Glancing Back, and Moving Forward

Happy New Year, fellow bloggers!

I have a personal motto that I follow, "Look where you're going, not where you've been!" So at this time, I will not look back, but take a small glance at the past 12 months to establish where I'm headed over the next 12.

I sewed up a lot of projects that I've been very happy with, with just a few duds in between. I wouldn't call some of these projects my best, but are the ones I was very happy with and wore a lot. Didn't sew up as many garments as I wanted to because I was working on some wallhangings, purses, Christmas scarves and the Chinese Auction quilt, but I definitely learned new things by working on non-garment sewing activities. In addition, I've been making good use out of my embroidery machine and earning respect from my children because of it ;) .

Here are my top 5 garments, not like I made enough of them this year though.

They are:

Butterick 4183. It's been in my stash for about 5 years now. I bought it to make a dress for my 20th High School Reunion several years ago, which I did, but I just love the simplicity of the design. It's a cool and delightful summer day dress.

Next up,

Simplicity 3624. A youthful, trendy design which suits this 40+ chick just fine. And a reminder by this photo not to take review pics early in the morning. It looks like I never went to bed!

Simplicity 4277. Heavily revamped/altered version. I always feel cheerful in this top. And it highlights the "female assets" well ;) .

Simplicity 3799. Made the neckband wider with crystal embellishments. Sparkly stuff brings out the inner '80's me. Matches my big hair well :) .

Threads top from the Pattern-less Sewing article. It's such a different style and print for me. I have yet to wear it because it's waiting for matching capris pants.

My fave accessory project. Too bad I don't own it. It was a Mother's Day present for my mom:

Made from Emma Brennan's Vintage Handbag book.

The year 2008 produced two wadders:

One horrible "supposed-to-be" cute, slouchy mini dress. Turned out to be a shapeless potato sack that I chopped up hoping to salvage, to no avail. Here's what was left of it before tossing.

Simplicity 4183, a Patty Reed design. SO not for me. Made me look short and 20 lbs. heavier. Here's what's left of it. It left jaw-dropping looks from every member of my family, and a "You're not going out in that...are you?!?!" comment from my DH. 'Nuff said.

and Simplicity 4047. The photo makes it look better than it is. A crappy polyester that won't give a good press and a pattern morph from size 10 at neck/shoulders/mid chest to a 14 at full bust and waist and a 12 at the hips. Surprisingly, the full bust area was much too big! What's up with that? With a full C-cup??? This was a wearable muslin. Wearable, but I don't like it. I will change the sizing on top before making a dress in 2009 from this pattern in some Slinky in my stash.

That's pretty much it sewing wise for 2008. I did many more crafty type of things, more than I care to, but learned things from it.


On to my SEWING GOALS FOR 2009!


In no particular order:

1. Get to know my various presser feet. I'm a lazy sewer and will waste time trying to figure out how to do something without changing the snap-on feet. Yes, I did say snap-on! It goes back to the days of using cams and I never wanted to bother with them. I have to get over that mentality of "It will stop my sewing" and think "It will actually make my sewing easier and save time."


2. Do more "Thinking Woman's Sewing". I need coats. I need blazers. I need pants. My custom pants draft is done. Untested. Gotta get going with these things. It's been a long timed since I've done a lined blazer. Far too long.


3. Embroider 300 designs this year. I have the machine. It does the work for me. All I have to do is change the threads. I want to think outside the box with embroidery and think of ways to apply my embroidery to accessories and garments. I have about 5 already done (got started early!)
   

My last sewing activity of 2008/first of 2009 was checking out Karen's blog. I check out my blogroll every couple of days, but then don't get to some. Then I'll wait thinking I need a bigger chunk of time because the posts pile up. Then it becomes an overwhelming number. Hers was at 32!!! So I spent my New Year's Eve and New Year's Day morning looking at her amazing work the past two months. I'm having serious sewing envy over her orange leather bag and her leather-look jacket.

Then it got me to thinking about the PR Awards this year. And, of course, some I voted for and some I didn't. So I'd like to present my own for the obvious reasons of the award titles.

PHAT SEWING AWARDS OF 2008

• "I WANT YOUR CLOSET OF CLOTHES" Award: http://themahoganystylist.blogspot.com/
• "HOT SEWING MOM" Award: http://www.kims-kouture.blogspot.com/
• "YOU ARE TOTALLY INSPIRING" Award: http://www.lindsaytsews.com/ and http://sewingbytheseatofmypants.blogspot.com/
• "I LEARN SO MUCH FROM YOU" Award: http://sigridsewingprojects.blogspot.com/, http://gorgeousthings.blogspot.com/, http://jemimabean.blogspot.com/, and http://rustybobbin.com/blog/
• "INCREDIBLE KINDNESS AWARD": http://sewfastembroidery.blogspot.com/
• "WISHED YOU LIVED NEXT TO ME" Award: http://rhotos-rag.blogspot.com/ , http://2bsewing.blogspot.com/, http://yarncrawl.typepad.com/ , and everyone on my blog roll and then some!

That's it for today, New Year's Day 2009. May it bring peace, lots of sewing time, much-needed prosperity, and an end to CEO's making millions with failing companies.

Happy New Year's, and I'm off to co-make a meal of Scalloped Potatoes, Filet Mignon with mushrooms and onions, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and some dessert. I'll assign DD#1 to the dessert task. She always full of surprises.