6 months later...

You guys, my official 6 month bloggiversary is here!! When I set out to start this blog 6 months ago,  it was a  little bit of a new year's resolution. I felt like my sewing was very disorganized and I kept getting distracted and losing motivation for projects. Starting the blog has really helped me buckle down and stay more focused and has also given me an outlet for my sewing obsession that's even more satisfying than I'd imagined!

Meeting new sewing friends (you!) who share thoughts and ideas as well as helpful advice has made a huge difference in my life - sounds corny, but it's true! I cant thank you all enough for reading and participating. :)

my first ever, wearable piece!

Sappiness aside, I thought I'd do a little revisit to check in on the goals I'd set for myself when I was getting started.

• tackle my mountain of mending! - I did some small chipping away at the mending mountain, but haven't really made a lot of progress recently...and none of it is really interesting or blog-worthy.
• try some new techniques - I've definitely tried some new techniques/skills since setting this goal. Some that come to mind are: making collars (for my violet blouse, my mad men dress, my estate sale dress....and more, I'm sure - they're kind of my favorite thing to add to a garment), sewing from a vintage pattern (my easter egg blouse), gathering (gathered skirt and my wedding guest dress), buttonholes (violet and easter egg blouses), lining (my mad men dress), underlining (my peony and violet)...and more!

my mad men dress

• de-stash! - This one is a little weird to address - in some ways I've done a horrible job and in others I've done great. I've kind of stopped randomly buying fabric and patterns online without a project/purpose in mind (for a while it kind of took the place of impulsive clothing shopping for me - now I don't do too much of either!), and I've been able to de-stash a lot of stuff by giving it away, but I've also collected a rather sizable pile of new-to-me stuff from yard sales and estate sales over the past few months. I can say, though, that I really try now to plan projects from my existing stash, only purchasing new supplies if totally necessary...so that's....good!
• sew actually wearable pieces. - I think I've definitely made progress in this area! When I started out, I only had one piece of wearable me-made clothing, and now I've got several. I've really tried to make practical pieces that I can use in my every-day life. Some things do get more wear than others, though, (like my gathered skirt and estate sale dress) while others are honestly somewhat neglected (like my violet and easter egg blouses), so I still have room to improve here. It can be hard to know if something will turn out the way I want it to and if the way I plan to use a piece will actually work. (my easter egg blouse was really fun to sew and was my first foray into vintage pattern sewing, but is not as wearable as I'd expected and doesnt look as great tucked into my skirts as I'd hoped, but that's how it goes!)

my gathered skirt

• learn to make properly fitting garments!- I think I've made some steps in this direction, though I'm still intimidated by fitting. I have learned more about how to pick the appropriate size for me for a pattern (something I'd thought I knew, but apparently didn't really) and some of the types of adjustments I'll likely want to make (or at least keep in mind) to certain garments (like shortening the waist slightly). I'm definitely expecting to work on the whole fitting thing more as I continue to gain experience sewing different types of pieces.
• start learning to knit by the end of 2012. - Here I can frankly say I've made no progress at all. I do really hope to get started learning to knit by the end of the year, though. :)
• sew at least one thing each month - this idea came after I'd officially made my list of goals, but I'm happy to say it has been accomplished successfully each month so far!

Not too bad, though there's always room for improvement!

my peony dress

While I've been working towards those goals, I also participated in a few activities with other bloggers, like making a mad men inspired dress for Julia Bobbin's mad men challenge, participating in Kerry's summer sewing swap (which you'll hear more about soon!), hosting my own giveaway (yay!), being a featured seamstress at Coletterie for my peony dress, making the seamless pledge, and posting a project on wesewretro.com.

Not too shabby, eh?

Thanks for sticking with me through my first six months, and here's to the next six...or twelve...or hundred! :)