Some (rather late) New Years Resolutions

Sadly no pictures of my flash new dress, with my fab new buttons, owing to a rather unfortunate sewing weekend. 

I was planning to make New Look 6000, the vintage inspired pattern which has been something of a hit with the sewing blogging community. Sadly, I looked at the pretty pictures and thought I would like to make the dress, but didn't really read the helpful advice about fit, alterations etc. I cut a 14, which according to the packet should be the right size but it turned out huge. I managed to take in a bit of the excess fabric at the sides, but it was still very baggy and unflattering around the bust, the neck was very wide and the sleeves sat in totally the wrong place. Other than that it was perfect :(  I know its all my own fault, that I should have taken more care before I started and maybe, yes, even made a muslin first. Then I might have a new dress today.

So, instead of showing of a new dress today, I'm going to make some public New Years Resolutions, and see if they can help me avoid the mistakes of last weekend. Based on my look back at last year's top projects and last year's resolutions I have decided this year's resolutions should be;

- Make more projects that can be worn everyday, rather than just fancy outfits that just get worn once. Although, I might make one more fancy dress for a wedding this year.

- Think before I sew, plan projects more carefully, take more care with matching fabric and patterns as this has been my down fall in the past, and maybe even make a muslin. I've been won over to the advantages of tension squares in knitting, and it seems to me that muslin are the sewing equivalent of tension squares.

- Don't rush the sewing process, cut threads, press seams, if I don't understand an instruction look up and practice new techniques, and if something is not right go back and fix it don't just rush on regardless.

- Try and get more of my blanket done. I'd love to say I'll get it finished this year, but I don't think that is realistic so I'm going for getting to the three quarters mark (ish).

- Reduce my stash, especially my embarrassingly large fabric stash. Which means cutting down on the buying, and trying only to buy stuff for specific projects to be made in the short term. I made a good start this weekend, not buying anything at the Avoca Sale. So a tiny gold star for me :)

All of which good intentions I will put into practice on my next project for the Sew for Victory Challenge. The fabric I'm planning to use for this project has been in my stash for about two years I think, as has the pattern.