Another year is officially down in the books, folks! I hope everyone had exciting and/or relaxed and/or sleepy celebrations last night! :) Tis time for a little reflection on all of the crazy things that flew by in the past 365 days. Cheers to another round of top 5’s. See also:

 

Hits

• White Lace Hey June Charleston Dress. This dress marks the first time I’ve made an official muslin for the sole purpose of fitting (of course it turned out to be wearable… and I only did it because the dress wasn’t for me… but still). :) Progress. Plus, it got worn for two events, so I think I had a decently satisfied recipient! Granted, after taking hand sewing at Camp Workroom Social later in the year, I got a little sad about my sheer lack of regard for my lace seams (there was no piecing together of any lace here, peeps!)… but it still turned out, and got worn, so that’s what matters! And yes, the mint zipper is still my favorite part (and the girl wearing it…she’s pretty cool too) :)

• Closet Case Files Carolyn PJs. Even though they were a late-in-the-year addition, these (the pants especially) have been worn nonstop since I made them and I don’t see them getting too deep in the drawer anytime soon. Scissors!

• Straight Stitch Designs View Ridge Top. A simple top with great details and nice finishes. Also one of my best fabric-pattern match-ups as of late!

• Striped Sunny Swing Tee Dress. I can’t wait until the weather warms back up to wear this more :)

• Last but not least, the adorable little PJ Masks on Halloween. I haven’t blogged these yet, but I was so happy with how they turned out and the kids loved them. :) Win, win, win.

Misses

No huge misses this year, but I did have a few projects that could’ve been thought out a little better.

• Papercut Patterns Sway Dress. Wonderful pattern but the fit was a little off and the fabric is a wrinkled mess. I wore it once and now it hangs in my closet looking a little sad. Needs a really good steam before the next wear.

• Sparkly Blue Hey June Charleston Dress. Bad cutting, lazy fast sewing. It worked out but it was definitely not my best work :/

• P4P Men’s Henley. More of a wearable muslin. The fit needs a little work before the next go-around. I don’t think it’s actually that bad but it hasn’t been worn even once.

• Packers Blanket. I made this one for a secret santa with one layer of the Packers fleece (1 1/2 yards, trimmed) and a backing of grey fleece, sewed right sides together, turned, then topstitched around. Even with my walking foot, it stretched out in weird ways and turned out a little wonky. It was a last minute sew, though, and it will still be a super cozy blanket.

• Lastly, I really missed the mark on my stashbusting goal in 2016. :/ I made it ALMOST 3 months, but definitely made up for it throughout the year (the photos above show less than half of my additions this past year). I’m not too sad about it because I ended up with some pretty gorgeous fabrics. BUT, in an effort to waste less and not take over the ENTIRE house with fabric in the coming year, ;) I’ll be continuing these efforts on a larger scale for 2017.

Non-Sewing Highlights

• We did some serious adulting this year and bought a house! Since then, we’ve been doing all of the fun things that come along with home ownership like fixing things (and/or calling repairmen) :), painting things, building things, and all such fun.

• Of course, AMAZING, I got to stand next to my best friend as she tied the knot with a really great guy (and the most gorgeous view)! It was the best excuse ever to visit Maui.

• Speaking of traveling, we actually did a good amount of traveling in 2016. I didn’t realize it until I started looking back at the year…
  • Mendocino in January for a CPR recertification couse and a nice little escape from reality
  • Tahoe in February for a family trip to the snow
  • Fort Bragg in March for the always beautiful Whale Run
  • Phoenix in April for some pharmacy training
  • ATL in May for a friend’s wedding
  • Hawaii in June for my BFF’s wedding, of course
  • NYC in October for Camp Workroom Social
  • Virginia in December to visit Danny’s family for Christmas

• Professionally, it was a bit of a weird year. I went to a training program to prepare for board certification, but shortly after the course made the tough decision that it was not the right time for me to sit for the exams. With the bff wedding prep, the house, the moving, and then the engagement and subsequent wedding planning, I didn’t feel I had the time I needed to dedicate to it. It was weird for me because up until now I’ve always put my professional aspirations above basically everything. So this decision was okay for me, just weird. And it’s absolutely something I would like to revisit, but it was put on the back burner for the time being. In lieu of board certification, I went to another training program to get certified for all that comes along with SB 493, the legislation in California giving pharmacists the ability to do more as medical providers. I won’t bore you with the details, but it’s a great step forward for our profession and at least I’m prepped for that ;)

• Last but not least of course, Danny and I got engaged and have been wedding planning a little bit here and there ever since. So far it’s not been as bad as everyone seems to warn you about, but I’m sure I’ll be eating those words as things get closer :/ Right now I’m mostly excited to get started on my dress. I got fabric on my last day in NYC (because, why not, right!?) and lugged this giant bag all the way home with me… now it’s time to get to work!

Reflections

• Looking back, I feel like I experimented with my sewing a lot less than past years. More planning, less “go-for-it” sewing, if that makes sense. Which is good and bad. It’s as if the more I learn, the less confident I become because I know there are so many more things that I’m still not doing or feel like I should be learning. Information overload, if you will. Or inspiration overload. I blame the internet, but thank it at the same time for providing so much wonderful information. I think it’s just a stage that you (or at least, I) have to go through as part of the learning process overall.

• Along with that, I’ve been very inspired by the slow fashion movement. That and zero waste fashion. Have you seen what the company Tonlé is doing…? Amazing things! Knowing where your clothes or fabric come from is only a little piece of the battle. It all feels very overwhelming and it’s not something that will be fixed overnight, but the more we educate ourselves about labor practices and working conditions and waste produced by the fashion industry, the more of an impact we can have in the long run. I can’t say that I’m actively doing anything to make a difference at this point, but there’s a lot of potential there.

• I made myself an unwritten goal at the beginning of the year to take more photos and to post one every day on Instagram, just to keep myself accountable. I’d played around a little with IG before, but kept it private and didn’t interact with anyone until last January :) I mostly kept up with my goal and only missed a few days here and there, but in doing so I definitely neglected the this space. I love both in their own ways, but I’d like to find a better balance in the new year.

• I’ve come to learn that I love pattern testing as a form of motivation (among other reasons). About half of the garments I made for myself this past year were due to pattern testing. I love it because it gives me a deadline and a little community of people who are working on the same thing at the same time. It’s nice.

• Lastly, after the little bit of knitting we did at camp, I realized how much I miss knitting and would love to get back to it at some point soon. Also, now that I better understand the shape and construction of clothing, maybe I could build up the courage to actually knit a sweater. Maybe. :)

Goals for 2017

I can already see that some of my Sewiversary goals this year are going to become unrealistic before July, so here’s a little adjustment/addition/update…

• Sew my wedding dress. Even if it ends up ill-fitting or unfinished, as long as all of the necessary areas are covered for our wedding day and it doesn’t fall apart, I will be happy. Just one of those things I want to do.

• Participate in Project #sewmystyle. And/or use it as inspiration to create a few nice additions to my wardrobe throughout the year. That and my #2017makenine list… which I have yet to finalize.

• Blog more regularly. I miss this space.

• Organize my sewing room. I thought I had it organized for a minute, then realized I had about 10 more boxes to carry up there. :/ It’s a bit of a disaster.

• Stashbust! Again, I will try. This time instead of no purchases for a certain number of months, I’m going to give myself a limit of 21 new pieces of fabric for the year. Might seem like a lot for some (or not, I don’t know), but compared to the past few years for me, that would be minimal (again… I need to learn to stop contributing to the overuse and waste problems of the world!) :/ If I would use all of the fabrics I purchase, I wouldn’t feel so bad buying more, but as it is, it’s more like I’m stockpiling for a lifetime of sewing that I will never have time for. Must remedy that situation a bit. :) And why 21? I don’t know… it’s less than 2 a month but still enough to order a few batches of fabric throughout the year and get free shipping (I’m such a sucker for free shipping… I will buy double the fabric that I need just to get it shipped free…another issue that we don’t have time to get into here). :)

Well congrats if you made it through that whole post. And thanks for sticking around even though I’m not here very often!

Happy January 1st! Here’s to a happy and creative 2017!

Until next time,