2025 review

I know for a certainty that no projects will be completed between now and midnight on Wednesday, so I can do my review of the year now. I wasn't expecting there to be much to write about but, when I put together the year's montage, I discovered that I've actually completed more things than I thought.

I surprised myself!

Going from left to right, and top to bottom:

My Lothian shawl was my first completed make of the year, albeit most of the work was done in 2024. Style 2703 was another first; my first time reusing a pattern which I had made up when it was newly released.

My brown check skirt was another project which was mostly completed last year, but this one took me until November to complete. It works well with my blue Wondrella cardigan, and I've worn this combination several times. Proving that not everything is a success, though, below it is my first Close to You shawl. Great pattern, lovely yarn, but the colours of the end result just weren't me. It is however getting lots of wear in its new home with my friend F.

I didn't have a photo of my wrist warmers which would fit in the montage, so I had to take a new one. The slight pilling on the thumb is a testament to how much they have been worn, as the alterations I made to the original pattern created exactly what I wanted. Similarly, over several years I went through lots of ideas of what I wanted to make with my pineapple fabric, but I was really pleased with the end result.

My needlecord pinafore, Butterick 6723, has been my sewing make of the year. It's had so much wear, in fact I'm wearing it now. Someone told me recently that corduroy pinafores are 'in' this winter, so I appear to be fashionable by accident! My second Close to You, complete with bead embellishment, was a far greater success than its predecessor.

It wasn't my knitting make of the year, however. That accolade goes to my Reyna shawl. Despite some issues making it, which were due to me and not the pattern, the end result has become a firm favourite - and is frequently worn with my pinafore. My yarn total for completed items this year is 2075m / 1.29 miles (although I don't want to think about how many metres I've added to my stash!). My Wool Fair cardigan meanwhile is hibernating in the project bag I made for it, while I concentrate on finishing my slate Wondrella.

I haven't worn my second version of Butterick 2535 a lot, because first I want to make a co-ordinating jacket with the leftovers, and just haven't had the time to do so. My plans to make another Serpentine hat also fell prey to Real Life getting in the way.

So yet again the Stashometer ends the year in the red.

A familar colour bottom right

At least everything I bought this year got used, and the deficit is only because of fabric carried over from last year. I'd like to say that I have displayed steely self-discipline in terms of fabric buying, but that was only the case for the first half of the year. By the time that wore off however - well, I just didn't have the free time for fabric shopping!

There will be some fabric bought early in 2026, though. I'm not making many plans for the coming year, but I do have one project I want to do. Although I'm currently wondering if I've bitten off more than I can chew with it. All will be revealed soon!

2024 review

I know full well that there isn't going to be a sudden burst of productivity in the next two days, so I can safely write my review of the year now. Not that there is a huge amount to review. A combination of increased family commitments (which are only going to grow), and a disinclination to sew (which I hope is not going to grow) has made this a sparse year.

So. Much. Blue. (And a bit or orange/brown)

Being able to sew practical solutions to problems always gives me a great deal of satisfaction, and my tote bag and yarn holder have both seen a great deal of use.

What dressmaking I have done this year has all been from tried and trusted patterns, partly because I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm to alter, and possibly regrade, a new pattern. My experiments with Simplicity 1777/4463 continued, this time with the V neck option (left). I made another Grace dress, with no variations from its well-worn predecessor (second right). And after a long period in my pattern drawer, old favourite New Look 6000 made a triumphant return (right).

On the plus side, all of these were made from stash fabric. On the minus side, the stash grew because I haven't used any of the fabric I bought this year. I do also have several works in progress, as starting a project and then running out of steam has been a theme of the year.

Shameful

My proudest sewing achievement was one which I had to finish because it was part of a course I was doing, making a toile from what turned out to be a very well-drafted 150-year-old pattern.

The fashion plate and the toile

While I may not have sewn much, I have definitely expanded my knitting repertoire. I had my first go at lace knitting with the Dahlia shawl, and loved it. I also learned top-down construction on the Confidette bolero, and then went on to make not one but two Express Line cardigans, for myself and for my mum. In total, I think that I knitted up about 2,160m of yarn (1.34 miles!) in completed items. Not bad for someone who could barely knit a couple of years ago.

There are lots of things which I would like to do next year, but I have too much else going on to give myself the pressure of setting goals. I do want to finish my Lothian shawl before my birthday, but that’s about it.

Review and plans

Last week's post got taken up by my last-minute green velour dress, so here is a rather late review of 2023, with a brief look at my plans for 2024.

I didn't make a lot this year, for a variety of reasons, but I'm happy with that.

Completed 2023 projects

Looking back on my post for 2023, it's fair to say that my plan to finish my winter coat, Vogue 1266, has been a complete failure. Nothing has been done. Mainly because I bought a beautiful 1950s black coat from the wonderful FantoucheVintage, and all my winter coat needs were instantly met. In fact, I almost enjoy cold weather as an excuse to wear it! I've not got very far with my 1930s Butterick dress, either.

On a cheerier note, looking at what I did make, my version of Simplicity 4463 (top left) was a definite success and gets a lot of wear. I much prefer its flared skirt to the pleated version of its reissue, Simplicity 1777. Style 1571 in a vintage glazed cotton (top centre) has become something of a 'best' dress, as I don't want to lose the fabric finish through too much laundering. Meanwhile, Style 2911 (top right) continues my love affair with 1979 Style patterns!

My sewing triumph of the year, however, was the Peppermint Batik dress (second left, bottom). It was totally unplanned project, created from someone else's part-made skirt found in a second-hand sewing box, and a bodice made from deadstock cotton found in my local fabric shop (which never normally sells deadstock) in colours which blended perfectly with the skirt. It's super-comfortable, especially in hot weather - of which we had a lot this summer.

My non-dressmaking sewing consisted of some soft furnishings, and a new workbag.

The workbag was needed because 2023 was the year I took up knitting. Yes, I had made a couple of minor attempts before, but nothing very complicated. This time, thanks to a fantastically well-written pattern by Tasha, a whole potential world of knitwear which actually fits has opened up to me. I made a blue version first, and then a pale green version, and as a knitting newbie marvelled at the effect that different yarns can have on the same pattern.

So what are my plans for 2024 (other than actually knitting the tweaked Wondrella which I have been planning for ages)? Not a lot for the first few months, as I am doing a college course and my assignments are due this term. After that - more of the same, really. I have realised that there is no point in my planning a 'Make Nine' or similar, as my ability to go off on tangents knows no bounds. Instead, I want to continue to concentrate on slow sewing and stash reduction. I do want to finish my Riviera dress, but there is no need to tackle complex trim application until the weather gets warmer. I'm slowly documenting my stash in the 'stash shop', and have quite a lot to choose from.

The 'stash shop' so far - a couple of items have sold out

The Stashometer has been reset for 2024

On the subject of which . . .

Whoops!

I do have projects in mind for all of it, but I can see that I'll have to make sure that my new yarn stash doesn't get out of hand!

2022 review

Happy 2023! The start of a new year can mean only one thing in blogland, namely a review of the year just gone.

In terms of numbers, it's been a very poor year. There are just nine sewn projects to report on, and precisely none of them were in my MakeNine plans for 2022.

2022's output

I made three dresses - Butterick 6866, Style 1271, and New Look 6594. I also completed a remodel of my third version of Vogue 2787. And I managed to finish my 1970s blouse, Vogue 8388, just in time to be included in the round-up. I'll blog about it next week.

Most of my other sewing was practical. I made draft excluders (stoppers) from stash fabric and a huge bag of scraps cut up for stuffing. A stocking case for when I'm travelling has been on my to-do list for some time, and finally happened. And once I realised that my recycled plastic cable tote bag, while pretty, was of limited use as it was, I set about improving it.

On the subject of bags, I learned a lot about bagmaking (strictly speaking, made up a lot about bagmaking) in the process of creating my sunray clutch bag, and love the end result.

So little sewing, combined with multiple fabric purchases, has had a dire effect on the stashometer. This is, by a long way, the worst it's ever been. Even if I hadn't included fabrics carried over from previous years, it would be very poor. Clearly I need to stay away from fabric retailers, however tempting they may be.

The Stashometer of shame

The state of the 'used' column isn't helped by the number of PHDs (Projects Half-Done) in my workroom. I have yet to pick up work on my winter coat again, largely because I'm not happy with the collar but can't work out a way to fix it. My second version of Style 1271, made from the 1960s 'jewel' cotton I bought at the Festival of Vintage, is cut out but not started. And my 1930s Butterick dress has stalled because trying to sew black trim onto a black dress in poor winter light is a migraine waiting to happen.

Despite all this, while the number of items completed is small compared to some previous years, I'm very happy with what they represent in terms of where I'm going with my sewing. I have more than enough clothing to meet my practical needs. I sew because I love the acts of sewing and creating, and it's good for my mental health, so I have no intention of stopping. But I do want to make sure that I'm not just sewing for the sake of sewing, and most of what I’ve completed this year reflects that.

The draft excluders have proved very effective at keeping my living room cosy - particularly helpful as energy prices soar. The stocking case has become my main storage for my most worn colours of stocking. And adding a pocketed lining to my tote bag has made it vastly more useable.

Most of my dressmaking this year has involved regrading and/or fairly extensive alterations to patterns. All of which makes the process slower (good), adds to my drafting skills, and so contributes to my new goals. But the dressmaking project which I'm most proud of is remaking Vogue 2787. The dark red contrast section looks so much better than the blue which was there before, and the dress has become a firm favourite. Every time I wear it, knowing that I put in the effort to rescue it makes me happy.

I've finally come to accept my "Squirrel!" tendencies, and realise that there’s little point in setting out to make specific items in a year. So instead, I'm carrying over my goals from 2022. I really do want to complete the coat somehow, but otherwise I'm planning to concentrate on things which give me my dressmaking 'fix', but slowly.

2023 goals

2021 review, including one last project

I had hoped to squeeze a final UseNine creation into the week between Christmas and New Year but, in keeping with 2021 in general, it was not to be. I did complete a half-done garment, though, which is better than nothing.

So as I don't have a completed dress to show, it's time for a review of the year. I didn't feel as though I've done much sewing this year, but putting it all together in a collage proved me wrong.

2021

The year started with a venture into lingerie-making; which I enjoyed far more than I was expecting and want to pick up again this year. I also dabbled with separates - two blouses and two skirts - including a sleeveless blouse made especially for getting my first Covid jab. Of course, it received another outing last month (topped with a thick cardigan!) when I went for my booster.

As ever, I put the 'dress' into 'dressmaking' by making six of them, culminating in my 'Holly' dress.

The Holly dress was definitely the highlight of the year, but apart from that, it's two of my most simple projects which have brought me the most pleasure. Firstly, keeping all my project notes in one place has proved to be a really good idea - who knew?! - and having a special book to record them in makes sure that I resist my old habit of scribbles on random bits of paper.

Still so pleased with how this embroidery turned out

Secondly, and proving that I should stick with dressmaking and not branch out into fortune-telling, the summer blouse which I fixed to make wearable but I "doubted would ever become a favourite" became - just that. Every time I wore it, I was so glad that I'd made the effort to rescue it.

Mystic Tulip fails again!

Those with eagle-eyes and long memories may have noticed something in the collage above which hasn't been blogged about. My inverted-pleat skirt was banished to the naughty corner in June for crimes against fitting properly, and has languished there ever since. But it struck me that finally fixing it would make a tiny improvement on the Stashometer before the year ended.

The 'fix', such as it was, was to unpick the back darts and so convert them into loose pleats. It's not ideal, and I definitely need to tweak the pattern before I use it again, but at least the skirt is wearable.

This just left the hem to do, but because the skirt is constructed in the vintage method of a separate back panel for the pleat, it was a bit more complicated than normal.

First, I decided on the skirt length and pressed the hem up. Then, I unpicked the seams attaching the panel to the skirt, as far as the pressed line.

Hem marked and seams unpicked

This meant that I could fold the hems for the panel and the skirt up separately, without the seam allowance getting in the way.

The back panel hem folded up

With one skirt piece also folded up

Finally, once the hem was sewn, I tidied up the unpicked seams with blanket stitch.

With the unpicked seam allowance stitched down

It was a real rush job in drizzly weather to get it photographed before I set off to Mum's for Hogmanay, so please excuse the poor pictures. At least my hair cooperated, for once!

Worn with Simplicity 8243

#SewnShownSeated

Completing the skirt took the Stashometer to a 6.4m deficit, so if it hadn't been for that trip to the Museum of Liverpool in October, and my detour into John Lewis's small and limited fabric department, I would have ended the year in credit. Thank goodness they don't still have the large and excellent fabric department which I remember from the 1980s - the damage could would have been far worse!

In three years of the Stashometer, this is the worst yet!

2020 review

Well, 2020 is over, and good riddance! Time to review the year's sewing - and there's been a lot of it.

Just in case anyone reading this sighs, and feels inadequate because they think they achieved very little, I should just make a couple of things clear. I'm retired, and I don't have children. For months at a time this year, apart from doing my parents' shopping and sorting out anything they needed, I have had no demands on my time and nothing to do but sew. Indeed, sewing for me is a major coping mechanism for stress, and this year it provided a very welcome alternative to endlessly following the news.

The major win of the year, and the one I'm really happy about, is the amount of sewing I did from stash fabrics. Every January for goodness knows how long I have promised on this blog to reduce my stash, and every December I have had to admit to failure. But this year, finally, I did make inroads.

27 whole metres removed - woohoo!

A big part of this was courtesy of the Vintage-Dress-A-Month-Along, for which I must give a huge thank you to Renae, Lizzie and Erica for running the group. I only managed 10 dresses, because my plans to make my December dress and finish my February one last month were blighted by The Lurgy. On the plus side, nine of these were made from stash fabrics (29.7m), and the other one from fabric which I acquired by accident at auction (5m).

Ten dresses, and not a centimetre of fabric bought!

Other stash projects were a summer dressing gown, my 1940s Autumn Roses hat (my favourite make of the year), face masks, and two sets of scrubs (14.2m). In other dressmaking news, I prolonged the life of a favourite dress by replacing its broken zip, and finished a UFO which had been on the pile since 2018!

UFO, scrubs, hatmaking, dressing gown and mending

Fabric purchases included material for five more sets of scrubs (seen above being pre-washed in the bath). There was some left over, due to cutting out in bulk and my obsession with frugal pattern placement. I have earmarked it for toiles, and updated the Stashometer accordingly, as I know for sure that I'll never want to make anything out of blue polycotton. At the time I was very conflicted about making scrubs (I'm grateful to Sewcialists website for the discovery that I wasn't alone in this) but it was probably the only time in my life (at least, I hope so) that being able to sew was been of such importance and overall, I was grateful to be able to contribute.

Historical sewing was my major failure of the year. I had a study visit to the Fashion Museum scheduled for March, and when this was cancelled I rather lost interest in the 1874 project - a poor excuse, I know. I do still want to do it next year, but not sure if I will attempt to do the Historical Sew Monthly challenges. Every challenge I did complete this year was underwear related, which makes sense as I'm starting from scratch in historical costuming. I made a Victorian chemise, drawers and corset, redid the boning of my 1911 corset to make it more comfortable and reduce wear, and then altered the drawers to fit properly as they were a little short in the crotch. I didn’t blog about the alteration, but the centre top picture below shows where I added the extra length. In total I used 4.5m of fabric, of which 3.9m was from stash.

So much underwear

None of the fabric which I bought this year actually got used, but I know what I intend to make from each of the three, 4m lengths of cotton. I will list them separately on 2021 Stashometer, as an incentive to use them. A last-minute dash to my local fabric shop for supplies before Cheshire went into Tier 4 resulted in a semi-impulse purchase of 4.5m remnant of black cotton velvet (which proved impossible to photograph). I know what I want to use it for - it's a project I've long wanted to attempt - but I'm not sure if my skills are up to it. There's only one way to find out!

Dress cottons bought but not used in 2020

All of this sewing used up a lot of thread.

Out of curiousity, I kept all of my empty cotton reels for the year: in total there were 14 Gütermann, one Drima, and one spool of basting thread. In addition, I used a lot of black, white and off-white thread, but I buy these on the largest spools I can get, so none were used up completely. Rigid plastics cannot be recycled where I live, so these will end up in landfill, which bothers me. I have reused one Gütermann spool to store a skein of gold thread, but there is a limit to how many things I need to store on spools. I do wish that wooden reels would make a comeback!

My 2020 empty spools collection

Looking forward to 2021, I want to continue trying to use stashed fabric where possible, although I know that once fabric shops can open again, purchases will almost certainly be made. I will probably create my own "UseNine" grid for the year, including my four acquisitions from last year, of course, and try to improve on last year's five used. The Dress-A-Month-Along as become the Sew a Vintage Style Dress Community, with quarterly challenges, and I'm very excited about the first one. More details coming soon.

Here's to a happier 2021 all round!

Sewing Top 5 of 2019

It's time for a round-up of 2019, and this year I'm using the Sewcialists SewingTop5 for the format of my post.

For this post I'm sticking to hits, misses, highlights and reflections, with goals coming next Sunday. So without any further ado . . .

Top 5 Hits
Sadly, this didn't require a lot of thought, or an agonising selection process, because I've only made five garments this year! Completing my Masters dissertation (it was a research Masters, so the 28,000-word dissertation was the main part of it) took up a lot of the year. On top of that, I spent six weeks living at my parents' house when my mum fell and broke her hip. She is my dad's carer, and looking after both of them left me with very little sewing time. (Any carers reading this, feel free to laugh/roll your eyes at the fact that this was a shock discovery for me!)

The grand total of this year's makes

Left to right: Wardrobe by Me Grace dress, hat made by taking a pattern from a bought hat I already owned, Butterick 5997, Vogue 8964, the frankenpatterned New Look 'anemone' dress.

The hat has probably been the biggest success - I wear it a lot. The anemone dress is only recently completed and is a summer dress so hasn't been worn yet, but I'm just super-pleased to have finally used some fabric which has been lurking in my stash for almost three decades!!

Which brings me on to . . .

Top 5 Misses
The biggest of these has been the failure of my latest plan to reduce my stash. I'm hoping to make a further reduction before 2020 begins, but it will only be tiny and won't budge the Stashometer out of the red.

The sorry tale

I did have a pattern lined up for the 'retro cotton from Wells', but both this and completing the curtains were shelved when I went to stay with Mum and Dad.

Obviously the plan to complete the anemone dress for the #sewbravesewcialists challenge in, ahem, May was an epic fail as well! Still, better late than never.

Butterick 5997 has sat on my alterations pile since it was completed, as the neckline is just too low for me. I've not come up with a fix that I like enough to spend the time doing it, and as I'm not happy with the massive overlap on the cuffs either, I can see this being donated to a charity shop in the near future.

My main 'miss' of 2019 though has been missing sewing. I've been making at least some of my own clothes for over four decades, and have been sewing in some form for closer to five, so simply not having the time to make things felt uncomfortable, to say the least.

Top 5 Highlights
This will have to be a 'Top 3', as it's been a quiet year. Top of the list of course is submitting my dissertation and completing my Masters. A combination of natural reticence and very old-fashioned Scottish schooling means that I'm really not comfortable blowing my own trumpet, but I know that some of you have been following my 'progress' since I first mentioned my Masters on this blog (thank you), so it seems only right to let you know that I got a Distinction. Also, I must add special thank yous to the following people: Lynn of American Age Fashion for your research on Mrs Exeter - I cited your Clothing Cultures paper; and Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox of American Duchess and Rebecca Olds of Timesmith Dressmaking for your information about the work of women in the past as professional dressmakers.

Mantua-makers hard at work

Talking of which, the Wedding Gown in a Weekend event at the National Museum of Scotland was defintely another highlight. Watching an entirely hand-sewn, made-to-measure dress come together as it would have been made in the eighteenth-century, over the course of two days, was just fascinating, and I learned so much.

At the end of the weekend

Finally, putting together the University Centre Shrewsbury banner was hard work but a real joy. The commitment of the individual block-makers to the project just shone through, and it was a privilege to be involved.

The banner

Top 5 Reflections
Again, I haven't got five things to list here, in fact this section is really just thoughts on one reflection; that sewing is a huge part of who I am, especially now that I make most of my own clothes. Home dressmaking provided the topic for my dissertation, and clothing exhibitions and events have frequently been the catalyst for holidays and trips away when I've been at a loss for something to do as a break. Having so little time to sew for much of the year did, at times, feel as though part of me was missing.

Over the last couple of weeks I have seen lots of articles reviewing the decade which is coming to an end, and it suddenly struck me that I have been a widow for over half of it. In the early days after Mr Tulip's death, sewing was a familiar and absorbing activity in which I could lose myself - for a little while at least. Judging from the stories shared in the Sewcialists' Who We Are - Sewing Through Grief series this year, I am not alone in this. The first garment I made which Mr Tulip never saw or heard about is getting a little shabby now, but I suspect that it will stay in my wardrobe for a long time because it is so much more than just another dress.

The first version of the CC41 dress

All things change over time, and that includes me - both mentally and physically. Over this last year I've become aware that the pattern alterations I have made as standard for years are no longer quite right, and I need to spend some time working out why. With sewing as a hobby, I am never short of something to do!

2018 review (and the one that got away)

Because I failed to meet my 2018 #VintagePledge, I'd assumed that I didn't get a lot of sewing (or other creative stuff) done this year. But when I added it all up, there was more than I'd expected.

All the things

I started learning to knit, and made a scarf and some wristwarmers. I also made bags for both my knitting and my rapidly growing collection of knitting needles - people keep giving me their spares! I'm currently making another scarf, and on and off working on the World's Slowest Jumper. (It's not at all complicated, just that I don't pick it up very often.)

On the millinery front, there's only one completed hat to show for my efforts: the Chimneypot. There are a lot of part-made hats in my workroom now, and getting some of them completed really should be high on my list for 2019.

I bought a 101-year-old sewing machine, and used it to make an almost-1940s dress. I also made one modern dress using entirely stash materials (yay!) and three #VintagePledge dresses from the 1960s and 1970s. Separates were limited to two skirts: one very plain; and one far less plain.

There should have been one more dress in the list, but my remake of Vogue 2787 stalled once I had sewn the front and back together - one for the spring, I think.

2018 was a year of anniversaries, and this featured in my sewing. The centenery of the end of World War One was marked at the university with We Remember Them: a project to which the sewing group contributed by making poppies, 77 of which I made up into a wreath. 2018 was also the centenery of the first British women gaining the right to vote. This was also marked with an event at the university: for which I co-ordinated a project to make a commemorative banner.

2019 really needs to be All About The Dissertation (the Dissertation Police would strongly agree on this matter!) but hopefully I'll find time for at least a bit of sewing.

2017 review

It's that time of year again. The time when I come to review what I've made in the last 12 months, fret that there won't be much to write about, and surprise myself with just how much I've done.

This year I was even more worried than usual about how little there would be. My college work takes up a fair amount of my time, and a longish bout of depression in the spring left me not feeling like doing much at all.

But despite all this I'd somehow made more than I remembered.

First up, hats. After the excitement of completing my first hat in 2016, I made several more this year (and have even more blocked and waiting to complete). As well as finally finishing my silk percher hat and experimenting with straw, I made felt hats from the 1920s, 1940s and 1950s. Thanks to Sue Carter and Marie Thornton of The Millinery Studio for their excellent tuition, and to Bronwen Simpson of Hat Works for everything she does organising classes and Open Blocking days.

Clockwise from top left: 1940s, 1950s, 1950s straw and 1920s

Beaded silk percher hat

Much as I love drafting my own patterns, there's no denying that it does take time, so I don't do as much as I'd like to. However, I did manage to create a late 1950s/early 1960s pinafore dress, and make a few improvements to my CC41 dress pattern.

Pinafore dress and CC41 dress

Self-drafted patterns don't count towards the Vintage Pledge, but I did sort of fulfil my promise to make up three of my vintage or reissued patterns. Only 'sort of', because the original plan was to make all three items from a selection of my patterned stash fabrics. Simplicity 4896 was made from bought fabric, and Butterick 6620 was made from plain stash fabric. Only the infamous Dress of Frump was made from fabric which I'd earmarked for the Vintage Pledge.

This year's Vintage Pledge; the Dress of Frump, Butterick 6620 and Simplicity 4896

Despite the epic fail of Simplicity 1587 I have not, after all, given up on green clothing. As I had hoped, the stiff green dress made from New Look 6093 improved no end after a couple of washes. And I'm still chuffed that I was able to rescue my green and blue cotton skirt. But the item which I think received the most compliments of the year was the dress I remade for the British Heart Foundation's Big Stitch campaign. That was something I'd never done before, and had never thought of doing - and it was great fun.

Green success, and the Big Stitch remake

Who knows what the New Year will bring, but here's hoping for a great 2018!

2016 - a review after all

Lots of the people whose blogs I follow have been posting reviews of 2016, but after last week's crushing revelation that my plans for stash reduction had been a dismal failure, I didn't think I had much to review. But then I started to count up my makes for the year, and actually it wasn't that bad (apart from the fact that I'd bought new fabric for most of them - oops!)

So let's have a look.

Putting the 'dress' into 'dressmaker'

As well as the modern Blackbird Dress, I completed my Vintage Pledge to make up four of my vintage or reproduction patterns (OK, I actually pledged "at least four", but we'll gloss over that) with the Rosalind Dress, Butterick 6582, Simplicity 1777, and what I now think of as the Gothic Frock (aka Vogue 2401).

2016 was the year that I rediscovered separates. Having drafted a skirt pattern in January, I proceeded to get my money's worth out of it with a needlecord version with pockets, and a pair of skirts squeezed from one remnant (which didn't leave any spare for pockets).

Skirts. Lots of 'em

Which just leaves a few odds and ends.

Slip, pinny and assorted shortening

I really fell off the Historical Sew Monthly wagon this year, and only completed the first two challenges; making a 1909 slip for Procrastination, and lowering the front of my Edwardian chemise for Tucks and Pleating. Also on the alterations front, I shortened a jumper to a more vintage length - and I love it! I also made an apron to wear on my hatmaking courses, which brings me to the fact that . . .

I FINISHED A HAT!!!!

Ta dah!

(As you may just have guessed, I still haven't calmed down from the excitement.)

So - plans for 2017.

I don't intend to commit to too much this year, as my course (which I am absolutely loving) is keeping me pretty busy. Things which I definitely want to do are:

• Finish the other brimmed hat which I started last year
• Finish my poor 1940s coat, which has been languishing on Nancy since April
• Channel my inner Celia Johnson by making up Hollywood 1531.

Of course, other things will come along to totally derail these plans. When I reviewed 2015, I certainly didn't expect that 12 months later I'd be partway though a Masters! But that's all part of the fun.

Looking forwards, looking back

Some of 2015's projects

It’s that time of year again; time to review what I’ve achieved in the last 12 months, and consider what the coming 12 may bring. It's also a good time to say a huge "Thank you" to all the people who put so much time and effort into making the things which make me happy actually happen.

First up, the Historical Sew Monthly, where I actually managed to complete all the challenges! Yay! Obviously the fact that there were only 12 this year helped, but never mind. From the quick-and-easy of my shoe clips and my suffragette cockade, to the major projects of my entari and my ‘Delphos’ dress, for the first time in three years I completed the full set, and am basking in the rosy glow of achievement. As ever, thank you to Leimomi and the HSM moderators for all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

'Delphos' dress for the Historical Sew Monthly

Sadly the glow of achievement isn’t quite so rosy on the Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge front. There I only managed two out of my three vintage pattern pledges; Vogue 9546 and Simplicity 2683 (both, for some reason, purple). It’s not all bad news however; as with the Historical Sew Monthly a huge part of the fun has been seeing what the other participants have made. Thanks to Marie of A Stitching Odyssey and Kerry of Kestrel Makes for a great year of giveaways, interviews, and a fabulous Pinterest board! Plus, while I fell short on making up my vintage patterns, I did make up several vintage re-issues; my Horrockses homage, my swing coat and my 1940s hat.

Swing coat for the Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge

Talking of hats . . . . 2015 was the year I discovered millinery, and I love it! From sinamay and buckram, through veiling and fabric flowers, to making and blocking felt, I’ve learned so much - and enjoyed every minute. I feel truly lucky to have the Hat Works museum just up the road; thank you to tutors Lorna, Sue and Marie, and to Bronwen and the rest of the museum staff.

On top of this I did make a couple of 'ordinary' dresses, all from New Look patterns. There was also a last-minute Christmas dress made from another of my Goldhawk Road purchases. It’s a stretch satin knit with black and gold lace fused onto it, and it was available in lots of different background colours, but I really liked the green.

'Christmas' fabric

Such a fancy fabric only needed a very simple pattern, so I used New Look 6643 view A again, and while the lace layer made it tricky to cut out in places, it made up beautifully. I used plain cotton for the neck facing, as I thought the lace would be too scratchy.

So what will 2016 bring? At present, it looks like more of the same. I’m already booked on a couple of new courses at Hat Works. The 2016 Historical Sew Monthly is happening; the challenges have already been issued, and now I have a standard of completing them all to live up to. I even know what I’m going to do for the first challenge, Procrastination (although for obvious reasons I’m tempted to put off starting it for a while!).

Marie and Kerry have promised a new Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge, and I’ll be entering in a spirit of Must Do Better.

Meanwhile, when I came to put together the montage at the top of this post it was apparent that I really need to improve my photography skills, so that’s another little job for the year.

However, despite all my plans, I expect that something totally unexpected will come along to distract me - hopefully it will be fun!

Whatever your plans, both sewing and beyond, I hope you have a great year. Here’s to 2016!

Cheers!