Friday, January 17, 2014

Sewing Goals 2014: Non-stash related

While my highest priority goals for 2014 revolve around stash balance and reduction, I have a mish-mash of non-stash related goals of things that I'd like to accomplish in the following year. In no particular order, here are my non-stash goals for the following year:
  • Sew a water-resistant jacket with a hood.

    I made a rain jacket a few years ago (and still wear it), but it really bothers me that it doesn't have a hood and that I still have to use an umbrella when it's raining. I want to rectify that this year, especially since it rains so much more in Seattle than San Diego, and I know that this to-be-sewn jacket will get a ton of wear.
  • Sew a winter coat.

    I don't have one that I like. I need one. We seem to be through the worst of our cold weather here in Seattle, so I will probably take my time with this one and/or punt it to fall sewing. I already have the pattern and fabric bought for the one that I want to make (see my Winter coat post).
  • Sew my daughter's Halloween costume.

    I did this last year. It was fun/rewarding. I want to do it again. She's old enough now that she'll be able to pick out what she wants to be, so that will add a new angle to things. If her current interests hold through to the fall, she'll likely want to be Elmo, Muno (from Yo Gabba Gabba), a duck, or a penguin.
  • Sew a capsule wardrobe.

    I've alluded to having a lot of holes in my wardrobe in previous posts. I am a classic example of a person with a closet full of clothes and "nothing to wear". I have four pairs of Old Navy jeans that actually fit me quite well and a few knit dress/leggings combos that I like/wear, but I am really lacking in tops that both fit and don't feel out of style and jackets/toppers to go with those. My ultimate goal here is to come up with 4-5 outfits that will get me through the work week so that A) I don't always feel like I'm wearing the same things styled the same way again and B) not go through my closet on Fridays really struggling with picking out a top to wear and picking out something that either doesn't fit all that well or isn't that flattering but is clean.

    I had been pondering what pieces should make up a capsule wardrobe like this, but Trudy from HotPatterns sent out her own suggestions for a 12-piece capsule wardrobe this morning:

    HotPatterns 12-piece capsule wardrobe for spring
This is it. THIS is how I dress for work. The only thing on this list that I wouldn't wear would be the white jeans (mental block against the 80's-ness of them and not being a size 4). I'm actually about to finish a striped t-shirt similar to the one pictured here. You might also notice a LOT of overlap between Trudy's suggested patterns for these pieces and the "candidate patterns" from my stash that I mentioned in my Pattern Stash post. The other nice thing is that I can sew this ENTIRE capsule from stash patterns and fabrics (substituting a non-HP pattern here and there).

I'll do a series of more comprehensive posts on my capsule plans as I work them out and execute them.
  • Get over my fear of fly zippers.

    Really. I've been sewing long enough, I've sewn a few decent ones. I don't know why I still tense up at the thought of them.
  • Execute a wearable set of welt pockets.

    I've gotten to the point where I've done test samples that look wearable. Here's another area where I need to get over my fear and actually put them in something that I'd wear.
  • Fabric out for the year should be 50% greater than fabric in.

    I have a spreadsheet where I am tracking this. I've already fallen behind because I got bitten by the merino wool sale at FabricMart, but I know I can recover.
  • Explore the functionality of my Babylock Evolve.

    My one splurge/semi-frivolous purchase that came out of my signing bonus for my new job last year was to upgrade my old Brother 1034D to a new-to-me Babylock Evolve serger/coverstitch combo machine. I've already been using the 3- and 4-thread overlocks and coverstitch quite a bit, but it can do so much more, and I want to learn how to do so many more things on it.
So that's it. I have 8-non stash specific goals for the year. I'll check back against these throughout the year to see how I'm progressing.

4 comments:

  1. that is a great capsule wardrobe!
    I also share the white jeans dislike... never tried on a pair that looked decent on me. ever.

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  2. Sounds like a great plan. Have you thought of joining the SWAP on Artisan's square? It is pretty easy this time, 3 sets of 3 (one bottom and 2 tops or a dress) and 2 wild cards.

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  3. Nice plan! SWAPs for me always seem to steal the sewing mojo so I've learned to stay away from them. But I do admire those who dive in.

    I thought you might be interested in this ... as a new Seattle sewist (new to Seattle, not sewing!). http://sew-well.com/2014/01/20/resewlution-connect-with-the-seattle-sewing-community/

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  4. I've never actually done a SWAP before. I've thought about them many times, but then I always get distracted by a shiny new pattern, etc. I like this one, though, because the pieces will all already pair with things that I have in my closet, so I won't have to "wait" to complete two more pieces for an outfit to come together.

    Thanks for the link! It would be really nice to connect with other sewists in the area!

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