Happy New Years to all my sewcialist friends! I hope your years are off to a great start! I know mine is. I do have a few goals that I want to accomplish this year. In my 2015 review post I mentioned goals related to my results of last year, so here they are.
- Sew 100 yards of stash fabric. I used 83.5 yards last year and I really thought I would have used at least 100 yards. Some other things happened and, of course, I over scheduled myself with some projects for others so I didn’t quite hit that number. This year I don’t want to do that and I want to stick to my goal of using 100 yards. I am going to continue to track my usage to hold myself accountable. If you are interested in the spreadsheets I use to keep, you can download them through the this link, 2016 Sewing Stats. I am also co-hosting the Stashbusting Sewalong again this year. Go to the Facebook group to check it out and join us.
- Sew more selfishly for Eric and I. I actually didn’t make Eric a lot of things this year, which is unfortunate. I did make him a pretty in depth project with the Albion coat, but other than that I made him 2 vests and 2 pairs of pj pants. This month I am sewing myself a new wool coat and next fall I want to sew Eric the Thread Theory Goldstream coat. I know I want to sew more indie patterns this year as research (see #6). I am, however, going to strive towards making at least 60 total garments this year, including my renaissance costume.
- Buy less fabric. I have not tallied up the exact total of my stash in several years now because, quite frankly, it is too overwhelming of a task. I am fairly certain that I have somewhere around 8oo yards of fabric stashed away in my 8’x10′ sewing room. It takes up a lot of space. My room is packed full. I absolutely cannot add to the stash again this year like I did last year. I just do not have anywhere to put it. I am not sure if I spent less/brought in less in 2015 compared to 2014, but I will do better in 2016. I bought 194.5 yards this past year, so my goal for 2016 is to buy less than 100 yards. Who wouldn’t like to have some extra money too? I know I would!
- Be more conscience about my fabric choices. I know that I cannot cut out buying fabric all together. That would be real rough. Instead I would like to put more thought behind my choices. I do not want to purchase cheap fabrics just because I like the prints or color. I want to make sure I am buying fabrics that go with my coloring and are going to last. I plan on investing a little more to get higher quality fabrics, like wool.
- Pattern more. I do this as my day job and I want to do it more for myself. I have a couple of patterns I have been working on during my lunch breaks for the last couple of months that I want to make fairly soon. One of the patterns is a new coat using that awesome Aztec fabric I got on Black Friday. I haven’t really put this out there for the whole of the sewing community yet, but my long term goal is to release these patterns under my own indie label. I have been and will continue to work on figuring out what my brand and niche will be. Right now my goal is to take this year to figure that out and to start releasing patterns in 2017. That is the huge goal. I have a lot of work to do there, including making PDF versions of my patterns, writing our instructions, and creating illustrations.
- Improve my blog. There are three specific things I want to do to improve my blog. First, is take better photography. I was able to pull together several giftcards I had been saving from Christmas and my birthday to purchase a new DSLR camera over the summer. I have been slowly learning to use it. I need to speed up that learning now. Second, I need to post more regularly, like at least once week. If I want to be able to release a successful pattern line I need to post more to build a following and generate buzz about my patterns. Third, I need to write more tutorials. I have so many in mind it is not even funny. I just need to take the time to write them out. Some of the ones I want to write about are the method I use for inserting zippers, how I add a lining to coat sleeves, and how to make your own toggle closures.
There you have it. My 2016 goals and plans. What are you working towards this year?
I’m really excited to see what you accomplish, especially with building your blog and working toward your own patterns. I feel like my goals are quite smaller, but they are realistic for where my life is right now.
Thanks! I definitely plan to spend more time improving my blog and patterning for sure. I am in love with the jacket you just made! It is awesome!
You starting a pattern line sounds really exciting! That would be an excellent way for you to raise more funds towards your adoption, too. Is it too early to volunteer as tribute…er, pattern tester? 🙂
Haha! I will accept you as tribute! I actually have a couple of patterns almost done but I need work on branding and all that jazz.
You are my sewing idol! I can’t wait to see what you do this year.
My mother volunteered me to see some Roman shades this year. We shall see how that goes.
Thanks! I am glad to inspire! I have never made Roman shades, so props to you for taking it on.
Maybe you’ve already done this, but you could purge and donate fabric. You’d have a more manageable, less over-whelming ‘stash’ and there’s usually fabric in our stashes that we just don’t like and just don’t use.
Great suggestion. I actually did this a couple of years ago where I allowed donations towards our adoption and in turn I sent out bags of fabric. It was a huge success and raised $1000 towards our adoption and I purged several hundred yards of stash. I really should do that again!