new year, new(ish) to blogging || my 2019 roadmap

Hellooooo!

I just got back in town from a great weekend in Florida, where I had plenty of time to brainstorm ideas for what I’d like my blog to become. Huge shoutout to the coolest blogger Cat over at Ctrl + Curate for being an awesome host and for giving me some handy tips for photo taking and Lightroom editing 😍

York Pinafore, Pattern from Helen's Closet - eggshell denim dyed with RIT dye in Wine — York Pinafore in Denim!

It’s hard to believe that I’ve already had ten blog posts! I’ve seen a lot of sewing blogs that go over different sewing challenges, i.e. the #MakeNine2019 challenge or #SewMyStyle2019, and the like, but I didn’t feel like those really suited me. I’m not sure if that means I’m less of a planner, but I think this year still holds a lot of major unknowns for me and I don’t want to constrain myself to specific patterns or styles.

I will, however, set a different challenge for myself – to not just Make but to Do nine big things this year:

Complete my Goodwill Haul project – make at least one piece from each of the four fabrics I purchased. See link to my first post here! Followed by my first completed project of the Sierra Jumpsuit, link here!
A “ready-to-wear” fast (within reason) – aka not shoes or swimwear. I have a ton of major events in 2019 – three fancier school events and three weddings to attend in May, June, and December! I’m also planning to travel internationally in March and May, and would love to have some fun new outfits for those trips as well. I did a major KonMari purge of my closet and had 11 garbage bags filled with things that didn’t “spark joy,” but I still have a very full (read: bursting/overflowing) closet. The nice thing about making your own clothes is that you still feel the joy of having a new clothing item without the late night online shopping binges that happened all too frequently last year… and the year before…
A big furniture project! Some ideas I have in mind include repainting my dining table into a sewing table. I already use my dining table mostly for sewing and not for eating 😬. I’m also entertaining the idea of reupholstering the massive sectional in my living room — this project would require a hefty amount of planning and tons of yardage of nicer upholstery fabric. If anyone has any recommendations, please send them my way!
One electronic embroidery project. On my Instagram, one of my first few posts was a cute embroidery hoop I stitched up as a gift for my boyfriend using LEDs, conductive thread, and a coin cell battery. I’d love to do this again and make a nice little tutorial out of it!
Start AND finish a long-term project like a quilt – I have a quilt kit I bought ages a few years ago that is collecting dust soooo I suppose I’d like to finish that up this year.
Knit something. Although this may seem like such a random goal to put on here, knitting was my first textile-related craft that I learned in the 6th grade when I randomly decided to join my middle school’s Knitting Club! I have some beautiful yarn that I picked up at Churchmouse Yarns in Bainbridge Island, WA on a short trip in 2017, but managed to never do anything with it. So my goal this year is simple to do something with it. Maybe a little scarf or cowl?
Draft my own pattern. Something about pattern drafting intimidates me – like how could I possibly cut out some pieces of fabric and turn it into something that actually fits without pre-written instructions? I’m sure there are a million resources out on the internet about how to do this, so I feel pretty confident that this will get done! Anyone have any pattern drafting book recommendations?
Finish a cross-stitching project. There’s one cross-stitch hoop that hangs out in my backpack for whenever I get a spare moment. I am literally stitches away from being done but I simply have not been able to bring myself to do it. The pattern is of an Irish Blessing (ayyy shout out to my alma mater Notre Dame #GoIrish). This to-do will be pretty easy to finish but now that I’ve officially written it on my blog, I have to do it, right?
Start posting original tutorials on this blog. I think it has become easy to just post my sewing makes, which I will continue to do! But my only hobby is definitely not garment making, so I’d like to set a goal of at least 3 tutorials this year. Some that I have in mind include an embroidery printable, or maybe how I repaint my table.