane there and back. If I were to be honest, it didn't turn out as cute and flattering as I'd hoped, either. I still plan to make a Pavlova top again, but maybe more of a wrap top as intended. Or with knit fabric so it drapes better.

2. My timing in finishing my Tiramisu dress. It's not the dress itself, because I do like it. And if I'd made it earlier in the fall or even the summer, I think it would have been worn a lot more. But I only wore it once, because it got too cold almost as soon as I'd finished it! I'm definitely not one of those people who can go short-sleeved in the cold. I wonder how it would look with my brown corduroy jacket--too much brown in the middle?

3. Online fabric shopping. This wasn't a 100% fail. I did manage to find the right shade of nude organza for the wedding dress. I do like the rayon challises that I picked up for a couple of dresses that I didn't get to this year. And I recently got some organic cotton knit that is super-soft and I think it will make a great basic black maxidress next year! But I did have multiple issues here, from trying to find a solid emerald green to make wedding accessories (color of the year, huh?!), to the paisley I'd intended for a Darling Ranges dress that looked quite different when it arrived, to the stretch denim I recently ordered that looked like teal, but showed up more of a robin's egg blue and a lot thinner than I'd anticipated! And, of course, I also recently had issues in buying both fabric and yarn online, because in both cases, the website said they had more in stock than they actually had by the time they got to processing my orders. Both times, I had to make substitutions for things that cost more money. Aside from higher cost, the most annoying thing in both cases was that they were things I'd spent hours searching for in order to avoid wool! Blasted allergy...anyway. Hopefully I'll have more hits on that count next year, since I can't necessarily rely on Joann's to have what I need or want.

4. Pantsapalooza. It's not that I regret doing it, though I think I really could/should have managed the sewalong aspect of it much, much better. I guess since it was my first time hosting one, it's a learning experience, right? And I did get usable trousers, but only one pair out of my intended five. So that's not a palooza, that's just pants! (Guess what I'm most likely sewing first in January...)

5. Buying vs. using. Yes, a few of these were projects I intended to get to quickly--my Darling Ranges dress that I actually bought fabric for twice (see #3 above), or the Reglisse dress that I found the perfect print for almost right away, for instance. And then the summer just disappeared. A few of these I actually did get to right away--I'm thinking specifically of the Hummingbird pattern, since I actually managed to jump in on the official sewalong and use up some stash to boot! And I did buy and use the plaid flannel in a timely fashion, which is unusual for me. But overall, I think I acquired a lot more fabrics and patterns this year than I have in recent years past, and didn't necessarily use things up in a way to balance that out. (And it's not even Christmas yet, and I can usually expect to get fabric for Christmas from my mom, too!) My husband and I are planning to really crack down on the budget come January so we can pay off some debt and save for some things we're hoping to do, so this is something I really need to get under control again, and focus more on using what I have and being creative with it. (Incidentally, I loved the idea of the Sewcial Bee that I did last year, since it forced me to jump on fabric and patterns that were already in the stash! I hear rumors that there's going to be more next year, and I hope that's true!)

I did also lose track of yardage in vs. out this year, which is something I've been trying to keep track of. If I do succeed in my plan to get the room straightened up to start the new year, I do plan to re-tally everything that has significant yardage (like a yard or more) so I can start keeping tabs on that again.

Honorable mention: My #greendecember project. I got it cut out, then got caught up in a secret sewing frenzy, so that's as far as it got. But it only gets honorable mention, because it's another Renfrew top, which means there is a chance I can still actually get it sewed up before January 1!

Top 5's of 2013, part 2: Goals

Since I didn't actually use this format last year, I'm going to pick the more sewing-relevant goals from last year's list, and deal with the rest later. 

In 2013, I wanted to....

1. ...finish my wedding dress, obviously. Definitely a check! 
2. ..find a way to work craftiness in on a more daily basis. I had mixed success on this one. Having my own permanent creative space in the new place definitely helped! And I've found that knitting and even scrapbooking, to some extent, make pretty good projects for when I'm hanging out with Doug and watching tv. Sewing has been a little harder to work in than I'd hoped, since I'm still trying to get control of my work schedule and longer commutes. So I think this one will be an ongoing goal as I try to keep working on a better work/social time/housework/personal time balance.
3. ..sew a few basics--or cake, if you will--that will help tie various parts of my wardrobe together. Somewhat successful. I did make pants, which is big. And a few other more basic pieces that ended up being pretty good wardrobe additions. But this one is ongoing as well, I think.
4. ...IF time permits, try another mini-wardrobe. I did manage to put together a pretty decent wardrobe for my honeymoon, though I only sewed two new things for it. Not quite what I meant, but oh well.
5. On the blogging front, I really would like to make some changes around here--a new blog design, if I can figure out how, and most definitely improving my photographs. I did make a new blog header, which I think is pretty nice! The photography....well, that still needs work. Part of the issue is that my new house doesn't really have a good outdoor spot for photos--I'm in a middle townhouse, our front yard faces all the other houses, and our backyard overlooks one of the busiest highways in the state! Especially in the summer, as it's the main route to the beaches. (The yard is basically a big doggy toilet, anyway.) Part of the issue is that by the time I get home from work, the natural light is often gone. And, though he puts in a valiant effort, Doug doesn't really like using my SLR camera. I think that I'm going to have to invest in a remote one of these days. 

Top 5 2014 Sewing Goals:

I'm mostly trying to avoid calling out specific projects this time, due to my complaints in the last post about time management issues. I don't want to plan a whole bunch of things and then not get to them, like I did this year. And I also want to allow myself some flexibility to participate in sewalongs as they come up, or try out new patterns that excite me! So here goes...

1. Create more cohesion in my wardrobe. This goes back to sewing those basics. For instance, I still plan on making those other Thurlows I didn't get to this year! But this also encompasses being more mindful in my fabric choices, and trying to choose things that can go with things I already have. Especially when it comes to prints, because you know I'll never give them up. They're just so much more fun to shop for! I also seem to have an ongoing idea that I need to develop my "style", so this ties into that, too.
2. Beef up my cold-weather wardrobe. This carries over to knitting as well, tbh. But this is a huge one, because once again, I found myself bored with all of my clothing choices by November! This isn't to say that I won't sew anything for the warmer months, especially the things I already have fabric and patterns for, but the fall and winter months are honestly the bigger need. (And the bigger challenge, given my extreme wool issues.) This also includes a needed new winter coat, since my current one is getting shabbier by the week. I'm pleased to say that I did purchase some non-wool fabric (even though it was another scenario of them running out of fabric and me having to substitute and pay more money, grr!), so now I just need to get some Thinsulate and I'm good to go.
3. Branch out. I'm reluctant to set a specific goal here, since who knows what fraction of what bounces around in my head will actually make it to the machine. But, as stated in the last top 5 post, I have several new-to-me pattern companies to try out that I already have patterns from. I have a couple of patterns in styles different from what I usually wear, like the Archer--way looser than I usually wear--and Espresso leggings--aside from under my jeans when I'm stuck on outside register, I haven't worn leggings pretty much ever.  I've had the thought of trying to sew some underwear, since I always have knit scraps that aren't big enough for much else, and I hate throwing away potentially useful fabric. Or maybe trying new colors--who knows where this will take me?
4. Start refashioning again. I didn't consciously choose to stop doing it. But I barely did any in 2012, and unless you count my dyeing experiments from about a month ago, and a bag I remade for a friend and didn't blog, or the sweater I'm currently knitting from another sweater I'd unraveled, I did absolutely none this year. I have a giant bin full of clothes to chop up and use for projects, and I need to start dealing with that. And I think it's good for me to have that creative challenge every so often, of working within those constraints. Some of my most interesting projects have come from those! 
5. Use up some of my more challenging stashed fabrics. After all, there has to be some way I can incorporate organza or brocade into my everyday life, right? And the more on-hand things I use up, the easier it will be for me to justify buying more fabrics to help me with #1 and #2 in particular.

 There's other things I can think of, like working on my fitting and pattern alteration skills. But these are things that I can and should incorporate into nearly every project anyway, right? What goals or plans do you have in mind for the upcoming year?

Top 5's of 2013, part 1: Reflections and Inspirations

I've been quiet lately. Part of it is that because even though I am sewing, it's all stuff that needs to stay secret for awhile longer. Part of it is because I've had a slew of computer issues lately that resulted in my husband giving me my main Christmas present early-- he likes to go a bit over-the-top when it comes to giving me presents, and he bought me a new computer! So I've been trying to get stuff transferred from the old computer to the new, but that's been one issue after another. I've finally managed to get the files on there, but it dumped it all onto one hard drive with no rhyme or reason, so I'm in the process of reorganizing EVERYTHING. And finishing installing programs and such. And hopefully finding the approximate half of my extensive music library that didn't seem to transfer-- yikes! I do actually have some Christmas-themed projects to post, but they'll have to wait until I get things sorted and feel comfortable loading pictures on there again!

But enough of my IT woes. Let's talk end-of-year stuff, shall we?



I'm doing a Gillian-style roundup this year! Due to all of the computer issues, I'm starting with the ones least likely to need photos, and hopefully by the time I get to hits and misses, I'll have this sorted.  I'll probably also do a knitting and other crafts one later, but I'll stick with sewing for now.

Top 5 Reflections: What I learned
1. I'm a slow sewist.  It seems there's so many sewing bloggers out there that can just crank out one fabulous garment after another. I am not one of them. It's not necessarily a bad thing, since I definitely have a perfectionist streak, and taking my time means I'm more likely to be happy with the finished project. But still--I was looking back, and I actually only sewed 10 garments this entire year! I think that's my lowest number since I started this blog! Granted, that doesn't count the time I spent making accessories for the wedding, or gifts for friends, or those bedroom curtains that took way longer than they probably should have. And I did spend 3 months on just that One Dress. (Or, you know, several major life changes, like getting married and moving!) Still, the sad truth of it is that I just don't have as much time to sew as I wish I did. And until my work schedule changes, or I have a shorter commute again, it will stay that way.
2. I need to be more realistic in my goals. Like when I meant to make 5 pairs of pants during Pantsapalooza, and it took me the entire 4+ weeks to make one pair. But I do this to myself every time--for every new season or sewalong that comes my way, I always think I'll get more done than I can honestly accomplish, and I get frustrated at how little I finished at the end. So I think I need to scale back some, settle on 1 or 2 things at a time, and then it will be a pleasant surprise when I have time to do more!
3. Couture sewing can be fun. And also a huge pain in the butt. But for someone who absolutely used to loathe handsewing, I definitely learned to relax and enjoy the process more this year. I guess knitting actually sticking has helped my patience levels immensely!
4. Stashbusting is great, but sometimes a girl just needs a new piece of fabric to get inspired. Or a new pattern. I'm not giving up on busting the stash, and I think I did pretty decently with it this year, all things considered. But I don't need to feel guilty about occasionally buying new things, either. Especially when I just don't have fabric on hand for something I really need.
5. My organizational skills need work. It definitely helps that I have built-in organizational skills via my husband now! But I always waste a lot of time trying to figure out where I set that thingy that I was just using. And I definitely had a few incidents of thinking I had notions that I didn't, or buying things I already had. Now that I live even further from anywhere to buy sewing stuff (you've all heard me lament occasionally how Joann's is the only place in the state--and now the Super Joann's is close to where I used to live, and the only local one is a smaller Joann's!), I really need to get on top of this.

Actually, I'm not claiming this as a goal for 2014, but I have made a goal to try to get my craft room reorganized before the end of this year! I will have more free time starting next week, when my seasonal retail job lets me off for the winter. So I want a fresh start, so I can spend those two glorious months when I'm pretty much guaranteed to have no work other than my flute teaching sewing as much as possible!

Top 5 (Plus some) Inspirations: Bloggers, etc.

It's hard to narrow down bloggers--I've discovered so many new ones this year, I don't want to leave anyone out! So here's my best shot, in no particular order other than what came to mind.

1. Tempest at Fanbloomingtastic. I admire her quirky sense of style, and the Doctor Who sewalong was one of the highlights of my sewing year! She also is creating an ongoing "club" of sorts for more Whovian makes, which is great, since I didn't get all that I wanted to done.

2. Cation Designs. She's another one whose quirky clothes I admire. And she loves all things Tolkien, which automatically makes her cool. (I can say that, because I have multiple offline friendships and even more online friendships that started just over Lord of the Rings!) Her cat pictures make me smile, especially now that I'm cat-less myself. And her cosplay posts have me itching to create some costumes again! Her "Party King Thranduil" seriously makes me giggle.

3. Handmade by Carolyn. I've been following her longer than most of the blogs that I read, but I'm still in awe of her commitment to a completely handmade wardrobe. Her ability to mix and match her makes is enviable, and I quite enjoyed following her "paper doll project" and her adventures in learning to screenprint this year!

4. Handmade by Heather B. She's one of those bloggers I mentioned earlier who seems to be super-productive, despite wrangling a toddler. Her style of writing consistently makes me laugh, and her photos make me want to have some more fun with my own. (She's also probably the person on Twitter that I commiserate about the weather with the most, since she's as close as I get to local and things are usually similar.)

5. Gillian at Crafting a Rainbow, since her "sewing dare" is what got me on Twitter in the first place! Her posts on color palettes have gotten me thinking about my own closet quite a bit, too. And though knits never really scared me that much, I've enjoyed the "Lazy Tips" series a great deal, because there's always room for learning new things.

I'm adding two more cheater answers:

6. Twitter! As far as I can tell, I am literally the only person who sews clothes and blogs about it in my state--seriously, I keep checking the "Sewintists" map every few months, and I have never, ever seen another pin dropped in Delaware! So, since I have very few people I can talk to about sewing in my everyday life, with the exception of Mom the Quilter, it's great to have a place where I can talk to like-minded people in real time. The Friday afternoon #fabricchat sessions were something I looked forward to, when my teaching schedule allowed me to participate, and I did have several projects from this year that were directly inspired from sewalongs or other ideas thrown about on there. Also, this encompasses pretty much every other new-to-me sewcialist that I "met" this year!

7. Indie pattern designers! A rather huge percentage of this year's projects were from smaller companies' patterns. Sewaholic and Cake Patterns were the big winners, with 3 and 6 projects, respectively. (Even though my Cambie and the last Hummingbird skirt were heavily modified, I'm still counting them.) I also acquired patterns from Grainline Studios, Deer & Doe, Maria Denmark, Colette Patterns, and Megan Nielsen this year. But in spite of my good intentions, and often already buying fabric to go with, I haven't actually sewn any of those up yet. Maybe that should be one of my goals for 2014...

2012's Greatest Hits

Because I've been enjoying reading all of these top 5's, and I wanna play too!

Courtesy of Gillian at Crafting a Rainbow

I honestly don't feel like I had a lot of misses this year, mainly since I didn't have a lot of finished projects, and I already talked about my goals for this year and next, so I think I'm going to focus more on wearability of the things I made this year. This is certainly not to say that I don't like or wear the other things that I've made this year, but these have gotten the most wear so far. So without further ado...

5) The "Junior Mints" Jacket
Out of the several jackets I made this year, this one has turned out to be the most versatile, probably due to its more neutral color and fairly basic shape. It's been great for throwing over t-shirts when I want to dress them up a little (or just be warmer), and has worked well with some of my handmade tops and dresses too. Like my "Christmas in July" dress, or the "Moving Target" shirt. This may be a good candidate for a 6-way styling post, come to think of it. 






4) The "Mighty Jungle" dress
I finally successfully sewed a maxi-dress! And although I'd probably change the skirt a bit if I were to sew it again, like add a slit or a godet or something for ease of movement, I can walk in it pretty well. I was very proud of myself for finding a way to use some cool but difficult fabric that I'd had for years, the cotton means that it's still comfortable in mid-Atlantic summer humidity, and since it's a tougher, batik cotton, I don't have to iron it as much as I would if it were just regular old quilting cotton! I'd say it's a win.







3) The Convertible Dress
There's just so many reasons I like this, even though I don't really see myself sewing it again for awhile--a girl really only needs one dress like this in her wardrobe, right? It was super-easy to sew, once I managed to actually find a piece of fabric that was big enough. The rayon bamboo is super-comfortable in that aforementioned mid-Atlantic humidity. There's multiple ways to style it all by itself, and I can even mix it with some other stuff that I have. The color is fun. And this dress has some pretty serious sentimental value now, since it was what I was wearing the day that Doug proposed!






2) The Vaguely Celtic Renfrew Top

I've seen a lot of Renfrews pop up on these top 5 hits, and with good reason. This top fits me so well, and the only tweaking I needed to do was to grade the waist right out of the envelope. It's fitted enough that it makes a good layering piece, which means I'm still wearing it even though it's 3/4-sleeved and I have a ridiculous inability to stay warm this time of year, but not super-tight so I can wear it alone, too. The print is neutral enough that it goes with lots of different bottoms, but it still has some fun punches of color. The tube cowl is brilliant for not showing the underside, like some of my other cowl-necked knits have done. I really mean it when I say I want to make a whole bunch more of these--this is going to be the TNT pattern that I compare all of my other knit tops to from here on out!



1) The jeans, of course.

Because as fun as it is to dress up, I'm really a jeans girl at heart. And I've been wearing these at least once a week since I finished them, they haven't fallen apart or gotten holes in them yet, and now that I've gotten them a bit more broken in, they're super-comfortable. And they still don't gap in the back! So you can bet I'll be making more of these in the future, too, once I tweak the pocket linings and figure out what to do about that front waistband stabilization issue.

My top 5 wardrobing  lessons learned:
1) Jeans will always and forever be my ultimate "cake" project.
2) I like to wear knits, and I should make more things that use them.
3) Notice 2 of my top 5 are prints, and 2 of my top 5 are things that go really well with prints. Those aren't going away for me. Probably ever. So I'll be much happier if I embrace that and figure out what will tie all of those together.
4) Solids are ok to sew as long as they either have an interesting style, like the Convertible dress, or are lined with a funky print, like the Junior Mints jacket.
5) I have warm-weather clothes down pat. What I need to focus on more are the things that can span multiple seasons and/or keep me warmer when it's cold. Because I'm still bored with my fall and winter wardrobe. (This may be a bit of a challenge as I work through the stash, because I'm not sure what I have that qualifies for this.)

2012 in review, part 2: In which I talk numbers and stuff

I know I've posted this picture before, but it has two of this year's finished projects, so I thought it would be appropriate!

2012 totals:
Fabric in: a whopping 63 yards. I blame the wedding dress. And my future curtains. Also, since I'm posting this a few days before Christmas, obviously this doesn't count anything I might receive there.
Fabric out: about 27 yards
Stash total: about 248 yards
Total number of finished projects this year: 21, if I count the dress muslin. Here's the breakdown:

• Garments sewn: 13, + one very time-consuming muslin. Actually, make that 2 time-consuming muslins...the jeans took awhile, too.
• This amounts to a raincoat, 2 fully-lined corduroy jackets, 5 tops (2 of which were reconstructions), 1 skirt (also a reconstruction), 3 dresses and a pair of jeans.
• Knitting projects completed: 3 (Doug's hat, my Camille shrug and a scarf)
• Other projects: a bridal shower gift, a baby shower gift, a knitting needle case and a scarf. 
• This total did not count scrapbook pages, though I did finish several. It's just that most of them were ones I'd already started a year or two ago. And I'm too lazy right now to actually pull them out and count them.
• The sewing project that I'm proudest of is obviously the jeans, since finishing a pair of those successfully has been on my yearly goal list probably every single year since I started this thing. The knitting project that I'm proudest of is the Camille shrug, because I think that is the most complicated pattern that I've followed so far, minus that sweater I mentioned earlier. And this turned out to be a really fun knit, which surprised me!
• UFO projects from this year: I have 3 knitting projects (Doug's scarf, the "Branching Out" handwarmers and a "Gap-tastic" cowl that I started ages ago to use up the yarn from my Cadence sweater. (I'm not counting that top that ended up getting completely frogged.) I also have a Vogue knit top that I cut out back in the spring, but set aside because it would be too warm to wear it for months and I never got back to it. And I have a pillow that I started making at a craft day at a friend's house, which won't take me too long to finish but the wedding stuff is higher priority now, and a patchwork skirt for my sis-in-law that I only work on when she's around so I can make it exactly to her specifications. 

Things that surprised me: 

• I made absolutely zero jewelry all year. I guess this is making up for the year of the ill-fated craft fair/Etsy shop?
• I barely did any reconstructing, but considering how few finished sewing projects I had, period, I guess it's to be expected. 
• The sewing projects I did do were rather complicated and involved, for the most part. Due to this, I made a lot more muslins this year than I think I ever have. Which is definitely a factor in the next point...
• My sewing has slowed way, way down, since I only averaged about one project a month. But I think that has the potential to change after the wedding--I'm sure it will be easier to work in creative time once we're actually living together and therefore see each other on a more regular basis. Plus there won't be all of that travel time between my place and his.
• Apparently I like knitting complicated lacey patterns. See above. I also really like brainless knitting for tv-watching purposes, but that's not a surprise.
• A recent surprise is that I've really been in the mood to pick up my scrapbooking again lately. This is probably because I've also been thinking that should be the next major supply stash that I should sort through/pack up/move.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for this year! In the meantime, I'm trying to push through the last week of 2 jobs for awhile, reading up on any tips and tricks that will help me actually get this dress going for real, and going through the flurry of activity that inevitably comes with Christmas! So I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very merry Christmas, and to thank you for your time spent reading and commenting on this blog--it really means a lot, especially knowing that I haven't had a whole lot to show this year!

2012 in review, part 1: Life happened.

I know it's not quite the end of the year yet, but since there is going to be absolutely nothing that changes anything I'd write in this post between now and New Year's, I thought I'd just get this out of the way early. (Gives me more time during the Christmas-New Year's week to focus on actually, you know, working on my wedding dress.)

One of my long-time favorite quotes is this one, from a John Lennon song: "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." I think he hit it pretty spot-on there (even if I tend to not like his post-Beatles music). Obviously, this year did not go as planned--but in the best possible way. If you'd told me this time last year that I'd be engaged, I probably would have laughed in your face. So since I generally review the goals and plans I made at the end of the previous year in this traditional post, I'm going into this with the disclaimer that life definitely had other plans. On with the show!

Since I basically have nothing crafty to show right now, in order to avoid this being a massive text-only post, I'm breaking this into two parts. So this part is basically a review of my goals from this year, and looking ahead to the next.

Part 1: My 2012 goals, as stated here: 
1. Continue chipping away at the fabric stash. And whatever other stashes.
 The verdict is: Mixed success. On the one hand, I did use up several pieces of fabric, including several that had been around for years. (The lining being the piece in the latter project.) On the other hand, I did end up purchasing several things. They're mostly things that will get turned into curtains for the townhouse, since I haven't really been in the habit of stashing home decor things. And, you know, yards and yards of fabric for a rather unplanned wedding dress. I'm ok with that, because like I said, these are special circumstances, and these high-yardage projects will take huge bites out of that total all at once. (After the dress, it's back on the wagon for sure!)

As for those other stashes--I think I used up one type of yarn. I did get rid of some beads by giving them away. So that counts, right? 

2. I have a handful of specific projects I'd like to sew. #1, the jeans. It WILL happen this time. #2, a jacket or two. #3, the Lonsdale dress I've been envisioning for at least six months. Aside from that, I want to leave things flexible for seasonal sewalongs and the like.

Now this one I totally nailed! Exhibit A) Jeans!! Exhibit B) Two jackets (and a raincoat!). Exhibit C) Lonsdale!

I guess it's a good thing I left that flexibility loophole in there, since I am now on month 3 of total sewing monogamy.

3. On the reconstruction end of things, I've had an idea simmering in my mind for a couple of months now. Since I'm already an Anthropologie fan, I'm setting a little mini-challenge for myself. Once a season, I'd like to choose a garment from the current catalog, and make a recycled piece inspired by it. Perhaps even with a tutorial, if the interest is there. (I was originally thinking once a month, but again, I'm trying to avoid over-committing myself. And once every 3 months sounds reasonable.) Also, I'd like to reconstruct often enough to stay a part of the Refashion Co-Op.

Total fail. Not only did I not do this mini-challenge at all, I got shuffled out of Refashion Co-Op months ago. Oh well.

4. Continue working on my knitting. Specifically, I'd like to make something with a cable that actually looks like a cable, something with multiple colors in the same project, and at least start that afghan that will take me years to finish.

I did not make a cable project. But I did make a striped hat.  In the most technical sense of the word, I did start the afghan one night.... I just had to rip the entire thing out because the gauge of the yarn was waaaaaay off with the size of needles that the original pattern had called for, and I haven't gotten smaller needles with a big enough cable yet.

5. Keep chipping away at the scrapbooks as I feel inspired to.

I did finish a couple of pages here and there. So I'll call this one a win.

6. Get better at picking projects that will help me make complete outfits. (I have a couple of orphan pieces that I still love and I want to wear them.)

I kind of feel like I haven't really had an opportunity to test this one out, to be honest. But I do think that things like Me-Made-May and my "fashion diet" this fall and winter has made me much more aware of what holes in my wardrobe need plugging.

7. Make some more things for others. I can be a terribly selfish crafter.

And for the most part, I still am. I did make a few gift projects this year, though, and I did spend some precious sewing time resizing t-shirts for my bestie and crafting a skirt for my sis-in-law (which is nowhere remotely close to being done, since I've only worked on it when she's been around.)

In 2013, I'd like to....

1. ...finish my wedding dress, obviously. Nothing like an immovable deadline and the pressure of everybody that I know being aware that I'm making it to motivate me! There's also other handmade things planned as far as reception decor goes, so I'll lump that in here too. 
2. ..find a way to work craftiness in on a more daily basis. As I was preparing to write this, I was struck by how few things I've made this year, compared to every other year since I started this blog. I understand why, because I've never faced a year where I was dealing with starting a new relationship, getting engaged, starting the biggest sewing project of my entire life, and having virtually no time to sew for an entire season due to regular 6-day workweeks. But it still saddens me a bit. I know that things will get crazier right around the wedding, and I may not have time to sew or craft at all then. Aside from that, I think I'd like to try Tilly's thought about just taking 15 minutes every day. Surely I can do that, even if it's not necessarily sewing. (It'll probably be way more than that for awhile, now that I'm almost done with the retail job for a few months and will be sewing like my life depends on it so I can finish as much of The One Dress as possible before that starts up again. So this is more for when I go back to more regular work.)
3. ...get my craft stuff organized. It's pretty much a necessity, since I'm also going to be moving all of my stuff within the next 6 months. Some things, like the majority of my jewelry-making supplies, are already at my fiance's townhouse. Thankfully, I do get an entire room, and a guy who actually thinks organizing is fun and is excited about the challenge of getting my stuff in there in a way that is both neat and functional. (He already spent hours of evening time getting all of my beads organized and consolidated into a few containers, even though I told him that if he'd wait a few days until we could hang out again, I'd help him...did I get a great guy or what?)
4. ...make the townhouse ours. It's already started, since we've repainted several of the rooms, and as I just mentioned, I did move a few things there that I don't foresee needing before the wedding. I am looking forward to having a place to decorate, and already have fabric for two rooms' worth of curtains--as well as plans to reuse some stuff so I don't have to make all the curtains. So yes, I'll probably be talking decor a little more than usual, at least for a little while. Hope you all don't mind.
5. ...still keep chipping away at those scrapbooks. Which will probably be easier after the wedding, since we're setting up the closet in my sewing room to be a scrapbook/jewelry-making nook. Complete with a table so I can leave half-finished layouts out on it instead of putting everything away all the time!
6. ...sew a few basics--or cake, if you will--that will help tie various parts of my wardrobe together. I'm thinking specifically about some pants of the Thurlow variety, assuming that the pattern works on me, since I am in dire need of some pants that aren't too short for me. And maybe another pair of two of jeans, since I very well may wear these jeans out within the year from constant wearing! (I already have several pieces of fabric stashed for this purpose, so I shouldn't need to buy too much there.)
7. ...as mentioned before, get back on the stashbusting wagon. Some stash purging will definitely be in order!
8. ...IF time permits, try another mini-wardrobe. I'm thinking specifically for the honeymoon, and that I'd like to pull it together using mainly pieces that I already have in my wardrobe. If I finish the dress in enough time, making one or two things would be great. (You know, since I basically have zero pairs of shorts that fit me and we're going somewhere tropical. Thurlow test, anyone?)
9. On the knitting front--I started this sweater months and months ago, kept picking it up and putting it aside because it was giving me all sorts of issues, and finally just put it into complete hibernation once The One Dress came up. I know that if I can just get through this top part (enough to make sure this will look good), it will be a great learning project. So I would like to either finish this particular sweater, or find another use for that yarn that will work for me. (Either way, it would be nice to get through one sweater next year.)
10. On the blogging front, I really would like to make some changes around here--a new blog design, if I can figure out how, and most definitely improving my photographs. I know that's a huge weak point, and I'm hoping that having a little more space (and a better chance of having a photographer on call) will help me out there.

That seems like a lot, doesn't it? But I do know that at least some of these things will happen out of pure necessity. I'm trying to leave these goals mostly open-ended, since I don't really have much way of predicting what sort of effect this sort of Really Major Life Change is going to have on my crafty life!

Next part to come later this week...