Obligatory End of Year Post

I've enjoyed everyone else's end-of-2008 wrap ups and plans for 2009, so I'll throw my entry into the mix. I am jealous of Cidell's slideshow; flickr's application isn't as fancy. The album for the above inferior slideshow is here.

By the numbers:

35 PR reviews in 2008
42 total garments reviewed (as I made duplicates of several patterns)
17 dresses--8 woven, 9 stretch
2 skirts
21 tops--10 blouses, 11 stretch
2 outerwear jackets/coats

14 unreviewed as yet, though I'm not sure this is a complete tally
9 dresses--5 woven, 4 stretch
3 skirts
1 blouse
1 hat

2 utter wadders: the green version of Vogue 8386 and my hideous attempt at BWOF 10/2007-115, which was absolutely grotesque and I didn't want to waste time taking photos to show how awful it was on me.

7 months of 2008 BWOF issues sewn from (January through June and October), in addition to some patterns from previous years

56 total garments (or thereabouts--I keep thinking of things I've forgotten and am sick of tallying): 26 dresses, 22 tops, 5 skirts, 2 jackets/coats, 1 hat
1 item sewn per week, as an approximate average (though my sewing is generally more like two items one weekend, none the next)

3.5 travel wardrobes (Vietnam, Paris I, Germany, and for Paris III I used one Germany dress and made a new skirt)

2 new (to me) machines, my treadle and my serger

1 new skill (welt pockets)
2 improved skills (perfect invisible zippers and I no longer fear buttonholes)
1 new interest (remaking sweaters)

133 yards purchased (this is probably too conservative)
40-50 yards gifted (this is a total guess on the contents of the amazing Carol Collection, which I didn't measure)
94 yards sewn (approx)


The numbers are interesting! To me, at any rate. LOL I feel like I fall back on easy knits too often, but based on this I am exactly even on knits and wovens in tops and dresses. I make a new dress every other week! No wonder the dress section of my closet is completely full. I buy too much fabric, but I already knew this.

Least Favorite: BWOF 10/2007-114


Favorite is way too difficult to decide, which is a good thing, right? So I have to do it by category

Favorite Knit Dress: Vogue 8386, my Goddess Dress. I think I got the most compliments on Simplicity 3775, but it's only my third favorite after this and the Duchess of Windsor dress.


Best Blouse: BWOF 01/2008-108, the yoke front blouse. Not necessarily favorite, but definitely the best.


Favorite Knit Top: Knip Mode 04-2008-113. I hesitated to call this one the favorite because it has novelty on its side. My H&M knockoff top, which I've made in two colors so far, is less distinctive so can be worn more often and I really like it. But I get tons of compliments on this Knip Mode and feel great in it, so I think it will stand the test of time.


Favorite Woven Dress: New Look 6394, my maxi dress from my 21st birthday dress pattern. (I've excluded my yellow party dress, McCall 5382, from the calculation since it's of limited wearability.)


I tried to figure out which item would be Most Worn, but other than my corduroy jacket and my green coat, which I don't think really count, I favor all of my little sewing children pretty equally. It helps/hurts that I have a billion clothes and don't wear many things more than 4 or 5 times in a season!


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Looking forward to 2009...

Well, I don't know if it's zen contentment or slothful complacence, but I'm pretty happy with where my sewing is now. I make a good mix of clothes, my techniques are adequate to my standards, I am satisfied with the complexity of the projects I undertake (I love the look of tailored garments, but it's just not in my personality to develop that skill-set *or* to wear the clothes), my speed/productivity is satisfactory, and I generally do a good job choosing fabrics and patterns that suit me (with a few obvious exceptions!). I blog about twice a week and that seems about right. I do well balancing sewing mania with a social life--as tempted as I've been, I've not canceled a social event to sew (though I could probably be accused of deliberately not booking my social calendar to its fullest possible extent so I can have more sewing time).

I will add my old chestnut resolution to the list, learn how to put in a fly front; that's the only skill I think I should have but don't. It would also be good to get a little more fluency in bias. And I will try to keep up with doing reviews better. Sure, learning to padstitch would be cool, but I am in no hurry and if I never get to it I won't feel like I robbed myself.

My real goal is to continue to wear something I've made every day, eventually with the plan of phasing almost all ready-to-wear out of my wardrobe, other than pants/jeans and sweaters. And should I ever actually tackle my perennial resolution, maybe even those will come out of the closet, but I'm not in any hurry there. To that end, I *still* need to make more winter work tops, despite my Two Weeks of Winter Work Tops project of last winter. So I must persevere with the sleeves of longness representing the season of coldness for which I have much hateness.

Thanks for spending the year with me! Here's looking forward to miles and miles on the sewing machine odometer (I really wish such a thing would be invented) in 2009!