New Year, New Goals Volume 2

I have been procrastinating in posting my goals for 2011. Mostly because it is hard for me to believe that 2010 is over. Where did the time go? I feel like I barely even touched my goal list I made last January. Actually that's not a lie, I barely did any of it! Let's review, shall we?

1. Sew more for Eric. I sew him costumes, which he enjoys, but he would like me to make him a dress shirt and some tailored pants for his new job. ~FAIL! I did not do this. I cut out the muslin for a dress shirt and it still sits in a bag waiting to be sewn.

2. Get my Etsy shop up and running. Eric and I have been talking for a very very very long time (at least 4 years) about starting a renaissance costume shop. We eventually want it have a booth at the Ohio Festival, but we are going to start with Etsy and go from there. Goal is to have it open in February. ~FAIL! I set up everything on the shop but have yet to list any items in it even though I have a couple of items made.

3. Improve my skills of sewing with stretch knits. I have previously made 2 knit tops, one I wear often and one that made me stop sewing knits. I have a large stash of knit fabrics from a couple of years ago when I decided I needed more knit tops and then did nothing with them. ~Success! I made 3 knit tops and 3 knit dresses last year! Go me!

4. Make myself at least one pair of jeans. I have wanted to do this for awhile but keep finding the idea as a bit intimidating. I am not sure why since I had made myself a pair in high school. ~FAIL! Again I have had them cut out and ready to be sewn since April or May-ish.

5. Finish the never ending quilt. The hand quilting is so tedious. I find myself easily getting bored by it and wanting something new to work on. ~FAIL! I think the first sentence says it all, "never ending".

6. Take more pictures of my projects throughout the construction process. I tend to take a picture when I start and then forget about it while I am working on it. ~Fail! I didn't really make any garments that required construction of photos. But there were several pieces including 2 amazing dresses I made for a client that I never photographed.

7. Actually make my Chanel sew along jacket. I bought everything for this, made my muslin and never worked on it after that. I really want to get this jacket done so I can show it off. ~FAIL! Alas, this all still sits in my stash. Although losing 30 lbs made me not want to really start it until I was finished losing wait.

8. Do a costume study on clothing from the wild west era (1880's). We will be attending the Ohio Wild West Festival this year and I want to be prepared for it. ~Fail! We didn't dress up this year for either the West Fest or the Ren Fest.

9. Participate in a sew along or month of. I signed on for the Chanel sew along and had everything ready but became distracted. I would would like another go at this. It is a great way to connect with other sewers from around the country and world.~Partial Success. I signed up for a few Friday Night Sew In's but never followed up by posting about them.

10. Cut my fabric stash by about 50%. I know this is a large goal to meet, but I am accumulating more than I am using. I have lots of fabric that I bought with specific projects in mind and have not done them yet. This is going to be the year to get those items out of my fabric closet and into my wardrobe!~Partial Success. I met my original goal of 127 yards used. However I didn't meet the final goal after adding in what I bought throughout the year.

11. Knit myself a sweater. I have been knitting up a storm since I learned how in March of '09. Sometime in the middle of this new year I want to learn to knit and sew myself a button up cardigan type of sweater. ~FAIL! I have only knitted scarves this past year. There are still way to many knitting techniques for me to learn first.

I do have a list of a few of the items I would like to make this year as well. It includes my Chanel jacket, jeans, a new winter coat, pirate costumes, wild west costumes, a trench coat, knit tops, dress skirts and a Christmas party dress for next holiday season. ~Of these things I have made the knit tops and pirate costumes. Not a rousing success!

Okay, enough being hard on myself for the things I have not done. It's a new year and that means I get to start fresh! Right?!?! Instead of adding all the same things to my list this year, I am going to keep a few and change a few.

1. Sew more for Eric. This is a must! I have to get over my fears of men's tailoring and just do it. I have resigned myself that the first dress shirt I make will not be perfect but none of them will be perfect if I don't ever start with the first!

2. Sew 50% of my stash. After re-tallying my stash I have much more than I kept track of throughout the year. I was gifted several dozens of yards of fabric as well as I had a bolt of muslin that I added in. My current total yards is 348. So I need to use 174 yards. This calls for a new ticker and better methods of keeping track. New ticker: check. Better methods: WIP.

3.Get some friends to be models and post items in my Etsy shop! I want to have these posted by the end of February!

4. Finish the quilt! I feel awful that I have not done this yet. Winter is the best time to do it as it requires the quilt to be laying on me and we do not have air conditioning to do it comfortably in the summertime.

5. Learn a new knitting technique and put it to use. I am going to keep knitting scarves and possibly, POSSIBLY, a blanket. Though I doubt I will get to the blanket this year.

6. Be well prepared for both the Ren Fest and West Fest. By this I mean, break the cycle of sewing until the sun is rising the day we are supposed to leave.

7. Complete at least 5 of my UFO's. I will have a list of them coming up soon and what needs to be done for each.

7 goals! That's a good number! Lucky number 7. Here. We. Go!