2010 Recap

I always love doing the yearly review. It makes me feel so productive to see it all tallied up.

This year I made:

Tops - 7
Dresses - 7
Jackets - 8
Skirts - 4
Cardigans - 1
Vests - 1
Kids clothing - 5
Maternity dresses - 1
Knitted garments - 3

That's a total of 37 garments completed! The year before I made 45, but of course at that time was not making baby clothes.

My favorite item from this year was my plum wool military jacket:

Surprisingly, I've made a number of things that I'm just not crazy about. The knit twisted bubble skirt hits me right at the bottom of my thigh muscle and makes my legs look extra wide. The Cynthia Rowley border print skirt poofs out unflatteringly in the tummy area because the fabric I chose for it is a bit stiff. I like the fit and design of my pink zebra print knit top but the fabric is of cheap quality and has already started to pill at the underarms. I also like my white sweaterknit cardigan but it doesn't seem to go with anything in my wardrobe since it's so thin. However, I'm holding on to most of those items for now. They are well made and I'm thinking they might fit differently once I get rid of these extra 10 pounds.

By far, the biggest What Was I Thinking garment was my yellow linen jacket:

I have tried and tried to style this jacket in a pleasing manner. It cannot be done. The sleeves are atrocious! I may decide to redo them at some point, but for right now it'll be living in my "needs attention" area of the closet.

I set some lofty goals for myself last December. Was I able to meet them?

1. Enter at least 1 contest at Patternreview.com.
No, I did not do this. I am going to stop setting this as a goal since I've yet to follow through with it. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I think about PR lately. I kind of feel like I am wasting my time writing reviews there. So few people even look at my garments anymore. Are they seeing them here instead? I don't know. I still always look there before I start a new project. But, I digress.

2. Make at least one jacket each month.
Well, I did make 8. That's not one a month but still is a pretty good number. I got a little tired of making them. Some months I was excited to make one and some months I felt pressured to fit it in. I did make more jackets then the year before, and that was really the goal in the first place.

3. Make more knit/casual dresses.
I made 4 casual dresses in 2009. This year I made 3. Boo.

4. Make more pants.
Ha! Now this was just poor planning. I knew I was pregnant in December when I set these goals. What was I thinking? Oh, now I remember. I thought I would find a TNT pants pattern in January and sew several more pants throughout my pregnancy using it. That did not happen.

5. Continue learning new knitting techniques.
Finally, one that I actually completed! I only made three knitted garments this year, but I did indeed learn new techniques with 2 of them: making an I-cord and short rows.

Overall, though, I did not meet my goals. I really should have gone back to that post throughout the year to remember what was written there. Sigh.

Okay, onward and upward, right? Here are the new goals for 2011:

1. Sew more casual knit dresses.
I love to wear these during the summer. It is effortless style, IMO. Throw on a knit dress and some cute sandals and you are ready to go!

2. Make pants.
At least one pair. I mean, really, what am I so afraid of?!

3. Continue making lots of jackets.
I love the put-together feeling I get from wearing a well fitting jacket. However, I'll not be setting myself a number goal this year.

4. Learn some of the sewing techniques included in my new book The Party Dress Book.

5. Continue learning new knitting techniques.

Thanks so much to all you wonderful people who have taken the time to visit my humble blog. It has been such a joy these past two and a half years to be able to share my love and passion for sewing with other like minded individuals. I may not always get back to each question asked, nor have the time to respond to you personally, but please know that I appreciate each comment left. Alright, enough cheese! Have a wonderful, productive and dream-fulfilling New Year!