Well I have surely enjoyed my well deserved and much needed blogging break, but it is time to get back to business. I have a bit of tidying up that I want to do on the side bar still to get my blog back in order for this new year. I do want to share a few of my reSEWlutions for 2014 and review how I did on last years.
1. Complete the 2013 SWAP. I still need to write a post about my plan, which will be focusing on my Adoption Dress as my connecting piece for both collections. I think this SWAP will be great for me to do this year to keep me creative with how I am styling my dress. Fail!! I am terrible with completing SWAP’s. This is definitely not going to be on my list of goals for 2014.
2. Use at least 100 yards of fabric from my stash, excluding any new fabric purchases this year. If I purchase and use it this year it will not count towards that 100 yards. Fail! I did pretty bad using stash fabric for myself last year. I only accounted for 12 1/2 yards but I know I used more than that I just didn’t track it. It was no where near 100 yards though. Although, I did use about 50 yards of stash fabric on projects for others. That’s good at least.
3. Sew more for Eric. Last year I sewed him 1 pair of pj pants all year! He has been asking me to make him a suit for awhile now and I may attempt that tailoring feat this year. I have been getting suiting fabric from my current job, for free, to make my first men’s suit attempt with. That way if it doesn’t work I am not out a lot of money and nice fabric. Meh, I did sew him a new vest early in the year and he did get a couple of new costumes. One of which was the Star Wars costume that I almost entirely drafted from scratch. With that in mind I am counting this as a success.
4. Sew a swimsuit for myself! I have a great idea for a suit that I have been thinking about since this past summer and I really want to try it. Once again, I already have the fabric for it! For sure a win! Leila actually made this my Sewing Dare last year. Then the Swimalong happened and I posted a tutorial on Katie’s blog for elastic techniques. I love the suit I made and cannot wait to make more.
5. Sew a my winter coat for next winter. I have had the fabric for this since last year and haven’t gotten around to it. I am thinking about starting a coat sew-along in August or September for anyone who wants to make a coat as well. Also a huge win! I did make my winter coat and it is actually my most favorite thing I made last year.
So what do I have planned for this year? A lot, actually.
1. Participate in a Sewalong every month this year. There are so many out there now and I am sure plenty more to come. This month it is Jungle January, next month is Blue February and then March of the Shieldmaidens. There is also the It’s on like Donkey Kong’s shirt sew along. Not to mention all the awesome contests this year on Pattern Review.
2. Sew more for Eric. This seems to make it on my list every year and this year will be no different. First up is a sports coat that I wanted to make last year but ran out of time. Then there will be more costumes and a vest or two.
3. Curb my fabric shopping and use my stash. So far I am not starting out well with this as I purchased 19 yards from Fabric Mart already plus got a free 6 yard bundle because of it. I am really glad Emily and Cindy’s Stashbusting challenge is continuing. I definitely need it. My specific goal will be to use at least 2-3 stash pieces per month. If I can successfully do that while not bringing in future stash fabric I should be able to make a small dent in my stash. I, again this year, did not add up my stash. It is just to overwhelming to do it, but based on last count and what I added last year I estimate it is close to 800 yards now. That is a lot of amazing garments just waiting to be hung in my closet.
4. Use more indie patterns. Last year I supported quite a few indie pattern designers by purchasing a total of 12 patterns. I have not used a single one of them though. I really want too, I just have not been able to bring myself to cut into them yet. They are by far more expensive than any others I buy from the Big 4, but well worth it to support independent designers.
5. This leads me to wanting to draft more for myself. I do it for work, I went to school for it, why shouldn’t I be drafting more for myself?!? Who knows maybe one day I will be one of the indie designers I like to support.
6. Tackle this ever growing costuming list. I have a large costume list of wants for this year. They include the Shieldmaiden costume for March, new semi Viking/Medieval costume for Eric, Star Wars costume for a client, Star Wars costume for myself,the nephew has mentioned a couple of superhero costumes as well. Which includes Man-Bat, no Batman but Man-Bat. Score one for random, kid!
I still have a review to post of my first Jungle January make and after tonight I will have a second one as well. I will hopefully be able to get to those sometime this week.
If you are nervous about cutting into your indie patterns, you could always trace them instead of cutting the actual pattern pieces. I do this all the time with vintage patterns. It doesn’t take as long as you’d think plus it saves the original. Can’t wait to see what you make in 2014!!