#SewingTop5 | Reflections

Happy New Year and welcome 2018! I had such fun recapping my #SewingTop5 with my Top 5 hits, misses and highlights from the year that I wanted to end the #SewingTop5 with some sewing reflections from the year before sharing my goals for the year tomorrow. So without further ado, here are my reflections from the year.

One | My handmade wardrobe has grown dramatically this year

This year was a major year of making and sewing. With an average of 1-2 garments per week my handmade closet has grown dramatically! Almost every single day of this year I’ve worn something handmade if not an entire handmade outfit. Challenges like #MeMadeMay and other photo challenges this year have encouraged me to keep making new things to add to my wardrobe. I look forward to continuing making lots next year too!

Two | I have met so many amazing sewists in this community

My absolutely favorite thing about sewing is the people I’ve met through the community. Starting with my Stitch girls that I’ve met over the past year and a half I knew this community was really special. That was made really clear to me that while traveling this year I’ve met SO many more amazing sewing friends in real life. Just last week I got to meet Allie who was one of the first sewing bloggers and sewing people on Instagram I followed – this community is amazing and thank you to each and every one of you for being so supportive on my sewing journey!

Three | I’ve pushed myself outside my comfort zone

This year I made a lot of challenging garments – many pairs of jeans, jackets, and button downs. I try to never tell myself “this project will be too hard for me” – I just give it a go and see what happens! Sometimes that attitude comes back to bite me, but all and all it’s worked out kinda okay so far. And I’ve gotten some awesome garments out of that slightly fearless attitude.

Four | I’ve loved having a blog and growing my blog!

I’ve always wanted to have a blog, but I don’t think I realized how much I would love having a blog. My blog has grown a lot this past year because of each one of you! I have lots of ideas in store for 2018 so I look forward to taking you along on the journey!

Five | I have a long way to go

This year I’ve identified some areas that I really want to focus on in 2018 – taking some time to slow down and focus on some skill building in my sewing. I have lots more to share with my 2018 goals, so stay tuned!

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Before I close the book on 2017, the accountant in me pulled together some statistics for the year. I will caveat this to say I am terrible at keeping my own sewing records apparently. The only thing I have is my blog as a record. So these aren’t totally exact, but close enough!

I made 96 garments this year – 50 of them were knits and 46 of them were wovens.

I have only ever made garments from indie pattern companies – Big 4 patterns scare me! I’ve sewn 31 different pattern designers patterns this year and 19 of those I sewed more than 1 pattern. My most sewn indie pattern company is Closet Case Patterns (with 13 garments), followed by Hey June (11 garments) and then by Sew Caroline (8 garments), Sew Over It (7 garments) and Chalk and Notch (5 garments – all 4 of her women’s patterns plus a double on the Fringe!).

I sewed the most garments in the month of May with 17 garments (thanks #MeMadeMay) and the least garments in the month of November with 3 garments (thanks Hawaii and Utah ha!) I averaged 8 garments a month (around 2 per week!)

I bought much more fabric than I sewed up, but of the fabric I sewed up the most was from Stitch Sew Shop (21 garments), Style Maker Fabrics (17 garments) and LA Finch Fabrics (9 garments).

So here’s to 2018 (and better record keeping!). Check back tomorrow for my 2018 Sewing Goals!