It's the end of the year as we know it: Top 5 misses and hits

So, I have a serious backlog of blog posts to catch up on, but I thought I'd jump onto Gillian's end-of-the-year reflection bandwagon while it was still the end of the year. I had a secret goal this year to not buy any item of clothing or jewellery if I could reasonably make it, and I was successful^*. Before this year, I only made things every now and then. This year? Different story. Quick summary: not including gifts, I sewed 17.5 items, crocheted 9, made 10 pieces of jewellery, and refashioned 8 things. I'm fairly sure that that's a lot more than my previous output combined. I'm including jewellery, crocheting, and refashioning in these lists, because otherwise I'd be stretching to find 5 items I'd give top marks to. What can I say? My reputation for being a hard marker is not undeserved.

Starting with the... I hesitate to call them misses. Let's call them learning opportunities. When I was thinking of which items to blog about, I realized that, while I do have several problem-child items, some of them are less absolute misses and more casualties of the way I approach projects. So I'm going to copy Ginger Makes a bit; my last two misses learning opportunities are general trends. And learning opportunities are useless if you don't actually learn from them, so I'm including some plans to turn them into yeses instead of nopes. Here we go.

Sorbetto tanks (unhacked versions)

I have worn these a couple of times each, but the bust darts and armscyes on the black Sorbetto are really high and the length is a bit too short. I fixed that problem on the white Sorbetto, but it is made of a bit-too-sheer cotton voile and I'm not thrilled with the way the binding turned out, so I don't like to wear it in public. I might try to fix the darts on the black one, but I suspect that I won't.

Eva earrings

So... I've worn these several times, but because I didn't have a WigJig at the time I had to freehand the loops and I think they look handmade. And not in a good way. Plus, they are purple, which limits what outfits I can wear them with. I now possess a WigJig-like jig and will try to fix them up.

Sunny scarf in tangerine

I came to the end of the skein with only half a side of crocheted fringe unfinished. I didn't want to start a new skein just to finish it, so I left it. It looks ridiculous. What I should do is rip out the fringe and redo it with shorter chains. Will I? Well, that leads into my first problem trend...

Problem: Leaving items unfinished.

Some of the time this is due to running into fitting issues that stymie me, more of the time it's due to rushing (see the next point), but most of the time it's due to getting distracted by something shiny and sheer laziness. Whatever the reason, I have far too many items in various states of unfinishedness. Thurlows? Unfinished due to unwillingness to unpick seams. Biking flares on the white eyelet dress? Half-done due to dislike of hand-sewing. Spring Steppes sweater? In pieces due to disenchantment. And let's not mention poor Steg.

Even items that I wear are technically unfinished. Sylvia sweater? Missing the ribbon on the button-hole side. Saturn sweater? Missing both ribbons and buttons. Countless items have tiny details yet to be completed: facings and linings need to be tacked, hems need to be resewn, hooks and buttons need to go on. It's stupid.

Plan: Finish at least one UFO per month: Eyelet sheath flares, Sylvia sweater (Jan.), blue swing dress, Saturn sweater (Feb.), Spring steppes sweater (March), grey linen Thurlows, Spring Waves scarf (April), Sunny scarf in tangerine (May), Thurlow shorts (June). There are more, I am sure, but that's enough of a plan for now.

Problem: Rushing makes.

Hi, my name is PhysicsGirl, and I am a world-class procrastinator. When I was doing my self-imposed 9-in-6 challenge, I learned that arbitrary deadlines would go whooshing past and what I needed was an event. The problem is that I consistently underestimate the amount of time I need to make stuff and often find myself sewing through the night and trying to finish things at the last minute, which frankly leads to crappy results. Case in point: the blue polkadot V8728 above. It needs serious tweaking, and I didn't have enough time to get it done for either Jaymz Bee or Swing Out to Victory. Now it's languishing in the pile of shame.

The V8728 is the most extreme example (currently), but I can name at least a dozen items where an item, while wearable, is not as good as it could be because I was in a rush to finish. I need to learn to enjoy the sewing process more. At least

Plan: Try the 20-minutes of sewing per day thing. See how that goes. Alas, I have a very strong feeling I will be no wiser at the end of next year.


Okay, on to the positive. I've made/refashioned more items this year than I ever have, and I'm rather pleased with most of my makes, but for my top five I wanted only the items that made me really happy when I finished and wore them. The hits of 2013 in chronological order are...

1. Sylvia sweater
   
   A toss-up between this and the as-yet-unblogged Saturn sweater, the Sylvia won because it was my first crocheted sweater, and despite the frustration of having to frog every part of it, sometimes more than once, and then having to sew it up while worrying that I was going to run out of burgundy yarn, I'm so very happy with it. I wear it a lot. It's my colour, it fits me beautifully, and everybody tells me how nice it is. I wear it even though it's technically unfinished; I haven't put the button-hole side ribbon on. Also, I stupidly used embroidery thread to sew on the buttons, and most of them have fallen off and need to be reattached. Still wear it, even so.
   
   
2. Chunky fluorite/aquamarine chandeliers
   
   These earrings were a bit frustrating to make, and they're really heavy to wear, what with them being made of lots of rocks and all. The top danglers are too short and the middle and lower chains keep getting tangled up. But I really love these earrings; I learned a lot about jewellery-making (shake test!) and they're so pretty.
   
   
3. M*A*T*H refashioned tank
   
   I used Zoe's tank tutorial to reclaim a favourite T-shirt and wore the result practically all summer. It's so comfy.
   
   
4. Bombshell bathing suit
   
   Despite the fact that I've only worn this twice and have yet to actually swim in it^**, I love this bathing suit. Love it.
   
   
5. Tweed Rally Cape
   
   I wore this cape quite a lot after the Tweed Rally. It's really great for biking in temperatures hovering between 5-10°C because it blocks the wind (thank you, flannel interlining!) but the slits provide ventilation so my core doesn't overheat. It does create added wind resistance, but it's so stylish. Also, the flannel interlining meant that I was secretly grunge and so this is like a stealth entry into the Sewcialists Grunge Sewalong. Sadly, my machine has been throwing hissy fits about putting the button hole just under the collar, so that is still be be done. What else is new?

Special shout-out goes to my reusable hand-warmers, which have easily been the most-used item I've made. I managed to burn a hole in one of them a month ago and was planning to make another pair, but Aged P gave the DC and me a huge box of Hot Shots, so I might put that on the back burner^*** for a while. As for goals, I don't do New Year's Resolutions, because I figure why wait for an arbitrary date to reflect or create change; likewise I don't have my top 5 sewing goals, other than the two I listed above. I do have some specific things I want to make, and I kind of like the quarterly wrap-up I (sort of) started in October. I'll probably post a follow-up in a week or two. I'm contrary like that.
^*I did buy far too many shoes, though. ^**Both occasions were rather chilly and I am a delicate flower, water-wise. ^***Pun not intended, but awesome nonetheless.