2019 Goals + Magazine Challenge

Welcome to 2019! Look away now if you're at all opposed to the idea of goal-setting at the start of a new year -- I'm obviously not, especially when it comes to sewing.

Without further ado, here are my goals for this year:

1. Stick to my 2019 sewing budget. I've actually done a pretty good job of this most years, so really this goal is here just to remind me to stick to my financial discipline for another year. It's not super onerous because I give myself a generous budget, plus I have a substantial gift card for a sewing shop that was given to me for Christmas still to spend.

2. Use the things I already own & keep new acquisitions in check by:

a. Decreasing my garment stash by 50m. Okay, bear with me a second, because I know I've said I'm going to do this a million times already and yet, no, I have never come near achieving it. However, I have good reason to think it will work this year. Basically, this whole time a big chunk of my stash has sat there unused because it's most suitable for clothes for work, not for the chronic-illness-rarely-leave-the-house lifestyle I've been forced to adopt the last several years. This year is the first year I've truly believed there is a realistic chance that at some point in the next 12 months I'll be back at work and living a much more normal life. This presents a wardrobe problem. Right now, if you asked me to produce my work wardrobe, I'd be able show you a few random items that wouldn't even make a single outfit, and also an entire organized, colour-coordinated professional wardrobe... in flat fabric form. The idea is, therefore, that I will not only rebuild my work wardrobe over the next 12 months, but in the process I'll use up a big chunk of my stash that I've bought specifically for that purpose over the last several years. Well, that's the theory, anyway.

b. Using at least 50% of the fabric I buy this year. Hopefully I won't actually need to buy that much this year, but, fellow fabric-aholics, you all know it's not really about need.

c. Reducing the number of unused envelope and PDF patterns I own. As of 1 January, I have used 22% of my paper patterns, and 22% of my PDF patterns. (I may sell some of my paper patterns, if I don't think I'll use them at all.)

3. Look for ways to make incremental improvements in quality, longevity and fit. There is one big "fit" thing I desperately need to work on, and that's fitting trousers. I have a fairly immediate plan for that, though heaven only knows if it will actually work! In general though, I want to keep finessing fit, figuring out how to make things last longer, and where to buy quality fabrics. That's not a proper goal, as it lacks measurements or whatever, but eh, it's my goal list, I do what I want.

I enjoyed the outcome of last year's magazine challenge so much that I feel I absolutely must do it again this year, so:


The Magazine Challenge: Make 12 patterns from any 2019 magazine issue I buy. Includes Burda, Ottobre, anything else I acquire of a similar nature.

Everything else I want to do is really a "keep going" sort of thing: an intention for the year rather than a measurable goal. I want to keep on working out what my personal style is and how I want to dress; keep tracking what I wear and what I discard and why; keep working on improving my technical skills in sewing; keep enjoying the process of making things; keep participating in the online sewing community as best I can; just keep doing all the things that have made sewing one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling hobbies I have ever had (it's never going the be THE most, as nothing will ever surpass my love of reading!)


I want to put together some images and whatnot of what I want to make in the immediate future, so I'll be back with that in a few days time. In the meantime, I'm off to read everyone else's end of year/start of year posts. :D