Mid-year checkpoint: Sewing goals for 2015

Like many other sewing bloggers, I set a list of goals for myself for 2015 at the beginning of the year.  By some sewing blogging standards, my goals for this year weren't particularly ambitious, but they did all relate to areas where I wanted to progress. Now that it's the end of June, and we're already halfway through 2015, I think it's about time to check in on those goals and see how I'm doing.

Finish that damn winter coat.

Done! Yaaaaaaaaaay!

Simplicity 1254 - Leanne Marshall coat

Pattern stash goal: none

I didn't want to set a pattern stash goal for myself this year because I felt that I should stop fighting my "Ooh shiney!" tendencies and embrace them instead. Interestingly, I do feel like I've been a little more thoughtful in my pattern/project selection this year by concentrating on wardrobe holes and very wearable garments, rather than purchasing and leaping into The Next Big Thing, pattern-wise. I do feel like writing my weekly pattern roundups has helped me evaluate new pattern releases a little more objectively than I had been, and as a result, has curtailed some of my impulse pattern purchases.

 

 Fabric stash goal: Shop my stash first, shop local for wovens, and quality over quantity

This one has been a bit of a mixed bag.  I think that about half of the projects that I've made so far this year have been sewn from stash fabric, as opposed to fabric purchased in the past couple of months. I am realizing that I really do need to go through my stash and do another cull--there are fabrics in there that made the cut at the last cull because I liked them, but I am now realizing that I am unlikely to wear a garment actually made from those fabrics. I also did have a few pretty bad online buying binges while my father's health was failing, but that was retail therapy in the truest sense of the phrase. I don't need to beat myself up over this, even if my credit card statement is a somewhat nasty reminder.

On the other hand, I've definitely been doing the quality over quantity thing--making fewer purchases if not spending less money. I can't count how many times I've filled a cart on FabricMart's website and then had the willpower to close my browser tab.

Sew a water-resistant jacket with a hood.

Can't say that I've made much progress here. Granted, we've been having a ridiculously warm and dry year here in the PNW, and that's killed my motivation for this goal, somewhat. The other thing killing my motivation has been the lack of pattern options that fit my idea of "the perfect rain jacket". If the Sewaholic Minoru wouldn't require major re-drafting to fit me, I'd probably sew that and be done with this goal. If a jacket with the details that I want doesn't get released in the coming months, I'm toying between either trying to feminize the fit of a men's pattern or converting the Jalie City Coat to a zippered opening.

Jalie City Coat

Jeans! Jeans! Jeans!

I'm almost there on this one! Technically, I guess, I did make a pair of jeans when I made my wearable muslin pair of Burda 6951. However, now that I've made this pattern again and have the fit much closer to what I wanted, I'm not counting this goal as "accomplished" until I make up my "real" pair of jeans. I do consider this goal to easily be "on track" to be done by the end of the year.

Burda 6591 - wearable muslin

Burda 6951 - back pocket and rivets

Fit and sew a button-down blouse.

I haven't tackled a button-down blouse yet, but I do currently have a couple of shirtdress patterns sitting on my cutting table as candidates for my next project. Does that count? In any case, I'm pretty confident that I'll accomplish this by the end of the year. Note that by "fit", I mean "wearable in public", not "get rid of all wrinkles and draglines".

Watch and complete the relevant projects for at least two of my Craftsy classes.

I've started watching Suzy Furrer's skirt sloper class. I want to learn more about drafting my own patterns and figured this was probably the easiest place to start. I'm also hoping to get through one or both of Suzy's bodice sloper class and/or Beverly Johnson's basic bra-making class.

 

Final Thoughts

So, I feel like I'm doing "not bad, but could be better".  On the other hand, I feel like I'm on track to accomplish most of what I set out to do in 2015. As a list maker, I know that it will feel awfully good to tick a few of these boxes when I do accomplish a few of these goals. I guess we'll just see?

Did you make any sewing goals for 2015? How are you progressing on your own goals?

Trenchcoat update: 04-April

The trenchcoat now has sleeves!

Yes, my sewing room really looks like this. You can now feel better about yours.

It also has a self-fabric belt!

Constructed & top-stitched self-fabric belt

I'd already finished constructing the lining, and I plan to insert that this weekend. I do need to buy more thread, though, before I'll be able to get much further. Amazingly, I was able to find the thread and buttons that I'd originally purchased/began using on this project from when I started this coat 2 1/2 years ago.

Assuming that I get the lining inserted this weekend, then over the next week, I'll just have to do my buttonholes and buttons, and then I'm done! The end is in sight! Even better, I'm (currently) on track to complete my coat by April 15th end date of the trenchcoat sewalong.

In other news, I'm disappointed in how I've been doing in fabric in vs. fabric out this year. I hadn't realized how "off pace" I was until I revisited at my goals for the year the other day. I'd wanted to have twice as much fabric "out" (either through sewing or donation) as I purchased this year. I'm pretty much flipped on that goal--slightly over twice as much "in" as "out". I plan to remedy that somewhat this weekend by going through my stash and pulling out enough stash fabric for donation to bring me into stash parity for the year. I already had ~12 yards pulled aside for donation, so I think I can pretty easily bring that total to at least 25 yards.

One question to my followers? Do you count fabric used in a UFO in your stash reduction tools? The trenchcoat took about 4 yards of fabric, so it would be nice to count that towards my stash-busting goals. ;)

2014 Q1 sewing goals check-in

I'm sure that none of us can believe it, but the first three months of 2014 have already flown by, and with that, one quarter of the year is behind us. Back in January, I made a list of sewing goals for myself for the year. In the interest of holding myself accountable and maybe re-igniting some motivation for a few things, I thought I'd check in and comment on how I'm doing.

You can go back and read the original posts, if you're interested:

• 2014 Sewing Goals: Pattern Stash

• 2014 Sewing Goals: Non-stash related

Goal: Sew at least 15 patterns from the candidate pattern stash.
Status: On track (slightly ahead of pace)
Summary: I've been updating my spreadsheet with each pattern I've sewn, where applicable. Here's a snapshot of the current spreadsheet (highlighted patterns are candidates for my capsule wardrobe):

Pattern stash spreadsheet - 01-Apr-2014

So far, I've made 6 different patterns from this list this year. Of those 6, I've made 4 of them multiple times. I'm very easily on track to sew up 15 of these this year.

Goal: Sew at least 20 pieces of stashed fabric.
Status: On track (well ahead of pace)
Summary: I've been updating a different spreadsheet with my fabric stash progress. So far, I've used 11 pieces of stash fabric this year. Given that it's only the end of Q1, I'm thinking that I may have been a little conservative in this goal. On the other hand, this goal has definitely motivated me to sew from stash more and run out and buy new fabric less.

Goal: Sew a water-resistant jacket with a hood
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: I keep going back and forth on a pattern for this, but the bottom line is that I still need one and haven't sewn one yet.

Goal: Sew a winter coat
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: I thought that we were done with our big cold snap for the year when I originally wrote this goal (we weren't), so I figured that I probably wouldn't really start this until the fall, anyway.

Goal: Sew my daughter's Halloween costume
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: This is another distinctly fall-ish goal.

Goal: Sew a 12-piece capsule wardrobe
Status: In progress (slightly behind).
Summary: So far, I've sewn two of the twelve pieces that I talked about in my planning post. This means that I'm slightly off my planned pace of three pieces per quarter. I'm not too worried, though--if I sew four pieces in Q2, I'll be right back on track.

Goal: Get over my fear of fly zippers
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: I haven't tacked a fly zipper yet in 2014, but I do want to make several pairs of pants and jeans and possibly a jean skirt, so I am confident that I will accomplish this goal if I accomplish my wardrobe goals.

Goal: Execute a wearable set of welt pockets
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: Yeah, I haven't tackled these so far either in 2014.

Goal: Fabric out for the year should be 50% greater than fabric in
Status: *embarrassed look*
Summary: Right now, I'm at 47.63 yards IN for the year and 20.5 yards OUT. I'm way, way, way off pace here. I blame stress shopping and Fabric Mart sales.

Goal: Explore the functionality of my Babylock Evolve
Status: On track.
Summary: Unlike most of the rest of my non-stash-related goals, I am making nice progress on this goal. I've added comfort with a rolled hem and lettuce edging to my Evolve arsenal. I really love this machine and am very happy that I splurged on it a few months ago.

I can't say that I had really looked at these goals much since posting them, which was probably a bit of a mistake. However, the year is still fairly young, and I have plenty of time to get back on track with most of them. I'm a little disappointed with myself that the only area that I'm doing really well in is sewing down stash (although my sewing down fabric stash numbers are negated by my fabric purchasing numbers). I know that I can do better for Q2, and I intend to do so.

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.

2014 Sewing Goals: Pattern Stash

I am going to blatantly rip off an idea from Lynn over at You sew, girl! and write my own post about my goals for pattern stash busting in 2014. She set stashbusting goals for herself by identifying a goal of sewing at least 10 stashed patterns and 30 pieces of stashed fabric in 2014.

I am going to do a similar thing with the following pledge:

"I, Michelle of happilycaffeinated, commit to using at least 15 patterns from the candidate pattern stash and using at least 20 pieces of stash fabric in 2014. Stash includes any fabric or patterns on hand/purchased prior to the date of this pledge, 8 Jan 2013."

If you'll recall, I wrote a post a few months ago where I was debating how best to add some focus and order to my sewing projects for 2014:

Thinking ahead to 2014: Seeking Balance

In particular, I was interested in finding a way to prioritize sewing up some of my stashed patterns that I truly wanted to sew but hadn't done so because I kept getting distracted by other projects. By using Lynn's challenge as an inspiration, I think that I should be able to accomplish my pattern stashbusting goals for the year but not feel like I'm locked into sewing only one company's patterns.

Here's how I'm planning to accomplish these goals:

• The fabric stash part is easy. I'm planning to try to shop my stash for most of my projects this year unless there's a pattern that I have in mind where I really don't have an appropriate fabric (Believe it or not, I do have a small handful of projects in mind where I don't have the right fabric. Probably not surprisingly, these projects are all either fleece pajamas or outerwear.)
• For the pattern stash part, I wanted to focus on patterns that have either been in my "to sew" queue for a while or have been and out of my queue several times. These patterns are the ones that I really want to sew but haven't gotten around to for whatever reasons. To create this focus, I created a spreadsheet of "candidate" patterns:
  

  
  

  

  2014 Pattern Stash candidates

  I won't be restricted to sewing from this list, but I will try to sew 15 of the 39 patterns on here this year. Given my sewing pace under normal circumstances, I think this is a reasonable goal that will leave me with some flexibility for new patterns and new project ideas.
  
  Also, lest you think that I have some sort of ungodly self control, note that my pattern stash is much, much larger than this list. In my early years of sewing, I hit nearly every cheapo pattern sale at JoAnn's and accumulated hundreds of Big 4 patterns, most of which will probably never be sewn, but that I can't bring myself to part with. (For some reason, I have a much easier time donating "what was I thinking" fabric than patterns.)
• My weight has fluctuated a lot over the past few years (getting pregnant, having a baby, taking off a chunk of weight, putting a little bit of that weight back on), so I've been really feeling like I need a wardrobe revamp, especially taking into account Seattle's cooler climate. I tried to put together a list of where I see the "holes" being in my current wardrobe and mapped that to the pattern stash candidates:

Stash chart 2014

 
I think that my goals/wardrobe holes line up pretty well together. This chart and my overall thought process does assume that some patterns will be made multiple times (I'm pretty good about making multiples of many of my knit top and knit dress patterns) and that there will likely be a few wadders in the group. However, I am hoping that by the end of 2014, I won't feel like I'm wearing the same 4-5 outfits all the time and will be able to mix and match things up a bit more.

You might also notice that the "stash plan" doesn't have many entries for Eva or David. The reason for this is that I'm pretty good about sewing things for Eva fairly soon within buying the pattern, so outside of a few Oliver + S patterns that were bought on sale, I don't really have a pattern stash for her yet. And I don't have much of a pattern stash for David because there aren't a whole lot of men's patterns out there, let alone patterns for larger men that don't require a ridiculous amount of grading. The first thing that I'll sew for him this will likely be the new HP men's t-shirt pattern, which I don't have in hand yet but ordered the day that it was released.

I have a few other sewing-related goals for the year, mostly related to refining certain skills and trying a few new things to step out of my comfort zone, but I'll save those for another post.