Sewing Goals

Sew many patterns, sew little time! In my last post I didn't mention just how many things I want to sew this year. I had a goal in mind of 2 wearable garments a month, either for myself or for our girls, but now I'm thinking that was quite ambitions with all the other things in life I need and want to do, and I don't want the pressure of the goal to take the fun out of it. So now I'm thinking 1 wearable garment per month is more realistic for me. I know some people are able to knock out more than a few projects a month, amazing sewists like Fiona and Katie, for example, whose blogs always inspire me. With the two little ones dangling from me half the time, I'm not sure I can devote enough time to two garments with life's other commitments, but I will still try!

I've been matching up fabrics with some of the patterns I want to make. A few patterns are the Sewaholic cambie dress in view A this time, Sew Over It's wrap dress, and their pussy bow blouse. I'd love to make their Betty dress in some curtain fabric I have. Once when we were watching Mad Men, I noticed Peter's sofa was almost exactly like the fabric I have, which came from a hotel in the 60s in San Francisco (so I was told by the person in a vintage shop who sold the curtains to me). I think the print would make a perfect Betty, but I need to be sure I have enough of the fabric. I had to re-wind and take a photo of the sofa and match it up with my fabric, which is shown on the right. Pretty close match, eh?

I'm also signed up to take the Sew Over It Ultimate Shirt class, which I'm super excited about! A few other patterns I'd like to make are a Vintage Vogue pattern I bought at Ray Stitch. Last spring when I was in their shop, I saw the dress on a mannequin in the window and was trying to figure out my size based on their sample since the vogue pattern sizes seem to be based on unrealistic Barbie bodies. They offered to let me try it on and I loved it, though it looked better on me when I was standing up (I should have sat up straighter). My mom took the photo below with her phone. So now I'd like to make one for myself! 

Gosh, there are many more things I'd like to sew as well... some things by Pauline and Alice, and some from Papercut Patterns. I've pinned most of the specific patterns I'd like to make here on my sewing board. Of course the little ones could use some cute clothes as well. For them, I have a few Oliver and S patterns ready to meet the scissors. But enough chatter about it! I must get started. My wrap dress fabric is just dry enough to cut it. Only a handful of hours left before I need to get the little ones from school, so I must get the sewing machine humming before time gets away from me today! 

Update! Four days later...

I've almost finished 2 wearable garments since I wrote this post! I made the Sew Over It ultimate wrap dress, which I love more than I expected, and I'm almost finished with their pussy bow blouse pattern. I wanted to finish the blouse last night (date night!) but realized cuffs on a blouse a a bit of a mind-bender! But I'm happy to have almost completed 2 garments in January.  A late start to the year, but a start indeed! Here I am in the wrap dress and also again in the blouse before attaching the sleeves, which I'll do tomorrow. Soon I'll write a fuller post on sewing these patterns with some better pictures as well.