One last thing I made in June & a mid-year goals update

First up, I squeaked out a last little project in June, this wearable muslin woven raglan tee in white and black:

Woven raglan tee, Burda 10-2014-135

Last year, right at the end of summer, I made a green and white raglan tee using a Burda Plus magazine pattern. At the time, I said I kind of liked it, but maybe not the boat neckline. So far this summer I've actually worn that top quite often, but I still don't think the neckline is the best style for me. However, I had also picked out this raglan top pattern from the Burda October 2014 issue as an alternative I wanted to try, and hey presto, here it is. This is more or less a test version of the pattern, made with a bargain basement fabric buy (the black and white print on viscose, which was about £1.50 per metre) and a scrap of white viscose (the remnants of the same fabric I used for the sleeves of the green & white top, which was itself a bargain buy).

Burda 10-2014-135 line drawing

It's a very straightforward pattern, as you can see from the line drawing - just three pattern pieces + bias binding - including sleeves with a dart in the sleeve head. The only deviation I made from the pattern as written is (obviously) that I cut short sleeves instead of long sleeves.

I'm always a bit wary of pleats and gathering above the bust (or below the bust, or really anywhere near the bust) because I think it tends to make my large bust look even larger which: no, thank you very much, that's the last thing I need. However, the pleats on this top are actually quite small and not too poofy.


This is from the Plus section of the issue, and I made my usual size 44. The fit is mostly good, except it's a bit tighter through the sleeves than I like. I feel like I should have expected that from the line drawing, though, looking at it again now. When I make this again I will definitely want to fix that. Also, the neckline ended up a tiny bit wider than I wanted, and flirts with revealing bra straps. That's easy enough to fix in a second version, though.

Overall, I'm calling this a win for a wearable muslin.

Second order of business: it is somehow the middle of the year already, and it is therefore time for an update on my goals for 2017, which I wrote about in detail back in January.

1. Money: (a) Stick to my 2017 budget; (b) keep my envelope/PDF pattern spending at the same level as it was in 2016.

My budget goal is well in hand. Although I went a bit overboard on spending right at the beginning of the year I then had a couple of very quiet months for buying stuff, mainly because I was too sick in the spring to even want to look at fabric shopping sites (!!). The net result is that I am quite a bit under budget for the year at the halfway point.

Some of the patterns I've bought so far this year (the line drawing second from the right is the StyleArc Sadie Tunic)

I have bought a few patterns, but again, I'm on budget for the year so far, and I've been trying really hard not to buy stuff unless it legitimately adds something new to my pattern stash. Well, and also shirtdresses, despite my immense shirtdress collection (and lack of any actual shirtdresses, which is a whole separate problem...).

2.  Fabric Stash: (a) reduce my stash to under 200m and then stay at or under 200m for the rest of the year; (b) use two thirds of what I buy in 2017 during 2017; (c) use some of my older "favourite" fabrics

(a) As usual, my fabric stash reduction outcome can be summarized with: /o\. I bought 39m of fabric in the first half of the year, and only sewed 30m. Therefore, not only am I not under 200m in total, I actually have more fabric than I had in January! I really must do better on this. I have yet again gone through my stash and my sewing queue and tried very hard to match fabric I already own to things I want to make, and hopefully I'll have a better result to report at the end of the year.

(b) This is better measured over the year as a whole because I tend to buy ahead of the season, but currently, I have used about 25% of the fabric I've bought so far in 2017.

(c) I have actually made an effort to use some of my older "favourite" fabrics! I can't say I've made a major dent in the deepest, most "precious" layers of my stash, but I have made some impression on it, for sure. I've actually been combining it a bit with my Wishlist Challenge (see below) as both the PJs and one of the maxi skirts I made came from "precious" stash.
 
3. 2017 Magazine Challenge. Make one thing each month from any 2017 issue of any of my magazine subscriptions (Burda/Knipmode/Ottobre) and
4. 2017 Wishlist Challenge make at least 12 things off my wishlist in 2017.

Magazine challenge projects so far this year

I've only managed to make a couple for my magazine challenge so far this year, mainly because March/April/May was so rubbish healthwise. My two garments were: a draped front knit top from Burda 01-2017, and a striped woven top from Burda 03-2017. I am not sure if I will manage to catch up and make 12 items this year -- it kind of depends on how inspired I feel by the remaining magazine issues this year. As usual, I was less than excited by the summer Burda issues, but August is looking good and (although we have the inevitable dirndlapalooza to wade through in September) the last quarter of the year is often the best with Burda. The A/W issue of Ottobre should arrive in August as well, and I need to actually go through my recent Knipmodes in more detail -- it was just another thing that got pushed to one side while I was ill. I do have a pattern picked out from Burda 06-2017 to make this month, so that's a start.

Wishlist challenge projects so far this year

On the wishlist side of things... honestly, it's not worked out the way I hoped so far. So far, I've ticked off three entries in my list: indulgent silk PJs, two-layer lace knit tank, and brightly patterned maxi skirts. Not that I'm not happy with those things, but this is not the exciting, skill building, one-of-a-kind stuff I was really dreaming about when I put together my wishlist challenge originally. That said, I probably haven't really been up to exciting, skill-building (a.k.a. difficult!) sewing for most of the year so far, but hopefully that should improve as my health continues to improve. I'm not sure if I'll catch up and make 12 things this year, but I've definitely made sure to include wishlist items in my plans for the rest of the year.

Overall, given the circumstances I was working with in the first half of the year, I am pretty happy with where I am on my goals for this year. Now that I am much better I'll hopefully be able to kick quite a lot of things back into gear, both sewing-wise and all sorts of other things. I'm hoping to have a much busier, more interesting and more productive second half of the year now that I feel more or less human most days. In the immediate future though, I need to get cracking on some pattern tracing so I can get started sewing my way through my July queue.