Sewing Goals 2014: Non-stash related

While my highest priority goals for 2014 revolve around stash balance and reduction, I have a mish-mash of non-stash related goals of things that I'd like to accomplish in the following year. In no particular order, here are my non-stash goals for the following year:

• Sew a water-resistant jacket with a hood.
  
  I made a rain jacket a few years ago (and still wear it), but it really bothers me that it doesn't have a hood and that I still have to use an umbrella when it's raining. I want to rectify that this year, especially since it rains so much more in Seattle than San Diego, and I know that this to-be-sewn jacket will get a ton of wear.
• Sew a winter coat.
  
  I don't have one that I like. I need one. We seem to be through the worst of our cold weather here in Seattle, so I will probably take my time with this one and/or punt it to fall sewing. I already have the pattern and fabric bought for the one that I want to make (see my Winter coat post).
• Sew my daughter's Halloween costume.
  
  I did this last year. It was fun/rewarding. I want to do it again. She's old enough now that she'll be able to pick out what she wants to be, so that will add a new angle to things. If her current interests hold through to the fall, she'll likely want to be Elmo, Muno (from Yo Gabba Gabba), a duck, or a penguin.
• Sew a capsule wardrobe.
  
  I've alluded to having a lot of holes in my wardrobe in previous posts. I am a classic example of a person with a closet full of clothes and "nothing to wear". I have four pairs of Old Navy jeans that actually fit me quite well and a few knit dress/leggings combos that I like/wear, but I am really lacking in tops that both fit and don't feel out of style and jackets/toppers to go with those. My ultimate goal here is to come up with 4-5 outfits that will get me through the work week so that A) I don't always feel like I'm wearing the same things styled the same way again and B) not go through my closet on Fridays really struggling with picking out a top to wear and picking out something that either doesn't fit all that well or isn't that flattering but is clean.
  
  I had been pondering what pieces should make up a capsule wardrobe like this, but Trudy from HotPatterns sent out her own suggestions for a 12-piece capsule wardrobe this morning:
  
  HotPatterns 12-piece capsule wardrobe for spring

This is it. THIS is how I dress for work. The only thing on this list that I wouldn't wear would be the white jeans (mental block against the 80's-ness of them and not being a size 4). I'm actually about to finish a striped t-shirt similar to the one pictured here. You might also notice a LOT of overlap between Trudy's suggested patterns for these pieces and the "candidate patterns" from my stash that I mentioned in my Pattern Stash post. The other nice thing is that I can sew this ENTIRE capsule from stash patterns and fabrics (substituting a non-HP pattern here and there).

I'll do a series of more comprehensive posts on my capsule plans as I work them out and execute them.

• Get over my fear of fly zippers.
  
  Really. I've been sewing long enough, I've sewn a few decent ones. I don't know why I still tense up at the thought of them.
• Execute a wearable set of welt pockets.
  
  I've gotten to the point where I've done test samples that look wearable. Here's another area where I need to get over my fear and actually put them in something that I'd wear.
• Fabric out for the year should be 50% greater than fabric in.
  
  I have a spreadsheet where I am tracking this. I've already fallen behind because I got bitten by the merino wool sale at FabricMart, but I know I can recover.
• Explore the functionality of my Babylock Evolve.
  
  My one splurge/semi-frivolous purchase that came out of my signing bonus for my new job last year was to upgrade my old Brother 1034D to a new-to-me Babylock Evolve serger/coverstitch combo machine. I've already been using the 3- and 4-thread overlocks and coverstitch quite a bit, but it can do so much more, and I want to learn how to do so many more things on it.

So that's it. I have 8-non stash specific goals for the year. I'll check back against these throughout the year to see how I'm progressing.