A New Year -- Still Trying to Fulfill Last Year's Goals

Last year I vowed to limit my fabric purchases and sew more from my stash. The first half of the year was not that successful, especially with a trip to France and a couple sewing seminars offering fabric. I ended up sewing a little more than I purchased which is much better than other years, so I guess it was a semi-success. However, over the past six months I have not purchased more than 10 yards, so the fabric addiction is definitely under control now. As far as I am concerned, linings and interfacing still don't count towards to the stash. Recently the last remaining Fabric Place store closed this November. This is sad, but since I only use Joann's for thread, notions and patterns, it will be easier to keep the fabric purchases under control.

For 2009 I truly do want to sew from the stash. There is no excuse since I have enough fabric to make at least a couple dozen SWAPs plus more. I get inspired when I go through my fabrics, the problem is just getting beyond the inspiration point and actually matching fabric to pattern, then fitting, cutting, fusing & sewing. I find the sewing part easy, it's getting past the fitting stage.

I still haven't started the black suit jacket mentioned in my November 1 post, but hope to get going this month. My old black suit has seen better days since it's six years old. I need a new black suit. In fact, I really need a lot of new suits. The black one is a starting point and I want to plan from there.

As for the Great Coat Sew-along, I finished my vintage jacket, but the tweed coat is still a UFO. I actually cut out the coat & lining, and fused all the underlining and interfacing last September. It had been sitting ignored in my sewing area until last Tuesday when I actually started working on it again. My old winter coat is still serviceable, but I would truly like to finish this new coat. My plan is to spend the next two days working on it. We'll see how far I get. It will get finished eventually, since I don't like have UFOs hanging around.

In 2008, Pattern Review had a thread on the message board to set a goal of one garment a month. I managed to average sewing two a month plus a few home dec projects and Christmas gifts. If I can at least do that again this year, I will be happy. If I exceed that, I will be ecstatic.

So my goals for this year are:

1. Sew from the stash.
2. Sew two garments a month.
3. Post on this blog more often.

Also, my husband and I are planning to go to France again this April. Last year's clothes will work again since we plan to be there the exact same time as last year. But it would be nice to have a few new pieces. Now I need to go check out the stash to see what will work in April.