I always enjoy looking at a roundup of my year's projects. It helps to get an overview when everything is in one place instead of scattered out over weeks and months. I can spot gaps or trends more easily, and hold myself accountable to last year's goals.

This year started and ended with projects made from the same fabric – interesting to see the differences and similarities 2 different decades make. Perfect bookends to the sewing year!

   

1940s dress with removable peplum, 1950s Christmas dress

 

Actually, there were quite a few repetitions throughout the year, more than I had realized until I looked at them all here. I made two new makes of patterns already tried, and 3 new patterns twice.

   

1930s plaid dress, 1930s coral print dress

 

This was the Year of Needful Experimenting. Because of my pregnancy, I laid aside my current sewing queue and tried various patterns with a mind to their versatility. Some worked better than others.

   

1950s seersucker blouse, 1940s adjustable waist dress

 

Versatility meant making patterns that would work for pregnancy and after.

   

1930s waistless dress without baby bump, with baby bump

and again in caramel gingham

 

I even made a more modern pattern for the first time in ages!

1980s seersucker dress

 

I did a lot of need-to sewing, like adding to my house dress collection…

   

taupe/blue 1950s house dress, early 1940s striped dress

1950s coat dress

 

…and made some patterns I wouldn't otherwise have tried – namely, vintage maternity patterns, some of which worked great for afterwards too.

   

   

1940s linen maternity dress, 1930s blue maternity dress

1930s 4th of July dress with baby bump, without baby bump

 

However, these weren't my only firsts. I also got more creative with embellishments including button placement and embroidering lace, altering dress patterns to accommodate nursing, and used a challenging fabric (rayon crepeon) to make probably my favorite sewing project of the year:

1940s Easter dress

 

Plus I made a hat!

 

I also accomplished several refashions that I was very happy with.

   

maxi dress to 1930s style makeover, skirt makeover to 1950s skirt & matching blouse

 

Because of several slack sewing seasons, I had to get creative about subjects to blog about, so I did a lot more thrift store find posts, random outfit posts, and wrote various articles, but I did get all but 2 of my sewing projects photographed and blogged about this year.

   

1930s white twill suit, 1940s house dress

vintage slip with nursing alterations

 

But despite the majority of need-to sewing, I also had time to do some purely extra want-to things, like my new favorite coat.

 

Compared to last year's sewing recap, this year feels pretty scanty. Yet when I consider that there were whole months I hardly did any sewing (pregnancy fatigue early in the year, and then after the baby was born) I think it was still fairly productive (5 of them were made between Thanksgiving and year's end!) even if a lot of these aren't wearable for me right now. The earliest ones are too small and the maternity ones are mostly retired for now, so the projects I currently actually wear aren't that many. 

1950s cocktail dress

 

While not as varied as last year, I still incorporated a number of different styles and decades. I made 7 1930s projects, 8 1940s,   6 1950s, and 1 1980s. 

And how did I do with my goals? Last year I said "I want to sew more things I need, and most of all – sew from the stash! I have a huge amount of fabric and hope to get excited about fabric "shopping" on my own shelves. I'd like to continue the variety of silhouettes, fabrics, and colors implemented this year, and hopefully improve the photography, modeling, and historical faithfulness along the way."

I'd say I met the 1st goal of sewing more things I need (or needed at the time). And probably failed the 2nd goal of sewing from the stash! While several projects were major stash busters, using fabric I've had on my shelves for years, I also bought more new fabric than I had intended. Oops!

 I feel pretty good about the variety of silhouettes and fabrics – from taffeta, linen, and lace overlaying to corduroy, cottons, and various rayons which handle completely differently, my sewing machine saw a lot of variety this year. Colors not quite so much…I see a lot of blues and tan or brown, but there is some coral, pink/red, and black/gray to round it out a bit. No green this year, surprisingly!

Overall I'd say my modeling has improved, and there are only a few posts I cringe at because of a rough hair day, since I learned a lot more about how to handle my hair this year. Oh, and this was the year of shoe reproductions! Adding quite a few reproductions to my wardrobe helped fill in some shoe gaps which improves the historical accuracy of some ensembles. 

the search for casual shoes post

 

My 2018 goals might sound a bit repetitive. I've already talked about sewing more purposefully to meet wardrobe needs. My project requirements of Versatile, Simple, or Useful for Prints still applies, as well as a renewed determination to sew from the stash. I have many, many projects paired with fabric I already have, so all I have to do is Stay Away from Fabric Sales and stick to my sewing queue – I'll have more than enough to do! I really must get my mending/alteration pile under control (maybe force myself to alternate a mending or remake project with a new one). I hope to be a little more varied in my color choices this year and experiment more with trims, but my 2 major new goals are:

1. Make several 2 piece dresses and some mix-and-match outfits (like a jacket and 2 different styles of skirts).
2. Make 1 really nice quality, time-consuming garment with some sort of hand work like beading.

But obviously, whether sewing goals are met or not, it's always good to enjoy the creating process. Refocusing, not stressing out, is what these sewing recaps are for!