The 2015 Sewing Assessment

Well, checking in with at last year's recap tells me I was minimally successful.

So, what changed from last year?

A. The camera woes were remedied by buying a new picture-taker: a Canon PowerShot SX400 IS affectionally named Elsa (not because of Frozen. I just like the name, watching the movie makes me restless with boredom). She's not a fancy machine, but she serves my very basic purposes of being a working camera with the burst setting and not breaking the ole bank account.

B. There are only seven blog posts in 2015, versus the eight of 2014. That comes to an average of one post per fifty-two days, with only two being actual project posts!

C. I failed the Stashbusting goal by one piece of fabric (though I'm not fully sure why I count it as pieces of fabric when everyone else measures in yards or meters. Oh, that's because of how making partial circle skirts affect what is leftover). I also added approximately ten yards to the stash, mostly with pretty strong ideas of the intended projects.

D. Projects-wise I finished two UFOs,

Homespun half circle skirt

Simplicity 2314 in khaki twill.
Oh the learning experiences!

a top to wear at The Brother's graduation,

the Sorbetto in bird printed shirting from Jo-Ann's*

the Blue Porcelain Belladonne,

and a linen skirt that will hopefully make a great summer option.

*Oh, and the dress form is a Simple Fit from Dritz (can't find it on the website or I'm just that dense). Belle came into the CD creative house from the 60% off sale at Jo-Ann's Black Friday weekend sale.


It was a slow year for creativity, mostly due to personal events and the nagging question of life direction.

Of late there have been constant reminders of my finitude as a crafter, as a thinker, as a reader, as a worker, as a person.  I have grown up in a pretty intellectual family and consider myself to be the dumb one. This is not to say that I am a dummy or I have no self-worth, but that I'm probably the least intellectual while also being the most DIY craft-minded.

I recognize that I have the potential to be more intellectual, but that means more time away from the craft projects.

On the other hand to be at my peak of happiness and production I need to be working on those craft projects.

So comes that struggle between disparate desires: crafting and intellectual pursuits.

One of my plans for the coming year is to try to find that balance.

Stashbusting

Stashbusting 2013

Completed:

(Sorry for the uneven arrangement. I am still learning formatting capabilities).

Okay, so I accomplished my goals: 6 pieces of fabric:

(right to left per row)

Poppy linen Sorbetto (1)

Deep-Lake Belladone (2)

UFO peasant blouse and navy rayon Challis Skirt (3)

Knit Skirt (4) with lining (5)

Blue batik Sorbetto (6)

Batik partial circle skirt with moleskin lining (7)

So let's see if I can't make some sewing (related) goals for the year:

1. Finish one garment, alteration, refashion, or UFO per month. Try for to make a dent in at least 10 stash pieces (up from 6).

2. Blog each item, even if there are more photos than words (sometimes the best posts!).

3. Participate in at least one challenge for the year, other than Stashbusting 2014.

4. Participate in a Me-Made or Self-Stitched month! Which means I need to buffer my wardrobe with more shirts or just start wearing more skirts.

I have no major observations from the year, although...

1. The reason I was able to meet my goal was that I had (and still have) 

a lot of fabric pieces shorter than a yard.

2. I did make more of an effort not to buy new fabric.
(I thought more about what I bought, but still bought a decent length of fabric.
Maybe next year I'll be brave enough to refuse buying any more fabric.)

3. I was often digging through my stash, looking for fabric that I was not afraid of cutting into. 

Try to be more fearless this year!

4. I like making my muslin with a new pattern and then moving on to another pattern so that I 

have time to digest the alterations to make on the next iteration. 

Thus my me-making plods along.

5. There were many things I intended to make in order to fill holes in my wardrobe.
Never got to any of them.
This is a year for at least two of them!

Okay, there's some thoughts for the past year. Not very interesting, but helpful in 

thinking about what to watch out for in the next eleven and a half months.

And the pledge for this coming year (rather unambitious compared to others, but
as I am yet to learn how to use a machine I am very slow sewer. 
I am also in a period of transition, so sewing time might be hard-found).

"I, Laura of Creating Distractions, commit to: finish one garment, alteration, refashion, or UFO per month. Try to make a dent in at least 10 stash pieces (up from 6)."

Contrary to this bumper sticker:

Onward! Happy sewing!