What a year it’s been! 2017 was a pretty solid year at chez Sew Wrong, not nearly as busy or crazy as 2016 and I’m completely ok with that. In reflecting back on sewing new garments for my wardrobe, this year consisted of sewing with a lot of blues, filling in some gaps with basics, and expanding my sewing and drafting skills with more challenging projects and some pattern-hacking. Here are some of my favorite highlights from the year:
Featured in Sew News and the Sew Daily Blog
I was over the moon when Sew News asked me to write a post for their blog on my top tips for sewing coats! It was the perfect excuse to sew up something new to go along with the article, and I absolutely love my new coat from Butterick 6385.
International Fabric Shopping
I took a new position with my company at the beginning of the year that involved traveling abroad, so when we had downtime in some cities, I squeezed in a bit of fabric shopping. I’ve never been to fabric stores in other countries before, so it was exciting to shop for different kinds of fabrics that I can’t find at home and see how different fabric shopping can be compared to the US. I found some beautiful fabrics in Barcelona and Madrid that I turned into a Saltspring Dress and Kochi Kimono, with two other fabrics waiting to be sewn up this coming spring.
More Coats, Please
I continued to add to my ever-growing coat collection with some different styles, like the Cascade Duffle Coat and a polka dot coat from McCalls 7058. I truly love tailoring and sewing coats, and I learn more and more with each project. My best-to-date coat was the Oscar De La Renta coat at the top of this post!
I Made Pants!
This one never made it to the blog (sometimes it’s just easier to post to Instagram), but I finally made a pair of pants that a) fit well, and b) I felt proud enough to wear to work. These are the Papercut Patterns Nagoya Pants, and they were a bugger to fit, but I stuck with it and made them work! It’s definitely not my best sewing effort, but the black linen-poly fabric hides a lot of my sewing sins. I feel like I say this at the end of/beginning of every year, but next year is going to be the year that I conquer pants and start sewing for my lower half!!
We’re having a very low-key evening at home tonight for NYE, I’m planning on cutting out a Style Arc Brooklyn Top and watching the ball drop with my husband and some prosecco – it’s just way too cold outside to go out tonight with the lows hitting -2. Hope you have a wonderful New Year, see you in 2018!
