2024: My Year in Sewing

How did I do in meeting my 2024 sewing goals?

Great question. I was just thinking about that. Grab a cup of coffee, tea or soda as I explain.

“Mindful purchasing” has been a great motto. Thank you, YoungRobert and the Fabric Fasters.

I continued my RTW fast begun in 2011 at the suggestion of PR member Sarah Gunn, better known as Goodbye Valentino. I now make a lot of clothes for my family too, especially DD (and her friends with whom she shares clothes) and my grandchildren.

I reduced both my fabric purchase and my sewing/clothing budget a lot in 2024. Most fabrics that I bought were either needed to address a gap in stash for a particular project or fell into the category of “wow that is so amazing I need to sew it up now.”

I am pleased to say,  I acquired no excess yardage in 2024. In fact, I sewed a lot more yardage than I purchased.

Active Wear Contest #1

These were my 2024 sewing goals and an end of year report on how I did:

1) Learn how to sew workout clothes. I made numerous activewear clothes. And I wore them. Working out. Total score.

2) Make more swimsuits, snorkel and scuba gear (preferable coordinating). I made many swimsuits and a couple of second skins. I also wore these. A lot. While I had been afraid to make swimsuits prior to the PR contest in 2023, I now find they are among my favourite garments to sew. I do not have to face the awful prospect of tyring on terrible suits in the store anymore. I can stick to styles that work for me. And I get compliments on having unique items.
Active Wear Contest #2



3) Examine fabric purchased pre pandemic and repurpose for current lifestyle. I am still working on this. I need to overcome the fear of “wasting” precious fabric.

4) Make more clothes for swing dancing. I made many dresses for swing dancing. It was great creating items that enhance my dancing, are super comfortable to wear and are easily washed. I went dancing about two weekends a month. So much fun. And great exercise. Sewing dresses added “pleasure” anticipation. Being able to say “thanks, I made it” also enhanced each experience.

5) Examine disappointing online fabric purchases and decide how to use for muslin or give away. These continue to be a problem. I still make online purchasing mistakes. Most are the fabric arrives slightly different than I expected and so becomes not useful for the planned project. I’ve been forcing myself to really look long and hard before hitting the purchase button for online purchases, but time pressure often makes specific online purchase for planned projects worth the risk. I’ve been using “bad” purchases as muslin. Wearable muslins are great. If I get to use and enjoy, wonderful. If not, it’s a muslin. Lesson learned and part of the process.

Matchy Matchy Contest

6) Revisit past sewing lists and planned projects. Many of my early planned projects were abandoned because the pattern choice was poor for me. When I began my RTW fast in 2011, I did not understand which patterns could be easily redrafted to fit me and which could not. Costly early errors were both instructive and daunting. For a while I vowed to buy only patterns that included instructions on how and where to do petite pattern alterations. This was limiting. There are fewer and fewer petite offerings. I can now look at most sewing patterns and see if I can add my own petite lines. But I still make pattern purchasing mistakes.

I’ve decided that as I move forward with PR reviews, I am going to add a question: Was this pattern petite friendly? This question will address what alterations I needed to do, if any, to petite the pattern. It will also address whether or not the pattern itself (1) had finished measurements on it and (2) shorten/lengthen lines on bodice, hips, hems and sleeves. Many do not, which IMHO is sloppy drafting resulting in less inclusive products.
Favorite 2024 Make

a lot of my stash and was much better about mindful purchases. Most fabric purchased was used immediately. And I bought a lot less fabric than I had in years past. Not all my projects resulted in finished garments, but I posted most on PR (another goal), and I view patterns/muslins tried and abandoned as an important part of the journey.

Thank you again for all your advice and support. I feel lucky that I found such a wonderful group of sewists to share sewing adventures.
 

Now on to developing 2025 sewing goals …….

Happy sewing!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Top 10 Sewing Patterns List by Garment Type

Pattern Review just introduced a feature called My Top 10 List as a feature of the pattern stash. Last year alone I sewed over 200 different patterns. I can pick only 10? Challenge accepted. I began by listing patterns be type. Then I evaluated how often I sewed the pattern and even more important, how often I wore the garments.  My most sewn, most worn patterns are all dresses. Not a surprise. Dresses are my most worn garment. For business. For casual. For travel. I love how I can put on a dress and be done. I also love how I can vary my look by changing shoes, scarves, jewelry and toppers. In a world where there is too much to do, I like easy decisions when getting dressed. Pardon the bad pun. Since I had a difficult time confining my list to just dresses, let alone 10 patterns period, I present my favorite patterns by type: Tops: I have 41 tops reviewed on Pattern Review. Of those, these are the patterns I've sewn and worn again and again: Simplici...
Read more

Pattern Review -- Making a Vegan Leather Sling Bag with Simplicity 9803

Image
This project is my entry for the bag contest. It is the 4th time I've now sewn this bag. This month. The project is also part of the January 2025 Pop-up Sew-along: Nothing but Stash and a part of my yearlong commitment to the 2025 Fabric fast and 2025 50 Yard Dash . I've never made a handbag before, and I wanted to use this contest to learn how to do so and to duplicate a bag style I love.   Reversible Ergonomic Bag Worn as Healthy Back Bag I made three wearable muslins for this project: • V1: S9803 Sling Bag made with Upholstery Scraps  with Matching Makeup Bag and Matching Coin Purse • V2: S9803 Sling Bag w/ snap front pocket also made with Upholstery Scraps • V3: S9803 Reversible Sling Bag w/ zipper front pocket made with Blue & Printed Denim Scrap The project was made to replace a favorite bag that I used for years until it finally fell apart. The lining was torn and soiled. The hardware of the bag was broken. My cobbler told me to get a new bag. You can...
Read more

Sewing Tip -- Sewing with Silk

Image
Silk Georgette Gown  Silk is wonderful to wear but it can be tricky to sew. These are my favorite tricks when sewing with silk (based on experience with silk chiffon, silk charmeuse, silk dupioni, wool/silk blends and silk jersey): (1) Be sure to have a very sharp rotary cutter and/or scissors. When I sew with silk I always sharpen and/or change blades. Silk slips. A lot. So sharp tools make precision cutting easier. (2) Use a presser foot designed for a straight stitch. (3) If that is not adequate, use a presser foot designed for slippery fabric. I use a plastic roller foot. I've tried my walking foot but I find the walking foot cumbersome when working with slippery fabrics. (4) Start with a fresh needle. Sharps needles work best. (5) Use a fine needle. I typically use Schmetz universal size 70/10 (6) If the fabric is really fussy when cutting, you can tame the silk by laying a piece of tissue paper over it. (7) Press with LOTS of steam. Finger pressing with a stea...
Read more