Summing up sewing in 2012

This year, I managed to sew 61 items – 27 for the kids and 34 for me. Compared to last year, I made more items for the kids but less for me.

For myself:

 

 

Favourite item: The trench coat – pretty colour, great for coolish weather.

 

Most unexpected enjoyment: pencil skirt – I have avoided the shape thinking it was unflattering but it actually a rather flattering silhouette. And the Sorbettos that I made are worn a lot.

Most worn items: I pretty much wear the blue and red shorts I made weekly and the yellow tee and black and white striped tee as well. What can I say – I love my basics and have been experimenting with colour more this year.

 

                                                          

 

Biggest flop: my first project of the year, which was a little too tight, the straps a little too short and the fabric a tad too sheer. Ooops.

Most time consuming: Trench coat

Most frustrating project: getting some decent fitting pants. Thankfully, thanks to StephC, it is now a breeze and I have lots of plans for pants and shorts in the new year.

 

 

This year, I acquired 96.7m of fabric. This includes nearly 17 metres of lining plus fabric that I won and fabric that was given to me. I managed to convert 45.5m(47%) of that fabric to clothing.

56.1m of fabric was from online vs. 40.6m from bricks and mortar stores (58% vs. 42%). 4m of dud fabric was purchased, 100% online from ebay!

I used a total of 85.7 metres of fabric this year, including lining and 1 UFO of a pair of leggings I am too lazy to sew. 45.5m (53%)came from the new fabrics I bought and the other 40.2m (47%) came from old stash.

As you can see, I acquired much more fabric than I used (11m). However, in my mind it is a lot more even because of all the lining fabric I bought.

I haven’t thought a great deal about sewing goals for next year. I am reluctantly returning to work full-time (I say reluctantly because it was the school that preferred me full-time). The last time I worked 5 days a week was before I had children and back then I only sewed on the holidays as my weekends were busy socialising.

I guess my main goal will be to sew a little bit each day, maybe working on easier projects during the week and keeping challenging ones to the weekend or holidays. I am going to be pushing myself to hit the machines rather than the couch at night.

The other goal will be to wear more colour. Someone made a comment on my blog last year when I made a black Colette Chantilly dress about why I had not chosen a colour and I guess on some level that stuck with me. I have trying to dress with less black and more colour lately.