Monday 27 January 2020

And so another year...goodbye 2019

Another year has whizzed by and I find myself looking back on a pretty meagre sewing year, averaging just over a garment per month. If the surprise from last year's review was how many finished garments there were then this year's is how few. I knew there hadn't been much sewing in 2019, with long dry spells of no sewing, but only seventeen finished projects is pretty slim pickings from which to write a review. Certainly not enough to do a top five series, especially when it takes a couple of weeks to write this single post.

The classes

Two in-person embroidery classes were taken at Nancys Stitch Studio in Wellington. The classes were hugely enjoyable, taken by a very experienced and talented embroiderer AnneMarie Moorhead.

The first class was Fred the Frog a lovely taster of goldwork techniques, on the left is the class sample and the right my unfinished piece. My piece will end up considerably smaller than the class sample as I want to mount it as a brooch. The girlfriend who did the class with me and I have a pact to finish our pieces by Easter 2020. This is entirely achievable with a few hours of stitching a week. Maybe I should take up watching television so that I could sew in front of it.


The second class was to make a hussif, which is essentially a long strip of fabric used to store basic sewing tools. These small sewing cases were given to soldiers as their housewife and are typical artifacts from the WW1 era. The hussifs we were making with AnneMarie are highly decorated whilst still being a practical item for storing sewing tools and small projects. Mine hasn't progressed far enough for pictures.

The third class of 2019 is Peggy Sagers of Silhouette Patterns on-line Pants Fitting 101 class. I was a bit wary about taking this on-line course having already fitted a pants muslin in person with Peggy in 2018. This class was brilliant. It started back in September and you can watch it as often as you want for four months. This cemented into my mind the principles I learnt in 2018 but also produced a few moments of enlightenment. I know I'm a Peggy fan girl but I can't recommend this class enough. Hopefully you will see the fruits of my enlightenment with a pair of well fitting trousers on this blog soon.

The purchases

Despite the meagre sewing output the fabric and pattern input was substantial and so the collection grew.

In 2019 I purchased sixteen second-hand patterns and twenty-four new Vogue patterns. I don't keep track of my independent pattern purchases so these thirty patterns are nowhere near my final total for the year. The one different thing about my pattern purchases this year is that I bought two Jalie patterns for men and the Japanese pattern book Men's clothes For All Seasons. I have good intentions of sewing for others in 2020.

As well as purchasing fabric from both The Fabric Store and Fabric Vision here in New Zealand I discovered a new localish source of fabric and patterns in 2019 Miss Maude Sewing. My favourite overseas fabric sources continue to be Silhouette PatternsMarcy Tilton FabricsCutting Line DesignsThe Sewing Workshop and Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics. There are those who record how much fabric entered the building and how much left. This may be a good approach to horrify me into abstinence.

The sewing pattern purchases in particular required a bit of a rethink of my storage solutions and KonMariing the stash.

The organising

I accumulated many fabrics for the black, white and red Minnie Mouse wardrobe which was the focus of my sewing at the beginning of the year and features on the top row left and right as well as the bottom row left. The middle of the top row is evidence that my new rattan trunk was extremely useful for coat fabrics (I have another one which is still empty for more of the coat fabrics). Bottom right is a small sample of my Liberty of London fabrics, with the centre being fabrics I gathered together for other wardrobe plans that never eventuated.

The middle row shows my new pattern storage. This has worked extremely well and I love having my patterns organised and more accessible. It didn't encourage sewing but I did flick through them and think about possibilities.



The sewing

The Minnie Mouse wardrobe was not quite as extensive as first envisioned. However nearly half of my sewing fitted the black, white and red theme.  Clockwise from top left is TSW Ann's Red Letter Ensemble (tank and cardigan); Minnie Mouse jeansPapercut Fjord Elongated Red CardiUlysses Horizontal Hold Trench and The Sewing Workshop Era Floral Faux Fur Coat.

Ann's tank and cardigan by The Sewing Workshop are both too long because I lengthened the pattern. The cardigan is wearable but the tank bothers me. I have some ideas for shortening it without taking it apart. If that is successful it will stay in my wardrobe otherwise it is destined for the charity bag.

The Fjord cardi is still as scratchy as when I made it. Whilst still occupying space in the wardrobe it isn't worn and should really be exited.

With the jury still out on the floral faux fur coat only two of this montage of Minnie Mouse garments are a success - the jeans and the trench coat. Love them both and wear them often.


Then there is the forgotten dress which may be loved and worn but the black and white stripe Silhouette Patterns #4000 Swing Dress does not feature in a blog post and there are no pictures of it being worn. It too fits into the Minnie Mouse Wardrobe theme, so I was relatively consistent in following my wardrobe plan even if some of the finished items didn't feature in the original plan.


And the DKNY leggings. My self-drafted leggings pattern produced two new well loved pairs, the DKNY ITY knit on the left and right Double Diamond ITY knit. An ITY knit is a favourite for leggings and both these fabrics came from Silhouette Patterns.

The tunic with the leggings on the left started off as Silhouette Patterns #4000 Swing Dress which looked terrible so was cut down to tunic length worn once and left the wardrobe. The black stripe down the middle looks good in the photo but horrible on me in real life. So horrible in fact that there is no photographic evidence!


Two pairs of trousers that filled a wardrobe gap. Left are the Papercut Patterns Peter and the Wolf Coloured Mote jeans and on the right are the Silhouette Patterns Lana's Wildwood jeans. Both of these pairs of trousers are loved and worn. The fit isn't perfect but is suitable for appearances in public places. In 2020 I want to refine my trouser fitting skills using the knowledge gained from Peggy and develop well fitting trousers in the current more flared style.


Dresses are my biggest success story of 2019 having made five of them, using a variety of patterns both old and new, mainly from independent pattern designers (only one dress is made from an OOP Vogue pattern). Clockwise from top left is Vogue 9243 Twirling Rebecca Taylor Dress; Style Arc Toni Mike Designer dress; Style Arc Gertrude House of Gifts Christmas Dress; Kobayashi Squiggle Squares TNT Midi Dress and in the middle the Style Arc Rosie Alice top.

With the exception of the Christmas dress which hasn't been made long enough for a final verdict all of these garments were a success. My favourites are the Kobayashi dress and Vogue 9243 twirling dress.

The top was a bit of a wildcard, meant to go with my Wildwood jeans. The two don't go together at all but the top is great with other trousers. Given the substantial alterations it would be more apt to describe it as a top loosely based on the Style Arc Rosie pattern.


Sewing out and about

Only two trips away involved taking my sewing machine this year, our Easter break in Ahipara and our December weekend away in Te Miko. My Singer Featherweight seems to enjoy tripping around New Zealand and it is great to have the opportunity to sew when the weather is inclement.

Top row left and centre at Ahipara, Northland; and right at Te Miko, West Coast.


The Easter trip to Ahipara saw me finish sewing Ann's tank and cardigan, as well as start a new pair of Silhouette Patterns #3300 Lana's Jeans in deep red linen metallic blend, which remain unfinished (bottom left).

2019 reflections

More time was spent thinking about sewing this year than actually doing it and in many respects I am fine with that. My wardrobe is well stocked and I get pleasure from the clothes I have. The sticking point is what causes the lack of creativity. I give so much of my mental energy to work that I don't have enough in reserve to want to spend the weekend using more of it to pursue my creativity. Yet the route to growth is through practice. If I want my creativity to flourish those skills need more use. I also need to use a lot more fabric or curb my purchasing before the house is completely overrun.

Surprisingly I have enjoyed the tidying not so much the activity itself but the end satisfaction of seeing a mountain of fabric neatly ordered. It is much easier to see what is in the boxes, to select fabrics for a project or just stroke and imagine.

Goals for 2020

From a word perspective I am still working on balance and I wonder if this should be a theme for life rather than just twelve months. I am strangely reluctant to abandon this word for another when I haven't achieved a successful balance in either of the past two years.

On the sewing front there have been a few occasions where I have developed the plan for a sew-along but not done the sewing. One of my goals for 2020 is to not only develop the plan but do the sewing and post my entry. I am very tempted by the Stitchers Guild Reloaded 2019 Sewing with a Plan. I have an inspiration photo and a collection of possible fabrics. The rules this year are very permissible and in theory it is entirely feasible to make 10 garments by the end of April. Making could start on 26 December when I had ten days of Christmas holiday remaining yet I have sewn nothing which rather puts completion in doubt. The wheels are still turning on this idea. For it to have any possibility of success I would need to develop a schedule of what gets sewn when and stick to it. And so the light of inspiration is snuffed out or maybe not...

The Sunset SWAP
If I do rouse myself to participate in the Stitchers Guild SWAP I have the ideal project for something I have never done before. I dug out the pattern for The Smaller Dress by Julian Roberts which is a free pattern available on the Centre for Pattern Design website. This is a subtraction cut dress and the lines of the finished garment look avant garde but wearable. Will be interesting to see how mine turns out.

6 comments:

  1. It still seems quite a productive year to me. Perhaps it's relative because my projects take so long to finish. I know what you mean about the satisfaction of the results of tidying. It's how I felt about making a revision plan for exams at school. It made me feel more in control even though I was not further forward with the revision itself. Looking forward to finding out what you create this year :-)

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    1. I think it seems unproductive because my plans are so much greater than my achievements. Sometimes imaginings can stay just that without disappointment but other times I really wish I could have the imagined wardrobe plan magically appear as finished garments in my wardrobe. Tidying was definitely a focus for 2019 and now I have a method this will continue to happen until I have my sewing collections organised to my satisfaction.

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  2. Stephanie, I really enjoyed reading this. I am so glad to have dropped by. Your sewing may not have been productive from your perspective, but it seems so from mine! More importantly, I love your style. Your Minnie Mouse wardrobe is charming and your other garments (dresses, trousers) simply lovely. Just looking at the photos and the wonderful colours you use has cheered me up and has given me a surge of motivation. And great shoes!!

    Your paragraph about your creativity could have been written by me. I wish I could ruminate less and give myself more space to make and grow. As you say, it is practice that leads to growth.

    I'm also going to look up Peggy Sagers's class. I generally can make pretty good pants but there is always something to learn.

    You should be very proud of your organization. Looking at such neatly organized fabrics is also very inspirational.
    PS Your goldwork is GREAT!!! How lovely to make a brooch. I'm quite inspired.

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  3. By the way, your comment about the fabric that came in the building made me laugh so much! I have been wanting to send you something from Italy and so I guess I will have to make sure it is a small piece. :)

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    1. Thanks Stephanie for your kind words. The organisation was a real eye opener in terms of how much I enjoyed the satisfaction of the end result and there has been more tidying this year. I really enjoy colour (and shoes) which is part of my disappointment in not sewing more as a colourful wardrobe is one of the harder things to achieve with RTW. Not being afraid of colour was a big learning experience. Now I feel less myself if wearing more muted or safe colours (black, navy etc).

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    2. I understand the disappointment in not sewing more, very well. I have so many imaginary outfits in my head that I would like to wear, but end up wearing so many dull things that I have in my wardrobe instead of making the colourful a reality. I think it would help me so much if I could cross the colour hurdle this year.

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