It's that time of year again - time to review what I sewed this year, what worked and what didn't.
It turns out I made a total of 44 garments this year (well till the start of Dec - I'm not adding in the items I've made since I created this post - they can be counted next year). This is just one shy of last years total of 45. But the distribution is slightly different this year.
Shirts came in as my number 1 sewn item this year with a total of 12 items sewn - followed by pants with 7 items.
So lets see what I made.
Shirts:
We have a mixture here of well loved and never worn.
The button up shirt in the top left corner I love the fit of, but it's just not a style I reach for on a daily basis. I've worn it a few times but it's not one of my go to's. The other three tops on the top row however are clear winners, these shirts get worn weekly in the winter.
Second row - the summer shirts. The first and the last in this row are well worn and well loved. The red orange got worn on rare occasions just because its really comfortable, but I don't love it. The camisole has never been worn. A combination of not liking the small straps and only being able to wear it with one bra.
On the third row, the rayon short sleeve shirt is a contender for favourite make of the year. I love the pattern, the fit and the fabric. The sho! hoodie is OK but the sleeves are very tight so I can't wear it over anything else (hence it's here in the shirts and not in the outerwear) It does get worn occasionally, but it's not a favourite. The cowl neck shirt however is - this is a great shirt and is in constant rotation. Finally the second Cashmerette Harrison, made for a purpose and worked great, but highly unlikely to be worn again anytime soon just because there are few occasions on which to wear it.
Pants:
This category has been pretty successful this year. I've made 4 pairs of long pants and three pairs of shorts all of which get worn regularly.
The grey pants were made for the sewing bee and got worn a few times as is, but I decided I didn't love the cargo pocket. It's always gaping open. It would probably be fine if I ironed my pants, but that's a very rare occurrence, so I decided to just remove the big cargo pocket and, to even things out, the pocket on the other leg. Since I've done that these pants have been great - though the solid waistband means I don't generally wear them for lounging around the house - they are more for outside. On the other hand, the flannel Calders are my go to lounging pants - I love everything about these but they don't generally leave the house. The slim legged black pants and the black Calders are fantastic all around and worn regularly.
The shorts are all based on my latest pattern and are all winners. The sailor front shorts are a bit annoying with the pockets snapped shut but they still got worn regularly during summer.
Jumpsuits/Dress:
I made 2 jumpsuits and 1 dress this year. The dress was well worn during summer and the teal jumpsuit has been worn quite a bit. The red and black jumpsuit less so, but it does still get worn on occasion.
Outer Wear:
The teal vinyl jacket is great in theory, but has never actually been worn. I just don't tend to wear lightweight jackets - I usually find a sweater or cardigan is more comfortable at the temperatures I would need this jacket. The grey Jasper is great and gets worn a lot. The teal cardigan has been a surprising hit - it's not the greatest piece of sewing but I did wear it quite a bit in the Autumn. My favourite however is definitely the Precious cardigan - I think this gets garment of the year for me.
Activewear:
Only really one outfit in this category this year and that was from the sewing bee - Sports bra, shirt and leggings. I really love all the pieces in this set and do wear them on the odd occasion when I exercise. I did have to do one modification to the shirt, adding the black band to the bottom as shown in the bottom right photo as it was too short otherwise.
Knitting:
Lots of small knitting projects done this year - at least 5 pairs of socks ( the three pairs shown here and there are two more pairs that haven't made it to the blog) and one pair of mittens. In March I started knitting a sweater (bottom right corner). I haven't actually blogged the finished project yet, mainly cause I haven't actually worn it yet! I also learnt how to do Brioche knitting this year and made the blue and green cowl above, and based on that I actually wrote my first knitting pattern. I haven't done anything with it yet but here's a sneak peak.
Miscellaneous:
I'm still working on the perfect bra pattern - I'm pretty close now - just working on the best shape for the back piece.
I only made one pair of shoes this year - not going outside much this year so haven't worn my shoes out as fast as I would normally.
The hat that I made didn't really get much use, not because I didn't love it, but because I loved it too much. Most of this summer was spent in the pool in the backyard. I wore a hat the entire time, but since I was in the pool and it kept getting wet I didn't want to wear my good hat, so just used a crappy old hat I had. I'm glad I did as that hat is now destroyed and I still have the good one to wear once we are allowed back in public again!
I made two quilts this year. The first was a fidget quilt for my Mum which was a definite success, the second a T Shirt quilt. The front of the quilt is a collage of the front of the kids old T Shirts, the back is the backs of the T shirts with some hand embroidery on 4 of the squares. There is a layer of fleece between the two and a poly ribbon to finish the edges. This was only a marginal success. It's not as warm as I was hoping for, and generally not as snuggly as I had hoped, so it gets used on occasion but it's not a raging success.
The final category in my pie chart is Others:
These are the garments that I made for other people this year. These are mainly clothes for the kids as I didn't want to go out shopping.
The two jumpsuits I made for L were a hit and were worn quite a bit and the Valhalla red dress she loves. She's never actually worn the yellow hedgehog shirt, but then she hasn't had the occasion to. Same with J. The camouflage jumper gets worn when he gets cold, but the blue and white button up shirt really hasn't been worn at all.
This year has been........interesting....yes that's a good word for it! I've noticed that there have been a lot of discussions this year about clothing, what we sew and why we sew. There are some who have lost their sewing inspiration since they have no where to wear new clothes due to Covid, and also a lot of people saying that they aren't wearing most of their clothes or getting dressed up since they are not going out and about in public. I find this very interesting.
Upon further introspection I've realised that I've actually been aiming for a quarantine wardrobe since I started sewing about 8 years ago. My lifestyle is such that I don't need to get dressed up for the office - so I've never really made office wear. I don't generally go out to parties so don't need party/going out clothes (though I have still made some of these just for the fun of it). Most days (pre covid) I'd do a school run, go shopping, basic errands and appointments - maybe dinner at a local restaurant, but definitely quite a bit of time spent at home. So I've always wanted and made clothes that are comfortable enough to wear lounging around the house, but nice enough to look good when I have to go out.
In fact in the last couple of years I've made it a point to try and sew enough comfortable clothes that I can entirely get rid of those ugly old store bought sweats that I used to wear - and it's just about worked. I think I need one or two more pairs of comfortable and warm pants for winter but otherwise my wardrobe is in good shape and this has allowed me to continue dressing exactly as I would normally throughout this trying time.
I've noticed however that my husband is definitely in the category of those wearing nothing but ugly sweats all the time now. Maybe I need to turn my sewing skills to making him some better around the house clothes!
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