The worst year of my life is finally over, hurrah! Celebrate!! Woo! I always try to live each year so that it’s better than the one before, and I don’t think I’ll have to spend much energy to make 2010 a success by that yardstick! Still, my cathartic sewing output hasn’t been too bad, especially considering I spent a full 8 weeks/2 months in a hospital bed!
(Click the composite photo to zoom in, and have a look in the Gallery to read more about any of them. Except the last few, which you’ll see in greater detail next week.)
Here’s 2007’s and 2008’s roundups, for comparison.
Let’s find some highlights in what was an otherwise incredibly sh*tty, sh*tty year….
- Expanding my sewing machine herd from two to four with the addition of my tiny red portable machine and the coverstitch machine
- Making my first ever coat and following it up with a second tailored coat and an ultra-luxe faux fur coat
- Made my first ever bra and underwear!
- Sewing a lot more for other people, like the two dresses for my mom and stuff for the moorings kids
- Finding out exactly how generous all of you are when I needed boredom busting(!!)
- Learned to make bound buttonholes and finally perfect welt pockets
- Controlled my fabric buying urges and really aimed for quality rather than quantity this year, and as a result I sewed way more natural fabrics that synthetics
- Turned 30 and became a British citizen
- Discovered Ditto Fabrics and the joys of ex-designer fabrics
- Learned to slow down and not hate hand sewing quite so much thanks to relearning hand embroidery
- Sewed more from KnipMode magazine than Burda WOF (only by one pattern by my count though!), and sewed way more from foreign language sources than from ones with instructions I could understand!
- Sewed more in a group, taking part in the Great Coat Sew Along as well as four Pattern Review contests
I don’t keep track of yardage used vs bought like some sewers, but I thought I’d try my hand at a year-end tally of finished garments. By my count, I believe I made for myself:
- 20 tops
- 10 dresses
- 6 pairs of trousers
- 4 jackets/coats
- 4 skirts
- …and a lot of other things like handbags, kids clothes, menswear, home furnishings, gloves, hats, baby gifts galore, etc, etc
I think my favourites of this year are:
My Faux-Fur coat – I fel like a gangster’s moll whenever I wear this!
My Patrones duffle coat – It goes perfectly with my yellow handbag and gloves and the colour works beautifully in Spring and Fall.
My KnipMode boyfriend jeans – My favourite pair of jeans ever!
My Silk tartan overblouse – What happens when fabric and pattern find a perfect, perfect marriage!
And lucky for you, 2010 is going to start off right, with some pretty photos of James’s new sweatshirt, my fleece jacket and a silk blouse (as soon as the weather clears up long enough to take photos!).