Failing my Plans, Planning for Fall

Yikes, I can't believe it is October already ... where did the year go!?! I had such good intentions at the start of the year, but looking back now I'm not very near meeting them;

During 2015 I will sew up at least five of my vintage or reproduction sewing patterns - um that would be a big fat 0 out of 5!

During 2015 I will make at least five projects using fabric from my stash - 1 out of 5 for this one, well nearly one, so a slight improvement.

During 2015 I will make at least one coat and some lingerie - no coat, but I did make some pants, so a generous 50% on this one.

During 2015 I will knit at least 10 project using (mainly) yarn from my stash - finally a success, I've just cast on the 10th project for the year using stashed yarn, I might exceed my goal on this one.

I think its clear from this review that I've done a lot better on the knitting than on the sewing. There have been some extenuating circumstances; I was without a sewing machine for several months while work was being done on our house, and then there has been all the unpacking and redecorating once we moved back in. Plus, we got an allotment this January and it has taken a lot of digging.

However, I've been back in my lovely new sewing room for over two months now and, aside from one dress, I've produced nothing. I've been in a sewing slump and I'm determined to snap out of it, Ever since I moved back in to my sewing machine I've been staring at a basket of unfinished projects, and they have been staring back at me. We're not getting anywhere and I've decided the only solution is to put them to one side and come back to them later.

I've also decided that instead of working from from my stash and making projects because I have the fabric, I'm going to look at my wardrobe and make what I need first. (Hopefully there will be some cross over).

I spent Sunday afternoon carrying out a task I do quite enjoy, turning everything out of my wardrobe and sorting out what to keep and what to throw out. I'm quite ruthless when I get into the swing of this and I ended up filling two large bags for the charity shop or textile recycling. I've also ended up with a very sparse wardrobe, and surprisingly little of it is handmade.

As as result of this clear out there are several areas of my wardrobe which are in need of my attention, and I'm going start with some casual wear as I'm down to my last pair of jeans (which are rather thin at the seams) and I need some new t-shirts.

I like lists and I like planning, and to aid me in my new intentions I've armed myself with a new tool, to go with my existing Dressmaking Notes book which I used to write by sewing shopping lists.

Gertie's New Fashion Sketchbook contains pages of pre-drawn 'body positive' figure templates to draw your designs on. I like to sketch my design ideas, but I'm not very good at drawing people, so I'm going to give this a go.

Nifty, no? I might even share some of my drawing if they turn out well.

Now I'm off to do some planning, prior to a visit to the fabric shops tomorrow :)