Tuesday, April 1, 2014

2014 Q1 sewing goals check-in

I'm sure that none of us can believe it, but the first three months of 2014 have already flown by, and with that, one quarter of the year is behind us. Back in January, I made a list of sewing goals for myself for the year. In the interest of holding myself accountable and maybe re-igniting some motivation for a few things, I thought I'd check in and comment on how I'm doing.

You can go back and read the original posts, if you're interested:
Goal: Sew at least 15 patterns from the candidate pattern stash.
Status: On track (slightly ahead of pace)
Summary: I've been updating my spreadsheet with each pattern I've sewn, where applicable. Here's a snapshot of the current spreadsheet (highlighted patterns are candidates for my capsule wardrobe):

Pattern stash spreadsheet - 01-Apr-2014
So far, I've made 6 different patterns from this list this year. Of those 6, I've made 4 of them multiple times. I'm very easily on track to sew up 15 of these this year.

Goal: Sew at least 20 pieces of stashed fabric.
Status: On track (well ahead of pace)
Summary: I've been updating a different spreadsheet with my fabric stash progress. So far, I've used 11 pieces of stash fabric this year. Given that it's only the end of Q1, I'm thinking that I may have been a little conservative in this goal. On the other hand, this goal has definitely motivated me to sew from stash more and run out and buy new fabric less.

Goal: Sew a water-resistant jacket with a hood
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: I keep going back and forth on a pattern for this, but the bottom line is that I still need one and haven't sewn one yet.

Goal: Sew a winter coat
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: I thought that we were done with our big cold snap for the year when I originally wrote this goal (we weren't), so I figured that I probably wouldn't really start this until the fall, anyway.

Goal: Sew my daughter's Halloween costume
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: This is another distinctly fall-ish goal.

Goal: Sew a 12-piece capsule wardrobe
Status: In progress (slightly behind).
Summary: So far, I've sewn two of the twelve pieces that I talked about in my planning post. This means that I'm slightly off my planned pace of three pieces per quarter. I'm not too worried, though--if I sew four pieces in Q2, I'll be right back on track.



Goal: Get over my fear of fly zippers
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: I haven't tacked a fly zipper yet in 2014, but I do want to make several pairs of pants and jeans and possibly a jean skirt, so I am confident that I will accomplish this goal if I accomplish my wardrobe goals.

Goal: Execute a wearable set of welt pockets
Status: Not started yet.
Summary: Yeah, I haven't tackled these so far either in 2014.

Goal: Fabric out for the year should be 50% greater than fabric in
Status: *embarrassed look*
Summary: Right now, I'm at 47.63 yards IN for the year and 20.5 yards OUT. I'm way, way, way off pace here. I blame stress shopping and Fabric Mart sales.

Goal: Explore the functionality of my Babylock Evolve
Status: On track.
Summary: Unlike most of the rest of my non-stash-related goals, I am making nice progress on this goal. I've added comfort with a rolled hem and lettuce edging to my Evolve arsenal. I really love this machine and am very happy that I splurged on it a few months ago.

I can't say that I had really looked at these goals much since posting them, which was probably a bit of a mistake. However, the year is still fairly young, and I have plenty of time to get back on track with most of them. I'm a little disappointed with myself that the only area that I'm doing really well in is sewing down stash (although my sewing down fabric stash numbers are negated by my fabric purchasing numbers). I know that I can do better for Q2, and I intend to do so.

5 comments:

  1. Wow way to go an making your goals come true. I too just got the evolve last weekend. fHow do you like the coverstitcing option? I love how easy it is to use. Keep uyp the good work.


    Charlene

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  2. I LOVE the coverstitching option! The funny thing is that I went to the dealer hoping to find a used Imagine in good condition, which they didn't have, but they had the Evolve for just a little more than I was looking to pay for the Imagine. I am very, very happy that I went with the Evolve--it's so easy to switch to the coverstitch and it produces so much nicer results than a twin needle.

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  3. I'm loving this idea of revisiting goals. It is so easy to get distracted or forget-- it is pretty inspiring to see how you are working to stay focused and keep yourself accountable, but in a positive way! And good for you for making friends with your fancy new machine! I need to get braver and use mine more often. :)

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  4. Ooooh fun goals!
    Want to tackle welts 'together'?! :) I'm still avoided them.

    On fly's: I would look at the instructions for a few different patterns that you have, check online tutes, etc.

    Everyone raves about the Betzina tutorial but the absolutely best fly zipper instruction I've used is the Burda pants I made my son. Before that it was instructions from a Butterick See & Sew pattern!

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  5. I've made passable flies using the Betzina tutorial, but I'm still nervous every time--the fly turns out, but I don't really understand what I'm doing. I feel like I'm going flip-stitch-flip-flip-stitch-topstitch, and then I have a fly, but I don't know how I got there. It's been a few years since I've tackled a fly, and there are WAY more tutorials out there now, so I'm hoping to find one that "clicks" with me better.

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