Another Milestone

Today is my second blogoversary.

Wow!

I am quite impressed with myself that I've managed to keep up blogging for two whole years (I am easily distracted!), even if it has been a bit irregular at times. I hope that my blog is interesting and/or useful to at least some people out there. I am thrilled that anyone stops by to read my ramblings and still get unbelievably excited every time a comment comes through (except those pesky spam comments of course!). I can't believe my ramblings have been read by people all over the world!

Last year, I wrote a restrospective on my sewing 'career' which was pretty fun, especially digging out my fab photos of outfits I'd made in the 80's. My poor Mum must have had difficulty biting her tongue when I emerged in some of those get-ups but thank goodness she did or I may have given up sewing altogether! I guess we all looked pretty stupid back then.

So what has changed since last year? Well in my personal life, my fella moved in with me and I got an awesome new job, both of which have meant I've needed to re-prioritise how I spend my time. I'm lucky to work for the Government so I don't have to put in particularly long hours, but I still get tired and more than scheming/planning/dreaming is pretty much unachievable during the week. Not that I'm complaining, I do manage to put in a fair amount of time to my creative work. My fella understands it is something I NEED to do, and if I start to get a bit stressed out he will say "Do you want to go do some sewing while I make dinner?". I'm lucky there.

In my sewing life this past year I manage to enter two pattern review contests: the Ready-to-Wear knock off, and wardrobe challenges, which I thoroughly enjoyed. In total I completed 25 garments, a little under one per fortnight on average, a little disappointing I must admit. By garment type:

Err, I hope you can read the labels - they are a little small. In descending order: dresses, blouses/tops, skirts, t-shirts, jackets, cardigans, pants, accessories, waistcoats, gifts. Not much of a giver am I? In my defense there are two un-blogged Christmas gifts to add to the list.

The vast majority of clothes have been work-wear, with a few special occasions thrown in. I made no casual clothes this year, although my work wardrobe is pretty casual so I usually just wear ex-work stuff on my time off!

Most of my projects have been sewing, with only two knitted and one crocheted item completed (and blogged) this year.

I haven't had too many wadders this year and a few real successes. My top five are:

1. My most recently completed project, the Christmas dress. Great pattern, great fabric and an easy make - I can't wait to bust this one out for another event.


2. My entry for the RTW Knock-off challenge at Pattern Review. This is a really handy dress and I often get compliments when I wear it - even from people who have seen it before!
3. The cream t-shirt from the wardrobe competition. I don't sew a lot of knits but this one is a winner.
4. The pants, also from the wardrobe competition. They are not perfect but I am on the right track. Like many of you fitting pants is terrifying for me so I am glad to be on my way to conquering my fear!
5. The Vogue jacket from April 2009. It's so unusual and I feel very fashionable wearing it (blurry photo notwithstanding).

I suppose it's a good idea to set some goals for next year, so here they are:

My main goal is to finish more projects this year, let’s say 30. I’d like to make more:
Jackets. I used to have a few but most of them have (or should have) ‘gone the journey’ now, leaving me short.
Pants. Even just for the practice at fitting.
Tops and blouses. You can never have too many, and
Knitting and crochet. To make me a more well-rounded person!

In addition I’d like to:
- Spend a bit more time getting a quality finish, rather than rushing to get garments completed (which seems counter-intuitive to making more – let’s just say I’ll waste less time!).
- Learn some new techniques and get better at the ones I am not so confident with.
- Focus on 'investment sewing' - the home-made equivalent of 'investment dressing'.
- Branching out into some new skill-sets, whether in textiles or other materials.

I guess the overall theme for this year will be quality over quantity (but with improved efficiency, resulting in quantity!), so let's see how I go.

Anyway, thank you all for dropping by over the last year (or two) and by all means leave a comment if the mood takes you, I'd love to hear from you.