My main sewing goals for 2017 are to sew more frequently and more carefully. When I’m looking for excuses to feel bad about myself, I often fixate on the fact that I’ve been sewing garments for about two decades and I’m barely above the advanced beginner stage. I want to be more meticulous with boring, labor-intensive set up that will pay off with way nicer finished projects.
2017 is the year of:
- Pre-washing and ironing fabric (every time I pull two yards of fabric out of the washer I feel like it might actually take an entire year to iron)
- Making a god damn muslin
- Identifying fit issues and learning which are typical for my body
- Mastering commercial pattern adjustments
I want few-to-no disastrous self-drafted fit & flare knit dresses this year. I don’t know how I messed that one up in 2016, but I sure as hell did.
Like every other sewing hobbyist ever, I also want to reduce my fabric stash. My style has changed a lot since I started hoarding. I started sewing seriously for teen cosplay reasons. I moved into an intense lolita phase during college and grad school. I essentially stopped sewing when I moved to California four years ago. Part of it was space constraints, and part of it was that I just didn’t know what to sew anymore if it wasn’t a McCall’s/Butterick/Simplicity fitted bodice and 5 yards of skirt & lace. Now I’m into more of a business witch phase. I want to be office-appropriate, but comfortable and vaguely menacing.
I’m making good progress on this so far! In late 2016, I gave away an old machine and a massive garbage bag full of fabric and patterns. I’m left with three fabric bins of fabric and half a bin of patterns. I still have a few cuts of fabric and probably about a million yards of crocheted lace that are no longer to my taste, but I can’t get rid of them for sentimental reasons. In 2017, I want to focus on using what I have, only buying fabric for specific projects in my immediate future, and only making things that will be practical, comfortable, and heavily used in my everyday life.
My last sewing goal is to be less enraged by failure. Sewing is honestly the worst hobby. It’s just terrible. It’s tedious, picky, and it makes my back hurt. Half the time I have no idea what went wrong with a project, and the other half of the time I know precisely what went wrong because I cut a corner to save time and/or fabric. Even when projects go smoothly, I have never made anything I was completely happy with. But I also love to sew, somehow. My favorite show to listen to as I work is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Sewing puts me in what I assume is the same mental state as Frank and Charlie’s in the sewers. Also, their constant screaming masks mine.
I’m hoping that this blog will soothe my rage in two ways. First, I’ll have a log of everything I worked on. If nothing else, at the end of the year I’ll be able to say, “Wow, my output of unwearable amateur shift dresses is truly impressive.” Second, when a project goes wrong, I hope I’ll feel less like I wasted a ton of time and fabric for nothing if I have a concrete record of all the things I learned.
Here’s to hoping that I defeat human emotion in 2017!
Liz vs Projects 
These are great goals! Business witch phase is about where I’m at too.
Despite sewing for decades, I can’t believe how much I’ve learned already with the first two patterns I’ve sewn using independent designer patterns. I’m keeping a log of what I’m learning from each project to go back and review later in the year.
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Thanks! That’s really encouraging to hear about indie patterns. I crashed and burned with two Colette patterns, but I really want to give Grainline and Blueprints for Sewing a shot.
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You might like Vogue 2607, it has that vaguely menacing look you claim to like.
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It is oop.
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Thanks for the recommendation. That collar is spectacular!
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