Sunday 8 March 2015

One-Year Anniversary

Today I am celebrating a one-year anniversary of the existence of my sewing blog and also one year of me sewing again on a regular basis.

At the same time I almost stopped buying RTW clothes (not counting underwear, jeans and sweaters), which was a very natural process, not a challenge.  The reason is pretty simple: I only rarely fit into RTW clothes. At 1,58m, French size 34 with high waist I know very few brands where I can find the appropriate size.

When I started sewing (and reading books and blogs about sewing) I also became very picky about materials. My rare shopping trips include checking all the etiquettes and constantly being disappointed by the percentage of polyester and polyamide in RTW clothing, and believe me I am not even talking about H&M or Zara.

But let’s talk about my year of sewing, not my year of not-shopping:
In one year, I have made 25 pieces of clothing, out of which:
16 dresses
4 skirts
2 shorts
2 tops
1 cap (accessory to a dress)

So we can say I am quite monothematic in choosing my models, but I wear dresses a lot and it is a piece of clothing for which it is the most difficult to find (and to make..) a good fit, so I am alos craving them the most.

Out of these 25, the biggest successes were:
Bordeaux dress
Great material, simple pattern. This has become my go-to dress when I am afraid to be cold; to the point that the fabric is already used. Fortunately, I still have a 1,5 meter so I might sew it again.


Blue guest dress II.
Worn only on 2 occasions, but creating a totally different look based on my accessories. Also, I managed to work the fine silk muslin and appreciated the material on a not-so-hot summer night.

Apple-seed black dress
Just.Love.The.Fabric.

As for my misses, or lessons learned:
Grey 60's dress
My first make and worn only a few times. I do not like the fabric since it feels too “plastic” and find the dress too short and out-of shape.
Lesson learned: stop buying polyester

Black/White skirt
Looks great in the pictures, but got never worn. The polyester is sticking to my legs and I have never dared a real 50’s look in my “normal” life.
Lesson learned: stick to your favourite styles

Blue guest dress I.
I had to downsize the pattern by 5 sizes for which I did not have enough experience at that point of time.
Lesson learned: invest in interesting patterns, but only close to your size


All in all, I spent 700 euros and 312 hours on all my makes, which is totally reasonable :o)

As for my goals for the next year:
  • Continue sewing – this should be easy to achieve, as shopping is no longer an option for me
  • Sew a classical shirt – I only tried a pyjama shirt this year (not blogged) which was a success on the collar and a total flop on the fit
  • Sew a jacket or a trench (or both) – I wear jackets to work quite often and am missing a trench for some time now



PS: a big thank you to my photographer for all the great pics taken during this year. Check his page over here.

1 comment:

  1. I can really relate to what you write about not buying RTW anymore. I am about the same size as you and it was only after I started sewing that I realized how many ill-fitting clothes I own, and how I could make them myself much better. Sometimes I still go shopping, but I hardly ever buy anything anymore. On the other hand, I still have a lot to learn when it comes to sewing clothes that I actually want and can wear on a daily basis. I still don't trust my sewing abilities enough to buy the more expensive but more durable and nicer fabrics. Also I tend to choose very colorful fabrics, whereas in the end I actually like to wear more neutral, plain fabrics. So that's my goal for the coming year :). I think I can get a lot of inspiration from you!

    ReplyDelete