Why hello and Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday season! It appears my 3 month sabbatical has come to an end and I am glad to be back. I have some big goals for 2017 that I am excited to share. But first, let’s talk about how I finished 2016.
My stash definitely grew this year. I brought in 261.75 yards of fabric! Yikes! But what is a fabric hoarder to do when a local Jo-Ann’s closes?! I did end up using 116.25 yards of fabric though. So, really I only added 145.5 yards of fabric to my stash. Still that is a lot to add to the stash and brings my total stash to 836.5 yards. EEPS!
I made 45 garments in 2016. They were mostly tops and dresses for myself. I played it pretty safe in 2016 and made a lot of repeats. My sewing year was about making quick and easy casual pieces. The tops in these pics are some of the last garments I made in December. All three are patterns I have previously made multiple times. Even still I do enjoy them, but I wish I had made time to make a few more frosting pieces and a few less cake pieces. In case you are unfamiliar with the reference, cake are the basic everyday garments and frosting is the fun special one-off garments.
What does this mean for 2017? It means a whole lot more sewing needs to happen. I have a short goal list this year.
- Shop my stash instead of the store. I have enough stash that if I sew up a hundred yards a year, it would take just over 8 years to use it all! While I know I will give in and purchase some fabric this year I really need to focus on stashbusting. My target number is 150 yards. I am hosting a month for the Stashbusting Sewalong again this year, which will help out with that. More on that at a later date.
- Make more frosting! I have been planning some more in-depth pieces for 2017. To start, I will finally be making the Grainline Studio – Cascade coat. It has been three years since I made my last winter coat and two years since I made Eric’s wool coat. I am due to make another now. I also want to sew less casual knit pieces and more wovens.
- Participate more in the online sewing community. I have not been as active as I would have liked to have been. I have been watching from the sidelines but I need to jump in the game with everyone else. This month I am participating in the 5th annual Jungle January, which is always a favorite of mine. I will also be blogging on the Whatcha Wearin January. There are a few other sewalongs I have signed up for too, and of course the sewing photo-hops on Instagram.
What are your sewing goals for 2017?
Sounds like some great goals! And even if it was a lot of cake, sewing up over 100 yards is definitely worth celebrating.
Great goals: they sound worthwhile *and* achievable and I wish you luck! I applaud you for recognizing that going cold turkey on fabric shopping isn’t always realistic, because UGH is that ever hard. (Incidentally, your stash size makes me feel a little less bad about my own 500+ yards so…thanks? Haha!) I’m looking forward to following along, here and now on IG!
Loose blouse and denim skirt are my 2017 style, hah