A Few Months Late... My Four Year Sewiversary

In the whirlwind of skating costumes that have been consuming my life for the past few months I completely missed marking my four year sewiversary at the start of June.  At New Year's I tend to do a list of sewing projects I want to make, but halfway through the year (on my sewiversaries) I think about goals and projects that will push my skills or force me to learn new techniques.  Let's see how I did on last year's goals:

(1) Complete my 2012 sewing challenge.  Well, I got pretty far, but I didn't actually meet this goal.  Considering that I had a few academic requirements get in the way I think I can live with it, so I will consider this goal half-way accomplished.

(2) Make jeans!  Fail.  I still really want to make jeans, and I have patterns and fabric to make jeans.  I just haven't actually gotten around to making jeans.  Maybe this goes on this year's list again.

(3) Make a costume with a boned corset.  Nope.  The only costumes I have been making contain lots of lycra.

(4) Try all of the sewing magazines my sister brought home from Europe.  Haven't done this one either.  Though I have tried My Image and Patrones (with success), I haven't gotten around to La Mia Boutique or Knipmode yet.  Another half goal here.

(5) Make a lightweight jacket I can use on a daily basis.  Nope.  But this one is staying near the top of my to-sew list, so maybe it will get done by the end of this year?

(6) Use more stash fabric for projects.  Hahahahaha, no.  Again, the relocation of my stash at the end of last year sort of put a damper on me easily accessing a lot of it.  And to be fair since most of my recent sewing has been for not me, it stands to reason I wouldn't be using a lot of my stash.  And I suppose that of the project I have made for me in the past year (which is not a whole lot), a decent number of them used at least one stashed fabric?  Maybe I give myself another half point.

(7) Buy Spoonflower fabric.  Another no.  But I do know what I want to get.  And what I want to use it for.  Just haven't bought it yet.  But I will, eventually, and it will be glorious.

(8) Make (and wear) more dresses and skirts.  I am giving myself a yes on this one!  Considering I had three (fancy) dresses and no skirts when I wrote these goals last year, I consider making two skirts and a versatile wrap dress a win on this front.  I have even worn them out of the house too!

(9) Make my sister a graduation dress.  Yes!  I made it, and the pattern review should be posted soon.  Well, soon-ish.  Maybe not my finest work, but it got done.

(10) Read, learn, and sew more!  Well, I haven't been doing as much reading or studying of new sewing techniques as I would have liked, but I have been sewing for a LOT of different people this year, and I feel like I have gained a lot of practical knowledge from that.  And I bagged a jacket lining for the first time, so, well, there is that.  I guess I will give myself another half point for this one.

So, all in all that is two and four-half goals done.  Not nearly as much as I would have liked, but considering everything that has happened in the past year, I suppose I couldn't really expect myself to have done much more than that.  And if I assume I will be doing as much skating sewing next year as I did this year, then I suppose I should try to make my goals for next year a bit more reasonable.  Hopefully I can get a bit more sewing in during the holidays this year though, so hopefully I can get a bit more done than last year.  Here's the plan:

(1) Make a lightweight jacket.  I really really need to add a casual lightweight jacket to my wardrobe.  This one is staying on my list.

(2) Jeans.  Yes, I still want to make them.  This will probably stay on my list until I actually do make them.

(3) Make a RTW knockoff garment.  I have several planned, and I have the fabric and materials in my stash.  I just haven't gotten around to any of them yet!

(4) Try at least one new pattern company.  Probably Knipmode or La Mia Boutique, or possibly Manequim, since I just bought one of their magazines off of Ebay.

(5) Make my sister a tan "Elaine Robinson" coat.  She has been begging for years.  I have the fabric, and I have the inspiration photos.  It is time to make the coat.

(6) Make more wardrobe basics that can be worn with things I already have.  Right now I am really needing some more navy and grey pants, some nice light and medium weight jackets and sweaters, and some more knit tops.  I would also like to make some more versatile knit dresses.

(7) Make at least one dress for a fancy party or celebration.  I have a lot of ideas and fabric and plans.  I should make at least one of them.

(8) Use more stash fabric for projects.  I have a huge stash.  I need to use it.

(9) Buy less fabric!  Actually, I have noticed that my fabric buying has decreased (except for recently as I bought fabric on my trip to the roller skating nationals), and I am hoping this will continue.  Of course, trips to the Michael Levine Loft are always exempt.

(10) Read, learn, and sew more!  I have been doing plenty of the sewing, but I need to do more reading and studying this year.  I just got a lot of really fantastic used books about sewing techniques and I hope I have time to read them this year.

And that's it!  I know this was a fairly boring picture-less post, but I try to keep track of my yearly sewing goals and see how I am doing.  Last year I don't feel like I accomplished as much as I wanted, but I am hoping to change that in the coming year.  It seems like a lot of my goals this year are related to creating a more complete and versatile wardrobe for myself, which was sort of the point of my sewing challenge for this year.  However, that has gotten pretty badly de-railed at this point, so I am going to have to rethink my sewing plans for the remainder of 2013.  Stay tuned!