2017 In Review: Wardrobe Outcomes (inc. What I Made And How It Lasted)

My second post for this end of the year review is about what I made, how it worked out for me, and how my wardrobe overall has turned out this year. For the purposes of this post, I've put the bit I think most people are interested in (my sewing and various top 3s) at the start, and my long-winded wardrobe analysis at the end where it's most easily skipped by people who dislike that sort of thing.
  
Numbers: Patterns and pattern sources

I sewed 36 garments this year, plus 3 wadders that I discarded without finishing. Including the wadders, I used 29 different patterns, of which 18 were new to me and the remainder were repeats.

My patterns were split between:

Magazines: 15 patterns (8 Burda, 4 Ottobre, 2 Knipmode, 1 Other)
Big 4 Envelopes: 9 patterns (including 4 Burda envelopes)
Indies/PDFs: 4 patterns (including 2 StyleArc)
No pattern: 1 (gathered waist maxi skirt i.e. a giant rectangle with elastic at the top)

This is a very typical pattern source mix for me -- plenty of Burda, a sprinkling of Big 4 and Indies.

Of the three wadders that I discarded unfinished, two were down to poor fabric choice (a Burda knit top pattern that needed a much drapier knit and a Grainline Linden sweater in a fabric so horrible that I don't know why I ever cut into it), and one was due to not liking the shape or style of the pattern on my body (a Burda ponte knit jacket, about which more below).

I also finished two hand-knitted jumpers this year, one of which was flawed and the other a wadder. I do not have what you might call a stunning knitting success rate, and I have to admit my enthusiasm for knitting has waned considerably this year.

Challenges: Magazine and Wishlist Challenges 2017

Wishlist Challenge garments: indulgent silk PJs (Burda 01-2017-124), two layer knit stretch lace top (Diana Moden), border print maxi skirt (no pattern) and refashioning a top made in 2013 with this printed viscose fabric (Burda 05-2015-124)

This year my only specific goals for my actual sewing were that I planned to do two challenges: a Magazine challenge, using one pattern a month from any 2017 magazine issue; and a Wishlist challenge, making one thing each month off my long-established wishlist of things I really wanted to sew, many of which are more challenging/complex.

Magazine Challenge items (Burda 01-2017-119 Draped front knit top, Burda 03-2017-126A striped top, Knipmode 07-2017-11 (Men’s) Tee (as pyjamas) and Knipmode 01-2017-13 purple tunic)

Sadly, the whole challenge idea was kind of a damp squib this year, mainly because I was so ill for so much of the year. Even when I could sew, I often wasn't up for sewing anything challenging, or really even for the effort of doing a lot of pattern tracing from magazines. That said, I did manage to use four patterns from 2017 magazine issues successfully, (plus one wadder); and I made four things that were on my wishlist. As you'll see below, several of the things I chose to make for the Magazine challenges were my favourite things I made all year, so in that sense, I regard that as a success. I don't think the Wishlist Challenge worked overall at all, and I shan't bother to do it again. That said, one thing I do love is my silk/cotton "indulgent" pyjamas, so they were definitely a worthwhile thing to make that I might not have done without the Wishlist Challenge to inspire me.

What I Made

You can see everything I made in 2017 on my Completed Projects: 2017 page. The only things missing are the handful of projects that I am still working on this month or haven't taken photos of yet -- they're in my numbers, just not on my blog yet!

Overall, as has probably been made abundantly clear already, this was a really difficult year for me health-wise and the things I sewed reflect that. In fact, if you look at my sewing chronologically this year, you can pretty much chart how ill I was at any given time. In the short periods where I felt genuinely well, I actually made some interesting, challenging things. The rest of the time I either didn't sew at all, or I made easy knit items, mostly using patterns I've made several times before, and of course my perpetual I-want-to-sew-but-I-feel-grotty standby: pyjamas. I made a LOT of pyjamas this year. My pyjama drawer is over-flowing.

Anyway, some things worth highlighting (or lowlighting, I guess, in some cases):

OVERALL TOP THREE:

Top 3: Burda 6461 Jacket (left), Burda 03-2017-126A (top right), Burda 01-2017-119 (bottom right)

These are the three things that I think are just overall the best things I made this year: best fabrics, best sewing, best pattern choices. There should be no surprises here at all that my number 1, best thing I made this year is the boiled wool jacket I finished this month. Nothing about wearing it over the last couple of weeks has changed my mind about it: I love it, it fits really well and it looks great on. Overall: A+, still patting myself on the back so hard I'm going to sprain my wrist.

My other two favourite projects this year are two tops, both of which I made as part of the Magazine Challenge in January (the draped knit top on the bottom right) and February (striped top on the top right) respectively.  The striped one in particular, made with Burda 03-2017-126A, is a real eye-catcher of a top. I get so many compliments on it when I wear it, and it's really different and interesting without necessarily being trendy, so I think it will have decent longevity. Definitely worth the extreme amount of time it took me to cut it out to get all my stripes perfect! The knit top, Burda 01-2017-119, is less spectacular, but it's got such a great drape to it, and I used really nice fabric, so it's also a big favourite.

FLAWED FAVOURITES

Knipmode 01-2017-13 tunic (left); Tapestry Tote (upper right); Lichen jumper (bottom right)

These three are the things I love, but that definitely have flaws. The Knipmode tunic is a favourite that I've worn a LOT since I made it in November, but the zip insertion/neckline is definitely not my best work. Or even remotely LIKE my best work, if I'm honest. It doesn't really affect how much I wear and love it though. I really like the tapestry/faux suede overnight bag that I made (upper right), but I wish I had done a better job with putting the leather handles on. As for the Lichen jumper, I was originally more than a bit dubious about it, but I came to love it, and again I get a lot of compliments on it. The major flaw is that it's made of a linen blend yarn that grows so badly in wear that it starts off around hip length and ends up a mini dress by the end of the day.

MISSES 

Il Grande Favorito jumper (left); Burda jacket 08-2016-134 (top right); Burda top 05-2015-125 (bottom right)

My three misses have one thing in comment: they all took a lot of time or effort or both and the outcome was subpar. The jumper on the left, knitted with the Il Grande Favorito pattern, is the most obvious example of time/effort not equaling the reward! I finished it in January and by that time it had taken approximately forever to knit it, and it was actually... not great, but it was OK. And then I washed it and it shrank about 4 sizes and was a total disaster, and I didn't even wear it once.

The wadder jacket, Burda 08-2016-134, on the upper right,  I spent a long time sewing it as far as I got, and I am still really proud of how well the cut-on top-stitched collar came out, but it fit very poorly and I hated the shape of it, so I discarded it unfinished. I am very sad for the loss of that fabric still!

And finally, that Burda 05-2015-125 viscose top on the bottom left was something I thought about for a really long time. I ended up wrecking the first attempt at making something with this remnant, and then although I was positive about it in my post on the topic, making this and seeing the result is what really put me off making any more wovens until I could start to address my neckline/shoulder fitting problems. It is the only one of the three that actually made it into my wardrobe and I have worn it a couple of times, but eh, I don't think it's going to get a huge amount of wear.

While I was writing this post I kept going back to my page of the things I made this year and thinking: but these other things were all also really great! But they're really boring! But they're also really great, and I wore them SO MUCH, how can they not be in a top 3? But they're really too boring to be in a top 3! And so on. So, I guess I want to say that even though very little of my other sewing this year was in any way remarkable, it mostly worked out really well! I made things, including all those many many pairs of PJs, and multiple StyleArc Estelle cardigans, and various simple t-shirt-y type things, that I've worn a lot and that I really like enormously. My sewing output overall was really not at all exciting, but I still feel like it was a really successful sewing year.

Wardrobe analysis

Acquisitions

This year, I acquired a lot of clothes (104 garments) and discarded fewer (66 garments in total), so my wardrobe grew overall after a couple of years of decreases in size. That was a big year for me, in terms of new acquisitions -- essentially two new things a week! In previous years I've acquired more like 60-70 items. However, although substantial, this increase was also largely intentional as I deliberately expanded my wardrobe in particular areas. I didn't entirely get this increase right, inasmuch as there were things I bought/made that I ended up wearing less than I expected, but that's fine: none of the extras are things that I don't want to wear, they just didn't get their turn as often as other garments this year.

Of the acquisitions, as I've described, only about one third (36 garments) were hand-made rather than RTW. This explains why, as I said in my previous review post, more of my money went into my RTW clothing/shoes/etc budget than into my sewing budget over the course of the year. The relatively high proportion of RTW isn't entirely what I want for my wardrobe, but:

1. I was sick for long stretches of the year and so some sewing plans got set aside in favour of the ease of buying RTW.

2. I needed to replace/add quite a lot of things in categories of garments that I don't currently make anyway, like jeans and other trousers, certain types of t-shirts/knits, knitwear and active/gym wear.


Living With My Wardrobe

One thing that I don't think comes over at all well in this blog is how hard I've been trying to actually build a wardrobe rather than just making/buying random clothes -- that is, a set of clothes that mix and match and work together easily. This is because (a) you only see the new things I sew, in a rather piece-meal way; (b) you obviously don't see my RTW wardrobe; and (c) I am not the kind of person who "styles" their photos of the things they've made and shows how some new thing I've made goes with one or more existing garment in outfits. So I guess it probably looks like I just make a scattershot mess of things.

I'm going to be doing things a bit differently next year so hopefully that impression will fade. However, in the meantime what I know, because I record it and can check, is that this year I did have a pretty successful mix and match wardrobe! I definitely have favourite ways to wear some garments, but I don't own anything that can only be worn one way, which was a problem I used to have a lot.

Another thing that is totally in the past now is opening my wardrobe and feeling like I hate everything and don't have anything to wear. In fact, I think this actually might be the first time in my life where I've stood in front of my wardrobe in a morning and thought "I want to wear this! Or, no, maybe this? Or this!" and had to choose between many favourites. I had plenty of choice of things that I liked in pretty much every circumstance I encountered in my (admittedly rather circumscribed) life in 2017, which is definitely more than I can say about many previous years. Of course, I could have achieved this without sewing, I am sure, but sewing has been the impetus for all my work on my wardrobe, so I'm grateful for that. I do feel like my ideas about what I want to wear and the wardrobe I want to own is really starting to coalesce, and I'm going to post something early in the New Year that explains what I want to do next on this front.


Discards and 30 Wears

I think that looking at discards as well as what I actually wear is also really revealing about how things are working out in my wardrobe. On a simple examination, a big pleasing change was that of the 66 things I discarded this year, about two thirds (45 of 66) I threw away because I judged them to be worn out -- that is, that they looked worn and in poor condition. This seems like a big improvement on previous years, where I shed a lot of things that I just never wore, that didn't fit, and so on. Nothing tells me my sewing/purchasing/wardrobe planning is working out well for me better than loving my clothes to death.

One concern I have though is how much wear I get from the things I make and buy. That is, it sounds good to say that I've worn my clothes to the point where they aren't wearable, but not so much if that turns out to mean that I wore something 5 times and then it disintegrated in the wash. This ties in neatly something I first read about at the beginning of this year: the 30 Wears Challenge, originally proposed as a kind of shortcut to more sustainable buying practices by Livia Firth. The upshot of the "challenge" is that you should aim to acquire only things that you think you can wear at least 30 times. This has an impact on your choices in terms of both the versatility and longevity/quality of garments: not only should you be asking if yourself "do I really see myself wearing this 30 times?" but also "will this last through 30 wears?". The figure of 30 is of course just an arbitrary number, not an iron-clad rule, but it's an interesting benchmark that I wanted to investigate.

As I've been collecting data on what I wear every day since 2015, I've increasingly got quite a lot of complete information about the garments I own. By this I mean that I actually know exactly how many times I have worn most of my active wardrobe and a good percentage of the things I discarded. There is zero guess work involved.

Of my 66 discards in 2017, therefore, I know that 31 of them in total have been worn 30 or more times each, some of them substantially more. All of those garments were discarded because they were no longer in wearable condition. That seems like a relatively encouraging percentage (47%) of the total to start with.

The next group of 19 discards are those I know for sure were worn more than 10 but less than 30 times each. They are noticeably mostly knits (14 of 19), both RTW and hand-made. Most of them (12 of 19) were discarded because the fabric had deteriorated badly after their 10-29 wears and I judged them no longer wearable. The rest either acquired marks or stains or were damaged in some way that I couldn't fix or didn't think was worth fixing. I tend to think there are always going to be things in my discard pile that for one reason or another get worn a moderate amount but don't reach the 30 wears mark. However, from this alone, it seems like improving the quality of some of the knit garments and fabrics I purchase would be an obvious way to increase the overall longevity of my wardrobe.

The last group of 16 are the most troublesome. They are garments that I wore less than 10 times in total. Most of these (13 of 16) fall into a category probably best described as "never should have been in my wardrobe to start with": RTW clothes I should have returned rather than keeping, "walking wadders" that I knew from the outset I wasn't really going to be willing to wear after I made them for one reason or another. The remaining 3 were all laundry disasters -- one got put in the wrong load of laundry and came out the other end a weird colour, and the other two shrank. Again, it's likely that there are always going to be a few mistakes and laundry disasters, but I think there could be definitely be fewer "never should have been there" outcomes with a bit of effort.

This prompted me to look bit harder at the wear statistics of my active wardrobe, this year's discards and previous years' discards. As a result, I also reached these two more detailed conclusions (I'll spare you the underlying numerical analysis though!):

1. As this year's discards seemed to suggest, the quality of my knit fabric and knit garment purchases is a problem. One conclusion I've reached, quite sadly, is that buying good quality basic t-shirts when I can get them at sale prices is a better use of my money than sewing my own. This is really quite frustrating: the cost to me is about the same but the RTW t-shirts last a great deal longer and definitely look better over their lifetime. I've managed to find some RTW tees that are about 90% as well-fitting as the t-shirts I sew myself, and so long as the length isn't the 10% mis-fit (I hate too-short t-shirts!) I can live with that level of difference. However, although I am willing to concede on the basic tee side of things, since they're unexciting to sew anyway, I really do want to make other kinds of knit tops. I therefore either need to source better quality knit fabrics or else learn to live with short lifespans in my knit garments. Something to investigate further in 2018, I think!

Alas, this woven top from 2016 did not last. It looks pretty good in these photos, but the collar shredded in the wash.

2. Woven tops are a real problem, longevity wise. This wasn't too obvious in a single year of discards, but when I looked across the last several years, it really stands out. I am very intolerant of fit problems with woven tops, so they form a disproportionately large number of those "walking wadder/never should have made it into my wardrobe" outcomes. I also have more laundry problems with woven tops, which is actually easier to solve if annoying: basically, if I want my woven tops to have decent longevity, I need to stop tumble-drying them. Too many of the things I've both bought and made have shrunk in the dryer and become unwearable (even though, yes, I do pre-shrink all my fabric. Apparently just not enough!). Of woven tops that make it into the 10-29 wears group, I have more failures due to poor construction than in any other category, like the black and white viscose top in the photo above, which suddenly shredded all along the top collar seam during the 12th wash. Fabric choice is also again potentially problematic. Some of the viscose prints I've used, including that same black shirt, lost the surface texture and colour very quickly and looked in poor condition as a result after relatively few washes. It's again a case of find better fabric or live with short life spans.

My two hardest wearing/longest lasting hand-made woven tops: a chambray top I made in 2014 and a 100% cotton gingham shirt I made in 2015, both of which are still in my wardrobe

Very few of the woven tops I've either made or bought in the last few years have achieved anything like 30 wears. There are a few exceptions, including the chambray shirt that I made back in 2014 (above left), which I have worn 40+ times so far and which is still in my wardrobe. There are definitely common features between all the higher wear woven tops in my wardrobe: they are all made in high quality cotton fabric; I took extra care to get a good fit; and for those I made myself I spent extra time making sure they were sewn well with good seam finishes. So, that's a pretty clear set of guidance for how to improve that part of my wardrobe, especially when I have so many woven tops in my wish list for 2018.

In conclusion: these kind of arbitrary wardrobe rules (30 Wears, Project 333, whatever) are always a bit suspect to me. However, I do think there's some validity to the 30 Wears idea. Of course, I'm not going to stop wearing something because it's hit 30 wears if it still has plenty of life in it -- and for sure I expect some things, like coats or hard-wearing garments like jeans, to last considerably more than 30 wears. On the other hand, I'm also not going to keep wearing things that are falling apart or that are uncomfortable for some reason because I've not managed to wear it 30 times yet. However, I think it's a nice benchmark to look at and I feel like examining my discards against it actually gave me quite a lot of information and ideas about where I could improve my sewing and wardrobe plans in the future.
 
My next post in this series, which I will publish on 1 January, is about my plans for 2018, and I'm going to try to fold a lot of the things I've talked about here, and that I've learned from my discard pile, into how I plan to approach what I sew next year and how I sew it.

The perils of an ill-timed sneeze and other stories

A few things to share from this month so far:

First, a Wishlist Challenge entry! Back in April 2013, I made a top with a printed viscose fabric that I loved. It was a simple New Look woven tee pattern with a dolman sleeve and a scooped neckline. I decided to french seam it but, as this was right back near the start of my garment sewing adventures, did so sufficiently ineptly that sections of the seams shredded after about the third wash.

The original top that I made in 2013

This would not have been a total disaster, except past!me decided that the thing to do would be to disassemble the top by violently unpicking the side seams so that they ended up badly shredded but then cutting through the bias binding at the neckline, etc. rather than unpicking it. Er. What? Why?! At any rate, I squirreled the remnants away in the hope that I would find a way to make use of it at some point in the future, and put "find a way to use that pink floral viscose!" on my Wishlist.

Plan A: something like this Burda pattern (06-2017-123A)

I was inspired to get on with this item on the list by one of the Plus patterns in the 06/2017 issue of Burda. I couldn't actually cut the pattern out of the fabric that I had, but I decided I could definitely make something similar with the pieces I had plus some plain ivory viscose. This had the advantage also of allowing me to cut off the raggedy remains of the previous seams. So, that was Plan A, with a mental note to possibly come back to this pattern and make it up properly in the future.

Alas, Plan A was not successful, for the most ridiculous of reasons. I was nearly finished, and it actually looked great, but then disaster struck. As I was overlocking a shoulder seam, I suddenly sneezed violently and I guess in the process pressed hard on the foot pedal of my overlocker. The whole overlocking situation suddenly got out of hand and I ended up cutting a MASSIVE hole in the fabric near the shoulder. Let this be a lesson to all of us: if about to sneeze, remove your foot from the foot pedal!

Plan B: Burda 05-2015-124

After sneezing some more and then nearly committing violence because after all that work I couldn't believe I'd done something so comically stupid (because no, seriously, who creates wadders by SNEEZING?) I moved fairly swiftly on to Plan B. Plan B involved a pattern I'd previously earmarked as a possibility for this project, Burda 05-2015-124. This is a regular sized pattern, and I made my usual size 44.

This is one of those patterns that it would be really easily to just completely ignore in Burda. The styling of the modelled version is really not to my taste, and the line drawing kind of looks like nothing -- a box with sleeves. But, as is often the case with Burda, it has some great little details. The seamline at the bust creates a nicely shaped dart. The hemline shape is also really pretty. In a drapey viscose fabric, it doesn't look nearly as boxy on as the line drawing.

Burda 05-2015-124 made with remnants of the pink top + contrast ivory

Sorry the photo is so dark! As you can probably JUST ABOUT see, I had to retain the stripe in the lower body section down the side seam from the Plan A version of this top, which is not part of this pattern. I don't think it's too intrusive, but I really had no choice. I also managed to squeeze out enough bias tape to do a contrast binding at the neckline. The only thing I don't really like about the finished top is the neckline. I just omitted the keyhole neckline because I dislike them, but I thought the width of the neckline would fit easily over my head anyway. However, I forgot that I find Burda necklines are often too wide and/or too low, and this neckline is just a LITTLE too wide. If I cut this again, I will have to alter that.

Despite sneezing fits, this was eventually a success, and I am really pleased to have this fabric somehow back in my wardrobe!

Burda 06-2017-126 (images from Burdastyle)

Next, I was idly flipping through my copy of Burda 06/2017 I'd left out from when I was formulating Plan A, and decided to move right on to a Magazine Challenge and make up 06-2017-126. I know, it's yet another wacky top from Burda, but look how adorable the model looks in her top! And I rather like the weird little back drape! 

My sad attempt at Burda 06-2017-126

 However, did mine turn out that cute? No. No it did not. I had every possible problem with it. The fabric fought me every step of the way and point blank refused to go through my overlocker (why, I don't know, I tried for a solid HOUR to get it to work, but the thread snapped after 2-3 stitches no matter what settings I tried). I moved to my regular sewing machine and a stretch stitch, which was better, but then I discovered, 75% of the way through construction, that I had attached the upper and lower back pieces incorrectly, and much unpicking, recutting and redoing followed. Then I screwed up the neckband had to unpick it. I was just thinking about how to rescue the neckband when little seeds of doubt about that back drape feature and the knit fabric I had used made me decide to try the top on, neckband problems and all and... no. A WORLD OF NO, in fact. It didn't drape nicely as in the image, it just sort of sat there and looked like a misplaced lump of fabric in my centre back. Ugh. Sad to say, this went straight in the recycling bin.

To be fair to Burda, most of these were problems of my own making, but if you happened to want to make this top, I STRONGLY recommend a VERY slinky, drapey knit. Mine seemed drapey enough when I picked it out for this pattern, but it really wasn't. Also, this is again what I would call a typical Burda neckline, which is to say: very deep and very wide. If I had finished it, I would have had to wear something under it.

Summer PJs

In desperate need of a unicorn chaser, the next time I went into my sewing room I decided to make something VERY EASY. Thus: summer PJs. The bottoms are my TNT Ottobre sleep shorts (Ottobre 05-2011-02), and the top is a men's tee pattern, Knipmode 07-2017-22. I like my sleep tees large and baggy, and women's patterns are always too fitted for me to be comfortable in to sleep. I tried a simple pattern off the internet previously without much success, but since I had this Knipmode pattern available I decided to use it. I really like it and will use it again, although I need to bring the neckline in a little (again!) It's a very dull entry in my Magazine Challenge for this month, but hey, it's a pattern from this year's magazines! Good enough for me!


The last piece of July's news is that, after a couple of little windfalls, I decided to go mad and replace my overlocker. My old one was second-hand from eBay. I bought it in 2012 for £50, and I've used it a LOT, so it didn't really owe me anything. Recently, I've been getting a bit frustrated with it for various reasons. I was idly looking to see what there was in my price range on my preferred vendor site for sewing machines, spotted a discounted ex-display model and, well, you can guess the rest of the story!

New overlocker!! And my first project with it, a StyleArc Estelle cardigan in a reversible black/grey knit

Once I learned how to thread the machine and practiced a bit to get a feel for it, I wanted to actually make something. I have next to nothing left in my summer sewing queue and no knits at all, so I dragged this unseasonal project forward from my autumn sewing queue: yet another StyleArc Estelle cardigan, this time in a two-sided knit, dark grey on one side and black on the other. Having made four of these previously, I could really focus on getting to know the overlocker while I sewed. It came out really well, and was definitely a good pattern to pick to practice with the new machine, because it has a bit of everything -- long straight seams, curves, a couple of little fiddly bits. I probably won't wear it until autumn, but it won't come to any harm hanging in my wardrobe for few weeks extra.

Overall, I am SO PLEASED that I upgraded my overlocker. The stitch quality is MUCH better, it's a LOT quieter and it's easier to use than my old machine. It isn't particularly easier or faster to thread, but there's nothing particularly complicated in the threading either. It's a little different than my old one, but not so much that it wasn't fairly obvious what I had to do. I did have a couple of false starts with the threading, but honestly, if you can thread a new-to-you overlocker right the first time then I am just going to start shouting WITCHCRAFT! WITCHCRAFT! at you anyway.

And.. that brings me up to date! :D This week I am working on bags, and cutting out a pattern for my August Wishlist item because I want to put some serious thought into pattern placement on my fabric. That wishlist entry and finishing up a jacket are all I have left in my summer queue, which is timely since I plan to start sewing for autumn in mid-August. More about all of that in due course!

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.

2017 Challenges: February

Time to reveal my February challenge garments! (See also: what my 2017 challenges are about and January's items)

Magazine Challenge: Striped top (Burda 03-2017-126A)

I feel like if you are going to pay for an annual subscription to Burda, you kind of owe it to yourself to make up some of the magazine's weirder and more baffling patterns every so often. Plus, the whole point of my Magazine Challenge was always to make garments that are at the more unique and interesting end of the pattern spectrum. Those are my excuses, anyway, for the fact that this month my Magazine Challenge garment is this wacky top pattern from the Plus section of Burda 03-2017:

Burda 03-2017-126A (Plus) top, images from Burdastyle.ru

The description in Burda is kind of hilarious. "A chic combination of the stripes results in a relaxed shirt with a waistcoat effect" it says. Um. What? I mean, first of all, does it really look like a waistcoat? I can't say that even vaguely came to my mind when I saw it. And then second, is a "waistcoat effect" even something anyone wants to achieve? I feel like if I wanted to look like I was wearing one I'd, you know, wear a waistcoat. Baffling. As usual, it's probably best to ignore Burda's commentary altogether.

Burda 03-2017-126A: My version, on Flossie, front view

As for the rest of the world's commentary, well, every opinion I've seen on the internet has recoiled in horror from this pattern/fabric combination, but I don't even remotely care that everyone else seems to hate it. As soon as I saw this pattern in the previews I knew I wanted to make it at some point this year. I hadn't really thought to make it during February as it's not really useful in the current season, nor even really in the spring. However, when it came down to it I was way more enthusiastic about making this than anything else this month so I plunged ahead despite the fact I won't get to wear it for a while. It won't come to harm hanging in my wardrobe until the weather warms up.

Despite my allegedly cast-iron resolve (actually more the consistency of jello) not to buy fabric for these challenges but to use things I already have, I had to buy something to make up this pattern. I desperately wanted to make the striped version (126A -- 126B is a plain single colour version) and didn't have anything suitable at all. In the end I picked up a one-off remnant piece of viscose morocain crepe on eBay. I knew the variable width stripe would make the pattern more complicated to cut, but I thought it would also be more interesting overall as well, which proved correct, in my opinion. The fabric itself is pleasantly floaty and should be cool to wear in the summer.

Burda 03-2017-126A: My version, on Flossie, back view

I made a size 44, as per usual in Burda tops -- this is a Plus pattern, so the 44 is the smallest size -- and made absolutely no modifications whatsoever. I usually do at least a small square shoulder adjustment with Burda but the shoulder line on this is super straight to start with, so there was no need.

Sewing wise, this pattern is rated easy and has only 4 large pattern pieces and a piece of bias binding. It definitely lived up to the easy billing, even though I did a little extra work because I decided to French seam throughout. In fact, by far the most time consuming part of making this top was laying out the pattern to put the stripes in the right places, especially since the pattern calls for the pieces positioned both on the grain and the cross-grain. And then just to complicate matters when I was pressing my fabric I discovered a small but awkwardly placed flaw that I had to work around!

Burda 03-2017-126A: My version, on Flossie, side view, showing my extremely non-matching shoulder seams

My main stripe matching failure is at the shoulder seam -- the front and back don't match at all. Honestly, though, I didn't even try. I was much more concerned to get the right and left sides to match and to fit everything on my, just barely adequately sized, piece of fabric. I had nothing bigger than a handkerchief -- in fact, nothing as big as a handkerchief! - left of my fabric at the end and even had to piece my bias binding, so I'm not even going to spare a thought for those non-matching shoulder seams.

Burda 03-2017-126A: My version, as modelled by me

The problem with the bizarre end of Burda's patterns is that I can't always tell how they're going to look on me because it's not like I own something similar. I am always a bit nervous when I hit the first moment when I can try it on. However, I actually really like how this looks on! :D I think it's quite striking and unusual even though when I stood still for the photos it doesn't seem to do much for my wide-shouldered body type. In motion/not standing stiffly the hem flares and floats a lot more and it looks more balanced.This summer I'll most likely wear it with navy or white linen trousers or shorts.

In conclusion: A+ Magazine Challenge item, patting myself on the back hourly for having decided to make it.

Wishlist Challenge: Stretch Lace Tank Top

Whereas some of my wishlist items are individual garments, I have a few things on my list that are like "figure out the perfect TNT [garment]". This is one of them -- I want to be able to produce pretty knit and woven tank/camisole tops with embellishment/lace/layering as needed. This particular version of that wishlist item is a stretch lace two layer top. The challenging aspect of what is otherwise a very basic garment was that I wanted to have a go at doing a lined (rather than bound) finish at the neckline and armholes.

February Wishlist 2017: Two-layer tank top in navy stretch lace and navy lycra

The pattern I used for this version is a very basic one that I first used around this time last year to make some simple lingerie type tank tops. It's from my one and only copy of the German magazine Diane Moden, the Spring 2008 issue. Of course, with my massive collection of magazines etc I had any number of similar basic patterns available. However, I quite liked the shape of the neckline on this one and I already had it traced, so I figured why re-invent the wheel.

Re-making the pattern with a piece of blue figured knit

I actually started by re-making the pattern, albeit with a modified scoop neckline, in a small piece of pale blue polyester knit that was lurking in my scrap basket. This served several purposes -- I wanted to check out whether a problem with the fit at the back neck I'd noticed with my previous versions was due to the pattern or my previous execution of the binding (it was the latter), I needed to replace a blue tank top in my wardrobe anyway, I was keen to use up this piece of scrap fabric that had been hanging about a while now, and I really wanted to sew something easy and very likely to be successful that particular day. This little top successfully ticked all boxes!

The original pattern, as you can see from this pale blue version, is bound in the usual way at the neckline and armholes. For a little help on the finishing of the navy version, I used a combination of the instructions for a similar Ottobre pattern, 02-2014-09, a V-neck sleeveless top with a partial lining, and this Sew, Mama, Sew blog post where the lining extends to the hem but the armholes are just turned and stitched rather than attached to the lining.

Lace layer clipped up to show the navy lycra layer below

Using this advice I got all the way through attaching the lace and lining together at the neckline and one armhole and then... I don't know what happened, my brain shorted out and I sewed the second armhole wrong not once but TWICE. If there is anything more exasperating that unpicking overlocker stitches in dark coloured thread from stretch lace, I haven't found it yet, unless it's doing it twice! Eventually I got my brain in order though and managed to finish off the second armhole. The lining hangs loose below the armhole and I hemmed the two layers separately, the lace layer slightly longer than the lycra layer.

Overall, I am quite pleased with this particular top as an individual garment, and also more or less pleased with it as an experiment in doing a two layer top of this type. Perhaps inevitably, since this is the first time I've done this kind of neckline/armhole finish, it didn't come out 100% perfect (or even 90%, if I'm being realistic) and I didn't do the fabric any favours unpicking that armhole twice, but it's OK and definitely wearable, especially as a lower layer. However, I'm not sure this pattern/finishing technique is going to be the TNT combination I was looking for. I want to try out some more ideas on the camisole front -- in particular I want to try out some woven patterns that include lace and are cut on the bias -- so I might return to this wishlist item later in the year.

2017 Challenges: January

Just under the wire, here are the garments I made in January for my two little 2017 challenges.

1. Magazine Challenge: Burda 01-2017-119 Draped front knit top

This month I had the least choice that I'll have all year for this challenge, since I only had my January Burda and Knipmode magazines to choose between. As it turned out, I was spoiled for choice as I liked several of the patterns in each issue. Eventually I settled on Burda 01-2017-119, a knit top with a deep cowl neck. There must have been something similar released somewhere by a designer because oddly enough Knipmode had a nearly identical top in their January 2017 issue. I went with the Burda top because I didn't like the waist on the Knipmode version and also because I preferred the neckline/shoulder on the Burda top.

Burda 01-2017-119 -- Draped front knit top (images from Burda magazine)

As you can see, the pattern includes a little camisole top to go underneath the main top, which I must tell you is 100% essential as the drape is VERY low. However, I didn't have enough fabric to make the camisole, plus I already own about 6 camisoles that I could wear with it, so I didn't bother with it. The camisole with my finished garment is just a plain RTW one I have owned for a while.

My finished top, on Flossie

I really liked the idea of the draped neckline coming from those shoulder yokes, and in theory I still do. In practice, ugh, this was so fiddly to actually do, with a lot of sewing to which my very drapey, very slippery poly/viscose knit was not well suited. It turned out OK in the end, but it's not the best sewing I've ever done and I had to do all kinds of little hand-sewn bits to keep the whole thing neat. Definitely not a knit top pattern for the novice with knits -- it's quite hard to make it look nice.

Other than the neckline, however, this was a straightforward sew. I made my usual straight size 44, and found it to be true to size. My fabric was a slightly weird width (about 140cm) and I got the top out of 1.8m with not quite enough left over for the camisole (though I didn't try very hard -- maybe I could have if I had juggled the pattern around a bit more).

In conclusion: Remember when I said that when I was stress buying fabric I ended up (a) buying some near duplicates and (b) buying a lot of blue and navy? This fabric is the perfect example of this problem. I already have a blobby blue dot top in my wardrobe! Still, I really like the colour and there is no doubt that the style with the deep drape is a bit different from the many plain knit tops in my wardrobe, so I am quite pleased with this as challenge garment and as an addition to my wardrobe.

February's pattern for this challenge might be a bit of a problem. I could use another January pattern, of course, and I may have to because I am not wildly excited about either Burda OR Knipmode for February. Burda 02-2017 in particular seems to be full of sundresses, which, no, it's February and I live in Manchester. Not going to happen. I might see what Ottobre 02-2017, which if Ottobre run true to form should be arriving in the next couple of weeks, has to offer.

2. Wishlist Challenge: Indulgent Purple PJs (Burda 01-2017-124)

Having described my Wishlist challenge in rather grandiose terms, my first actual Wishlist project is rather tame. The entry on my list was  for "indulgent PJs", a nostalgic recreation of a garment long since discarded. Many years ago I owned a pair of stupidly expensive wide-legged silk PJ trousers that I loved and washed/wore until they were literally threadbare along the entire inner thigh seam. I have been planning to recreate those PJs for ages, but never got around to it until now.

What makes my new PJs indulgent is mainly the fabric, and this is an extra win for me in that one of my other goals in 2017 is to use some of my older fabrics that I've been hoarding because they are "too good to use". I made these PJs from one of the oldest garment fabrics I own. It's a medium-weight, very drapey silk/cotton blend shirting (with a high silk percentage, I think 60%) in a shade of purple, and I bought 3m of it in April 2012. The photos below make it look quite shiny but that's quite misleading -- it has a very subtle sheen/changeant effect from the way it's woven but it's very soft to the touch and not slippery like silk satin at all.

The fabric was moderately, though not outrageously, expensive, and for years I have been pulling it out of my stash, petting it, and then putting it away again until I found the "perfect" pattern for it. I suppose I could have sprung for a piece of pure silk, but this fabric has such a wonderful texture and drape that once I thought of using it for this wishlist item, I couldn't resist the idea.

Burda 01-2017-124 (Plus) PJs

Pattern-wise, I wanted to make something with at least a tiny bit of trim and more swish than my standard Butterick 5704, which are plain, quite straight and, compared to this pattern, rather narrower. I had actually picked out an older Burda magazine pattern but when my January 2017 issue arrived I noticed there were a couple of PJ patterns to choose from in that issue. Since I already had the pattern sheet out to trace my January 2017 magazine challenge pattern I decided to just use one of those. Of the two patterns available in this issue, I picked the Plus pattern (01-2017-124) because I preferred the waistband. It is a simple, wide-legged, elasticated waist trouser with a piped cuff detail. I haven't put in any piping on anything for years, so this was also a teeny tiny piece of skill practice. I bought white satin piping rather than make my own as I only needed a small amount.

Purple cotton/silk PJs with white satin piping

I am always a bit fussy/over-the-top in my PJ sewing because I find that's the way to ensure they survive very frequent laundering. This pair was no different in that respect -- I french seamed every seam and I've got my preferred waistband treatment down to an art at this point.

White satin piping at the cuffs

As I had a good 3m of fabric, I did consider going the distance and making a matching top but I couldn't quite squeeze the pattern I wanted on to the fabric despite really playing pattern tetris for a while. The fabric was again relatively narrow -- about 135cm -- and so although the PJ trousers fit on fine there wasn't really room for the full width of a top. In the end, to get the most use of the fabric, I doubled up on the pyjama opportunities by also cutting out my TNT PJ shorts pattern as well (Ottobre 05-2011-02).

Ottobre 05-2011-02 "Sweet Dreams" PJ shorts

In conclusion: I said in my last post on the subject that my goal with my Wishlist Challenge was to make "star" garments. Well, maybe nobody will see or appreciate them but me but these are most definitely the new stars of my pyjama drawer! :D

My 2017 challenge rationale

When I posted my goals for 2017, one of the things I said was that I was setting myself the challenge of making twelve things off my Wishlist this year, as well as twelve things from my various magazines for my 2017 Magazine Challenge. I know a lot of people do the Magazine Challenge thing, or some variation thereof, just as a way to make sure they actually use their magazines. I have to admit that, rightly or wrongly, whether I use my magazines immediately is not really a major concern to me, and therefore I wanted to write about why I picked these challenges for myself.

To briefly explain what the Wishlist even is: this is a literal list of dream projects that I've been keeping for a few years. I started it when I bought my very first issue of Burda, 06-2012, because I saw this jacket and instantly wanted one exactly like it:

Burda 06-2012-121 a.k.a the reason I started buying Burda magazines & started a wishlist

Unfortunately for me, when I bought that first issue of Burda I'd been sewing garments for about a month and was barely competent enough to make pyjamas. A four-dot Burda fitted jacket? There was not even a single chance I'd be able to make it successfully any time soon. However, never being anything but ambitious, I decided that it could go on a brand new list of 'things I would make one day when my skillset had developed some'.

Since then that list has gotten longer and longer. That jacket is still on it. I keep an actual text list of the patterns I am most drawn to in my magazines (because it's very easy to lose track of them if you have a big enough magazine stash) but I also have numerous Pinterest boards full of images I've pinned of RTW garments, things made by other people, even vintage and museum pieces that have something about them that catches my eye. I've also got a few things on my list -- and my January Wishlist entry is one of them -- that harken back to garments I once owned and loved and would like to own again, in some form.

The critical thing with the Wishlist though, is that pretty much everything on it is eye-catching -- distinctive, interesting, the sort of thing you ever only own one of -- and that's what I'll be trying to focus on when I pick my projects this year. It's also what I'll be trying to pick from my magazines for my magazine challenge. This is entirely due to how I assessed my wardrobe at the end of 2016. Although I think I've got to grips very successfully with right-sizing my wardrobe over the last couple of years, and with my colour choices for my wardrobe (about which latter more in a forthcoming post), I feel that my wardrobe overall has got a case of the blahs at the moment. I've been thinking since about November about how I could get rid of the blahs, while also working on my sewing skills, and continuing to put together a wardrobe in a somewhat co-ordinated and size constrained way.

What I've concluded is that I've been concentrating hard on having the right wardrobe staples and being able to make many of them for myself, at the expense of making the kind of one-off, unique garments that would actually make my wardrobe interesting. I have a horror of wardrobe orphans and/or making things that I never wear, but I think I've swung too far in the other direction and have been making things that yes, do all fit together nicely for the most part, but actually also don't really add up to a very interesting wardrobe. It's noticeable to me that when I did make things that were more interesting/different, they tended to rocket to the top of my "best things I've made" list and stay there. I also think a lot of my sewing choices have not been very stretching from a technical perspective. Since I've also been sick and not really able do everything I wanted the last couple of years I'm not too concerned with this latter, but I'm determined to try to forge on and learn new things if I can this year.

I guess that is what to expect then from my challenge patterns: more technically challenging, hopefully somewhat more interesting from a design perspective at times, sometimes more "inspired by..." things that I've seen and loved, or owned previously. I'll be trying to pick patterns, styles, fabrics and colours that fit in with my actual life and existing wardrobe, but that also have some kind of star quality to them -- the sorts of garments that really make an outfit, I guess, rather than just blending in to the background. With any luck, that Burda 06-2012 jacket will be one of them! But I've also got all kinds of ideas just waiting to be put into action. Sadly, though, January's entry though is rather tame, for reasons I'll explain when I post about it.

Goals for 2017

Welcome to 2017! :D

I know that a lot of people hate New Year's resolutions and honestly, I totally get that. Who wants to take up running or give up long-held habits or go on a strict diet of lettuce leaves and cottage cheese in January, when the (northern hemisphere) weather is horrid and everyone is grumpy anyway? Ugh! And then often you end up having to listen to other people's horrible New Year resolution plans. Is there anything worse than the kind of griping, miserable smoking cessation/crash dieting talk that happens in workplaces in January? Even more ugh!

That said, as you've probably realized if you've been reading this blog for more than about a minute, I'm really into making plans and setting myself goals. Despite my sympathy for anti-NY-resolutioners there's something about the blank slate of the first of the year that I can never resist. Fortunately, there are no lettuce-leaf-and-cottage-cheese resolutions here!
First, a couple of targets to keep me on the straight and narrow with my spending and stash:

1. Money: (a) Stick to my 2017 budget. Last year, as I've described, I went over budget by quite a bit, which was disappointing. This year I've given myself the same absolute value to play with, which hopefully I can stay within. I'm going to try to be really careful about not buying fabric to soothe myself when I feel stressed as that was really the root of my overrun in 2016. I'd like also to (b) keep my envelope/PDF pattern spending at the same level as it was in 2016. I feel like the limited budget for patterns I gave myself really made me think about how I spent it, which was all to the good.

2.  Fabric Stash: For the last few years I've picked an arbitrary, much-smaller-than-my-actual-stash-size number as my ideal stash size, with the plan in mind that one day I'd reduce my stash to some glorious, minimalist level. Then every year I've totally failed to get anywhere near that number. Clearly that's a complete waste of energy, plus it just makes me cross with myself for totally manufactured reasons. Moreover, I am not even sure any more why I became convinced that having a minimal stash was intrinsically better, other than that I moved house twice in 12 months in 2013/2014 and got really fed up of carrying the boxes around. I'm sure there are people who love their minimalist stash and have excellent reasons for having one, but at this point I don't think it's for me. So this is my official notice: I'm giving up that whole idea. At the same time, though, I am starting the year with 217.8m of garment fabric and I do think that's a bit too much. I spent most of last year at or around 200m and I was pretty comfortable with owning that much. So, my main stash goal for 2017 is a simple one: (a) reduce my stash to under 200m and then stay at or under 200m for the rest of the year. 

I'm also going to try to buy-to-use more than buy-to-stash (even though I also failed at this last year). This is really about making sure I'm mainly buying fabric I can actually use right now, for the life I really have, and not being tempted into buying e.g. velvet and chiffon. My goal is therefore to (b) use two thirds of what I buy in 2017 during 2017.

Finally, I am not a dragon, or a magpie. I do not need a hoard, nor do I need to collect shiny things for the sake of it. Therefore, my last goal is to (c) use some of my older "favourite" fabrics and try not get so hung up on whether my sewing is good enough to do them justice. I have some great fabrics that I love -- surely though it would be even better if I turned that fabric into garments, no matter how imperfect, that I could actually wear rather than just folded fabric I pet every so often.

My other plans for 2017 include two little challenges I'm setting myself. I was really pleased with my 2016 wardrobe but I think that if it had a shortcoming it was that it shaded towards the bland. I feel like the last couple of years I've spent a lot of time working out how to sew some of my wardrobe essentials, but it's not left much time for projects that are more about personal style, wardrobe accent pieces or things that capture current trends that I like. So, these challenges are both intended to give me room to experiment a bit more in that direction:

3. 2017 Magazine Challenge. In my review of 2016 I said that I'm pretty relaxed about the fact that I have a lot of magazines in my collection that I haven't used, and that is still true. However, I thought it might be fun to try to use the magazines that arrive during 2017 more actively. I often really like, for example, some of Burda's more complicated, trendier or wackier patterns, but it's easy to just think "I'd like to make that one day!" and then forget about it. Not this year! From a pure mechanics perspective, I'm going to go for a very casual version of this challenge, aiming to make one thing each month from any 2017 issue of any of my magazine subscriptions (Burda/Knipmode/Ottobre). I'm not going to lock myself to the using the specific issue of the month because both Burda and Knipmode sometimes gallop ahead of the season (see: the February Burda previews, which seems to be full of sundresses!). My guideline for myself is that I want try to pick the kind of patterns that are quite different from my wardrobe staples, and/or that involve me trying out a new skill or technique.

4. 2017 Wishlist Challenge. For the last few years I've been rather casually maintaining a list I titled my Sewing Wishlist, where I've tried to keep track of ideas that I've had for things I really want to make "some day". A lot of this list is made up of patterns, RTW garments, and ideas from my occasional Pinterest pinning sprees that are, I think, quite interesting and different from my wardrobe staples. While I've been concentrating on building up my wardrobe to its current state the wishlist ideas have, with one or two exceptions, for the most part stayed just that: ideas. This challenge is about making 2017 "some day" for at least some of those ideas. I am therefore going to try to make at least 12 things off my wishlist in 2017.

On top of these grand schemes, I've re-organized my usual sewing queue for the start of a new year. I've quite a list of necessaries slated to sew in the early spring, as well as one or two wardrobe holes that I already know I'll need to plug later in the year (I'll be making shorts for sure this summer, for example). However, in this current mid-to-late winter period there are only a couple of little things I need to make to maintain my wardrobe. I've therefore got my January/February queue stacked with all kinds of non-garment things. I'm still infatuated with cross-stitch and I bought a (terrifying!) new kit to start soon. I've got a whole list of bags I want to make that I've been putting off for ages that I want to get started on. I've also several knitting projects on the go that I want to finish, including my Il Grande Favorito jumper. I tried hard to finish that by the end of 2016 but I was stymied by a last minute series of disasters (had to rip back the second sleeve, broke my circular needle and had to order a new one, etc etc). Plus, of course, I'll also be making my magazine pattern and wishlist challenge projects as soon as I decide on them.

As usual for this time of year then I have big big plans! :D How successful I am will depend in large part on how everything else in my life is going, and on this subject I have major news. I am going to start a trial of a new medication in February that may (or may not) improve my health situation very significantly, albeit probably quite slowly, over the course of 2017. If it works -- and it's a big if, unfortunately -- it could mean I will be able to pick up many of the threads of what I considered my normal life that I had to let fall 3.5 years ago when I first became ill. I'm starting this year crossing every digit and appendage that I have, hoping that in a year's time I'm writing about sewing for a very different life than I am now!