How a New Years’ resolution helped me get my sewing motivation back, again and again.
Let me begin this post with saying that I don’t usually make New Years’ resolutions. A year is a long time and I don’t like making goals that I can’t keep or that I might lose interest in. The last few years have been a bit of a roller coaster: moving cross country, working full time, getting pregnant, having a baby, staying home, recovering from a c-section, then recovering from gallbladder surgery. It was also hard to predict how much time my young toddler would give me to sew.
But, at the beginning of 2017 I was thirsty for a new challenge! I heard of a Facebook group called: 100 Items Sewing Challenge. Group members sew up 100 items in 2017 and enter monthly drawings for prizes. I loved the idea of this challenge because it was open ended and gave me an opportunity to focus on quantity not quality. (Trust me, that’s not a bad thing!) I sometimes dread finishing projects – please tell me I’m not alone!! Maybe I get bored, I get stuck on a technique, or I find a new shiny project and I put the current project aside.
Leaving a lot of projects unfinished drives me nuts! Sewing just 8 projects a month helped me to sew through my stash.
I sewed a lot of smaller projects, which helped me use up remnants. The 30 new items I added to my wardrobe included 13 tops, 8 bottoms 3 dresses and 1 swimsuit. 17 of the items I completed in 2017 were sewn during pattern tests. Perhaps I am most proud of the fact that I sewed through 69 yards of fabric!
Things that I really enjoyed about this challenge:
- Taking a picture of each item
- Not every picture had to be a pretty blog photo.
- I didn’t feel pressure to blog about every item I made.
- Turning a negative into a positive: We all have fabric we regret buying, projects that didn’t turn out as we envisioned. I enjoyed finishing these projects so I could start something new.
Sewing Motivation
I had many days where I lost my sewing motivation (my sew-jo, as I call it). But overall, I found that having this sewing challenge helped me get my sew-jo back. Because each project could be as simple as I wanted, it was easy to find something I wanted to sew.
Having a goal in mind and working towards it really increased my self-confidence as a sewer.
Most of my projects were really simple sews that I could complete in a few hours and used techniques I was familiar with. I didn’t learn a lot of new techniques this year and that is okay! What I needed this year were small projects and small wins to get me through the mundaneness and the difficulties of life. A few of my favorite projects from the past year included my Kathryn Dress, my Jalie swimsuit (I mean, we all should feel awesome for making a swimsuit, amiright?), my daughter’s Lulu dolman tops and her Fern Cardigan.
Plans for 2018:
I’ve got some exciting plans for 2018! I want to focus a bit more on intermediate projects this year. I have plans to sew my own Liana Jeans (eek!), a shirtdress and a swimsuit. I want to make more cold weather items in preparation for our upcoming move north.
I plan to participate in a sewing challenge group called 52 Week Sewing Challenge. I won’t be participating every week, but I will be utilizing the group for inspiration. I also have plans to collaborate with Mahlica Designs for a Who Made It Best Competition. I am an ambassador for Southern Belle Fabrics and a member of the Promo Team for Jalie Patterns. Some very exciting things in 2018!! I am excited for a new year, a fresh start and more things to learn and share.
What are your sewing plans for 2018? Do you have patterns or fabrics you are hoping to use? I hope you’ll comment below, and as always, thanks for reading!
Way to go!!! I’m super impressed you sewed so much!! My 2018 goals are jeans and bras (possibly just bralettes), to work out 3 hours a week, practice the piano enough to record another CD, and save money. I am super excited about your lianas! And I’ve never sewed a Jalie pattern but I’ve heard really good things about them.
Thanks, Emily! I think you have some great goals. You’ll have to let me know if you find a good bralette pattern you like.