My 2018 Sewing Goals

Ah to my final reflection post. I’ve loved following Crafting A Rainbow‘s framework to reflect on 2017 and look forward to what’s to come in 2018.

I’ve put a lot of thought into my sewing goals for 2018 as I really want it to be a productive year. After spending a lot of time last year recovering from surgery, I felt like I spent a lot of time sitting around unable to do much. However, as my husband pointed out, I had a very clear goal in sight from the minute I found out I would have a long recovery. I booked a holiday to a place I’d always wanted to go to, planned out all of the places we’d visit, and the sights we’d see. I booked it for just around the end of my expected recovery period, and so in order to make it, I had to make sure I recovered well. And of course, as soon as I woke up from that operation, I was doing everything I could to recover – I was determined that I’d do everything I could to be able to go, and every painful step was a step closer to Cuba. It was a goal to work towards, and I got such an amazing reward in getting there (and then bored you all talking tirelessly about it on the blog!).

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This throwaway comment from my husband made me realise that having that goal really helped to focus me, and so with the start of the new year, I’ve been thinking about goals in all areas in my life. On the Happier podcast, Gretchen Ruben suggests figuring out you one-word theme for the year. Mine is ‘go’, reflecting my desire to procrastinate less, and just get on with things I want to do. It also reflects my hope to travel lots this year, both internationally and within the UK, especially in Scotland. I’m looking forward to sharing lots of that on the blog, but for now, it’s back to sewing, as I set out what I hope to have achieved come the end of 2018:

1. Dipping my toe into lingerie making – not long after I began sewing, I saw an image of the Watson bra on instagram, and couldn’t believe that I might be able to make my own underwear one day. I’ve harped on about it so much that I was given The Secrets of Sewing Lingerie as a gift last year, and since then I’ve seen so many beautiful underwired bras – I particularly love this Harriet bra made by Heather-Lou. I’m determine that by the end of 2018 I’ll have started working through the book, and be working towards my first bra.
2. An improved, more regular blog – Although I only started this blog in 2017, I’ve been a bit disappointed in myself for not posting more often. I have a lot to say about my hobby – I’m so passionate about it and willing to share, but I just didn’t write many posts last year at all. Since deciding to fix this, I’ve certainly posted much more often as I tried to catch up on the #sewingtop5 framwework. That frequency is definitely not sustainable, and so I’m aiming to post once a week, with a mixture of sewing chat, pattern reviews, and photos of my makes. Part of my plan improve the blog is to take better photos. I don’t think I’ll quite go as far as curating my instagram feed, but I’d love to improve my photography skills and just take a bit more time to properly photograph my makes.
3. Conquer sewing with knits – I hadn’t really realised that I had an issue with knits until I began thinking about my goals and what I’d like to sew in 2018. I seem to always sway towards woven patterns, but I probably wear knits as much as woven. It’s not as though I can’t sew knits – I’ve made two lovely Linden sweaters and another sweater using both sewing machine and overlocker. For some reason though, I’ve noticed that I’m always reluctant to start a new knit project, no matter how much I like the pattern. And I figure that if I don’t conquer this, it might get in the way of my lingerie sewing plans too… I figure that the first step is to get my overlocker tension issue sorted so that I can sew things up quickly with that machine. Once I’ve done that I can then work my way through some knit patterns, using different types of stretch fabric to get to know it a bit better. I’ve been looking at Wendy Ward’s new book, and I think the new Tilly and the Buttons book is also focused on knits…
4. Learn pattern-cutting basics – I often speak about my interest in fit issues, and have done a few courses with a strong focus on getting good fit. I figure the next step is to look into pattern cutting. In fact, in the past week I’ve been struggling to fit my Sew Over It Nancy dress toile – it needs an FBA but I just can’t figure out how to do it. I think if I had a better grasp of how patterns are constructed, I might be able to figure out these tricky adjustments. I got a pattern cutting beginners book for Christmas and have a few more recommendations to follow up on…let’s see how I get on!
5. Capsule sewing – I work best under pressure, and in response to a deadline, and so sewing garments for holidays is always one of my most productive periods. I have a few holidays already planned in 2018 – a trip to New York in April, and island hopping in Greece in May. The clothes I’ll need for both are quite different, and so I’d like to plan my sewing in the form of a capsule wardrobe for each trip, with the aim of the garments made becoming part of a larger spring / summer capsule.

Reading that back, I realise I have some pretty chunky, time-consuming goals for 2018. I am a real geek, and the former academic in me just wants to learn everything I possibly can about topics I enjoy. I guess I might not achieve all I’ve set out to do in 2018, but I’d rather have some clear, if over-ambitious, goals to work towards than reach the end of the year feeling that I hadn’t used my time in the best way that I could.

Of course, the goals I haven’t included in this post are my #2018makenine – you can read more about the patterns I hope to make, and some of the fabric I might use to make them, in my separate blog post.

I’d love to hear about your 2018 sewing goals – what do you want to achieve this year?