Goals for 2012

Right now most of the sewing blogsphere is reflecting on what they did last year and also setting goals for this year.

I am going to skip over the refecting part since I haven’t really finished too many projects in 2011.

I do want to set some sewing related goals for this year and post them. I figured maybe if I post them here and have them out there for public viewing, then I will feel more incline to execute these goals.

My 2012 Sewing Goals:

Complete projects – I have so many UFOs its not even funny. The items that I have managed to complete were not even for me. Whatever happened to the stripped blue and white shirt I was making? Well, it IS sitting by my sewing table, but I got suck matching the strips in the shoulder seams. Other projects that are UFOs: mock-up panic dress and red blouse. All of which are in plain view glaring at me.

Sewing Basic Wardrobe 2012 by latrice-smith featuring a pencil skirt

Create a basic wardrobe – I think I should have some handmade items of Basic wardrobe essentials. Top, jacket/vest, pants, skirt, dress and coat. That seems reasonable, right? I don’t plan to make those specific garment from above but the basic items. I have a lot of outerwear on my list, but I LOVE outerwear. I will probably make the skirt last since I am not a big skirt wearer and it would be nice to try to draft it myself.

Limit the amount of new fabrics & pattern purchased – I am sure I am not the only one that lacks a little self control when buying fabrics and patterns. I have a decent collections of patterns and rows of fabric. The above is only one row, I have two more. I really should not be buying anymore fabric. The worst part for me is I have access to free fabric and its really hard to say no to free fabric. I just recently purchase a bunch of new patterns in the past few months. Hopefully, I purchase my last pattern for a while this week. I could not resist buying an independent designer’s coat and jacket pattern. I share the designer either next post or when it arrives.

Learn more techniques and improve skills – I am planning to take an Advanced Knits class and Couture & Industry Tailoring class during the spring semester. I don’t sew with knits pretty much at all. Figuring out the right amount of stretch plus when and when not to stretch the fabric confuses me, so I avoid sewing with knits. I am kind of sad that I will not be taking the draping class this semester, but I think it is more important for me to tackle knit fabric. Until it’s offered again I’ll revisit flat pattern making on my own.

Add more color to my wardrobe – The colors I wear the most is neutral colors, blacks, grays, creams and browns. They are safe colors and go with almost everything. I don’t buy a lot of clothes and most of them I can mix and match. I like to keep things simple. But this year I think I need to break out of my comfort zone and add some color to my palette. My last two fabric purchases are close in color to the Pantone colors Bellflower and Carabet. Could I possible be trendy fashionable? I wouldn’t go that far.

Be more actively involved in the online sewing community – I hope to blog more, comment more on other people’s blogs, participate in sew-alongs and challenges. Be more active on the major sewing communities like BurdaStyle and PatternReview. I will be starting the Minoru Jacket this month and I am super excited about it. I will try my best at blogging my process during the sew-along. I would also like to do at least one of the Colette Seasonal Challenges, maybe the Spring.

Well, that’s all I got for now. I should try to keep goals as simple as I can. Once the year starts life will get all crazy again. But let’s be honest, those goals are not really that simple and its more exciting that way.