Hits and misses of 2013

I am finally getting around joining Gillian in reflecting on my Top 5 of 2013. A little late but our annual beach holiday began earlier than normal and went for longer and I ran out of time to post before we left.

 

2013 was a challenging year for me sewing wise. Returning to work full-time after only working part-time since having kids was sure to cut in on my sewing time. I did manage to sew 51 garments, only 10 less than 2012.  Surprisingly, I did sew more garments for me (and way less for the kids!).

 

Here is a breakdown of garments:

Sewing for kids - 13

Dresses - 9

Skirts -2

Pants and shorts - 5

Tops, tees and jumpers - 8

PJs - 4

Undies -10

Hits

1. Black sheath dress - I finally had an occasion to wear this. It fits perfectly.

 

2. Black white and yellow dress - I received so many compliments when I wore this to the awards ceremony at work, it was wonderful.

 

3. Ponte dress - While not the best quality in fabric, this was my first taste at ponte and I was impressed.

 

4. Green knit dress - love the colour and a step out of my comfort zone style wise.

 

5. Blue knit skorts for my daughter -  it feels good to draft a pattern again.

 

Misses

Oops, there are a number of projects I never got around to blogging about, and some of them belong here!

1. Grey linen shorts - Really fabulous apart from the waistband stretching out during the day.

2. Purple printed tee - this worked out okay, but after a year of not that much use, the fabric is becoming limp.

3. Blue and white PJ top - this is a little too big, the straps fall down constantly and it reveals way too much. It would be relegated to sleepwear if it wasn't already a PJ top. I have realised how much I like knit PJs now.

4. Grainline Tiny Pocket tank - I really like the look of this but it just isn't right for me. The dart was way too low and even after raising it for a second go, the bust area just sits funny on me. Kind of pointy-outy. Besides, it is very low cut and I felt exposed when I trialled it at work. I prefer my Sorbetto pattern for my body. I where this tanks to bed now.

5. Grey wool pants - another photo-less garment. The pattern I used was quite loose. I had to take the side seams in a heap and then the pockets were no longer functional. I wore them once and then gained some weight and they were too tight. Blah.

 

One of my on going goals each year is to use more fabric than I acquire. This year I bought 68.45m, with 68.25m sewn. After cleaning my sewing room, I donated a further 8m of fabric, not including remnants. I sewed 13.5m of fabric from stash, and added back 13.7m. This equates to using approximately 80% of fabric bought being sewn. Last year I converted 47% to completed garments, so maybe I was considering my purchases more carefully in 2013.

 

In 2014 I will be challenging myself to be more organised with my sewing. I made way too many trips to the fabric store to pick up zippers, thread etc mid way through a project. Not only is it a time waste, it gives me an opportunity to procrastinate (of which I am fabulous at) and also tempts me to buy more fabric while at the store.

 

I also find that I can over analyse exactly what pattern I want to use with what fabric. This makes me overwhelmed and again wastes time. While I don't want to end up with lots of duds, I generally go with my first idea anyway, so this year I want to just get on and sew rather than over think the planning process.

 

 

 

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.

End of year post 2011

My main goals for this year were to keep sewing plenty of things for myself and to use more fabric than I bought.

In 2011, I made 73 items, including 41 pieces of clothing for me and 23 for the kids. I made the same amount of things for myself last year. Considering I am working an additional day each fortnight and am volunteering slightly more, this result is pleasing.

Woven tops/blouse: 7
Knit tops: 9
Jumpers: 3
Jackets; 2
Shorts: 3
Pants: 4
Dresses: 2
Skirts: 3
Other: 8

Favourite item: Chantilly dress – maybe because it is fresh on my mind. I spent a lot of time on it, and was pleased to take it from something I was too scared to start to an elegant, swishy delight.

Most unexpected enjoyment: pink Swiss-dot Taffy top. I actually made it as a muslin but love to wear it.

Biggest flop – a tee that stretched out of shape straightaway. Honourable mention goes to a lovely sheath dress with the shrinking lining – twice i have washed it and twice the lining has pulled at the hem funny.

Most time consuming: I was going to say my fuchsia wool jacket, but I actually think the Chantilly dress took longer.

Most frustrating project: jeans. They launched a real desire to acquire a vintage beauty to do the tough stuff.

Okay, so how much fabric did I buy, and how much did I use? In the end, I bought 81.55 metres. Wow, and that was trying to be careful. My biggest downfalls was a 40% off sale and some fabrics on ebay that came in 5m lots.

Of that 81.55m, I used 60.2m of it this year. That is a conversion rate of more than 73%. It makes it seem less bad that only 21.35m was added to the stash from the fabric I bought this year.

I sewed up 94 metres in 2011.that includes fabric for 5 muslins. I worked out that 63% of the fabric I used came from the fabric I had bought this year and 37% came from the stash. There is one UFO of 90cm plus I donated 7.3 metres to my daughter's class for costumes, so that brings the total up to 102.2m.

Keeping tabs of how much I bought and used was a useful motivation tool,so I plan to keep it up but it will not be my main goal for next year. I will have to think about what I want to achieve next year. I have a few ideas of what to enter into competitions, and need to start earlier than normal to meet the deadline.

End of year post

As we will be busy with Christmas festivities and then going on our summer holiday, I am going to post a bit of a review of my sewing for the year.

I had a number of goals that I wanted to achieve this year. Here is my list, I am happy that I did quite a few of them. I did have a longer list than normal.

1. Winter coats for both the kids Only sewed Jalisa' coat
2. Flannelette PJs for both the kids Sewed PJs for Scott only
3. Sew up something using some ugly fabric
4. Jacket for me DONE
5. Sew something from a vintage pattern and post on Sew Retro
6. Little black dress for me DONE
7. Black pants for me DONE
8. Creative entry for the local show DONE
9. Discharge dyeing DONE
10. Tray dyeing using thickened dyed DONE
11. Make 4 pairs of work pants for DH
12. Make a body double DONE, just need to stuff it
13. Trial 12 new patterns for me DONE, I managed 16

In 2010, with everything included, I sewed a total of 74 things. 33 things were for the kids (including clothes, undies and bags).

The unwritten goal I was aiming to do this year was to do a lot more 'me' sewing. This year I sewed up 41 items for me.

• Dress = 5 (including 2 new patterns)
• Skirts = 3 (1 new pattern)
• Pants and shorts = 9 (5 new patterns)
• Blouses, tees and cardigans = 11 (6 new patterns)
• Jackets = 2 (2 new patterns)
• PJs and undies = 11 (1 new pattern)

I think I met that goals. Overall I am pleased with all the sewing I have done this year.