2020 Sewing Recap

I didn't realize how many items I created this year until I made a list. I thought it would be fun to do a post with everything I sewed this year! 

Masks

Casey and I made about 350 masks in March and April. Shockingly, this didn't kill my sewjo, but I was so sick of making masks and happy to work on some fun projects instead!

Skirts

Paris Skirt 

My grandma gave me this fabric and it's so cute! I bought the gingham fabric for the waistband for a bit of contrast and love how it turned out. 

Pattern: McCalls 6706 (I added 4 inches of length and a pocket)

Fabric: I think the Paris fabric is from Walmart, but I'm not sure. Waistband fabric is from Hobby Lobby.

Map skirt 

I've always wanted a map skirt and decided to make my own! Unfortunately I made this one (and the Paris one) a size too small and haven't gotten much wear out of it because it's uncomfortably tight. 

Pattern: McCalls 6706 (I added 4 inches of length and a pocket) 

Fabric: Quilting Cotton from Hobby Lobby

Plane Skirt 

As it turns out, this isn't my style and I don't wear this skirt a whole lot. But it's still cute!

Pattern: Gathered skirt using Gertie's tutorial with an added pocket

Fabric: thrifted bedsheet

Floral skirt

I love how this skirt turned out! It's such a pretty fabric. This was also my first make to include a label! I found some vintage labels with my name (Joy) and have had fun including them in my projects.

Pattern: McCalls 6706 (I added 4 inches of length and a pocket)

Fabric: Hobby Lobby on clearance. I got it for $3 a yard!

Burnt orange skirt

I wanted a fall skirt and this fit the bill! I wore it a lot during fall.

Pattern: Gathered skirt using Gertie's tutorial with an added pocket

Fabric: Quilting cotton from Hobby Lobby

Yellow Buffalo Plaid skirt

This was my birthday skirt! I saw the fabric at Hobby Lobby and planned to go get it to make this skirt for my birthday... then we were exposed to Covid and had to quarantine, so I didn't get to make this until after my birthday. Oh well--I still got to enjoy it!

Pattern: Gathered skirt using Gertie's tutorial with an added pocket

Fabric: Quilting cotton from Hobby Lobby

Christmas Plaid Skirt 

This was my last make of the year! I finished it up between sewing Christmas presents and actually didn't finish hand sewing the waistband until Christmas Eve. We woke up to a White Christmas and it was so magical!

Pattern: McCalls 6706 (I added 4 inches of length and a pocket)

Fabric: Thrifted tablecloth

Dresses/Pinafores

Red Gingham Dress 

My bestie Julianne challenged me to make a dress. She came over and we started a sewalong at 9:00 at night and finished around 2:00 the next morning. I LOVE this dress and wear it all the time. It's so comfy. 

Pattern: Cora Half Sleeve Linen Dress (free pattern) with darts

Adjustments: After making the dress, I decided the bodice was longer than I like. So with much trial and error, I shortened it. I also used my own gathered skirt pattern and added pockets. Omitted keyhole and button on the back. I think I also shortened the sleeves.

Fabric: From Julianne

Blue Dress 

This is the only photo I have of this one because I just don't wear it much. There's something about the fit that I just don't like. I think it has to do with the sleeves? I need to take it out and try to make some changes to it so I will like it!

Pattern: Cora Half Sleeve Linen Dress (free pattern)

Adjustments: I made the bodice shorter and used the version without the darts. I also used my own gathered skirt pattern and added pockets. Omitted keyhole and button on the back. 

Fabric: From Julianne

Apple pinafore 

I kept seeing the Fleur pinafore on Instagram and had to get the pattern and try it myself! I had like 5 yards of this apple fabric and decided to give it a shot. It turned out so cute! I made a few mistakes (like stitching in the incorrect place for the button placket, see above), but nothing too noticeable. This was my first time doing buttons and buttonholes and there were EIGHT.

Pattern: Untitled Thoughts Fleur Pinafore

Adjustments: I added an inch to the bodice, and I'm not sure why. It wasn't necessary. I also added some length.

Fabric: Casey's grandmother gave this to me.

Buttons: Hobby Lobby

Burnt Orange pinafore 

The apple one was so cute that I had to make another one! This was probably my most-worn piece this fall. It's so cute and perfectly fall. After the apple one, I realized how confusing it was to have the same fabric for both the outer layer and the lining, so I used a fun rainbow stripe pattern to line the top. I also made the top in a smaller size (size 2) but kept the skirt the same size (size 6). The yellow buttons on the side are vintage! I also added pockets to this one. I wasn't sure if I'd like the look of them, but I do. Plus... pockets. 

Pattern: Untitled Thoughts Fleur Pinafore

Adjustments: Added length; Did crisscross straps for the back and omitted back panel. 

Buttons: Strap buttons from Hobby Lobby; side buttons are vintage

Other

Purses

I've made three Full Moon circle purses and of course have no photos of any of them. I've got two more in the works. These were Christmas presents for friends.

Bunny

I made this bunny for my niece's first birthday. It turned out very cute! The pattern was free from a book I borrowed from the library, and it wasn't a very well written pattern. There were a few times that the instructions were so unclear that I just had to figure it out as I went. Very disappointing. But ultimately it turned out adorable.

Pattern: From the Sunday Sews book; I had to do my own thing for the dress because I never figured out the instructions. 

Fabric: Gray linen from Hobby Lobby; dress fabric was thrifted; dress lining made out of her mom's pillow case from when she was a baby

Neckties

I discovered this necktie tutorial and have made like 8 ties! Most were for Casey, but some were for friends and family. This is a quick sew and comes together beautifully. It is a great beginner project. Casey loves having unique ties, so we always keep an eye out for cool fabric when we're shopping. (Btw, the filter I used on this photo makes the fabric look a little weird.)

Pattern: MADE Everyday Necktie. She goes through the entire process in this video and it's so easy to follow! She explains how to create your own pattern, but I decided to buy hers. Totally worth it! It comes with both the skinny and regular tie options. Casey prefers the skinny ties, but I have used the normal size pattern for gifts.

Fabric: Chateau Sew and Sew in New Orleans (They had such cute fabric!)

Princess Anna Costume

By far my favorite and most time consuming make of the year!! I've wanted a Princess Anna costume since Frozen came out, and now that I know how to sew, I had to make one myself! Eventually I want to thrift a light blue top and embellish it to be even more like her costume.

Vest: I thrifted a velvet jacket and turned it into a vest, then added gold bias tape and hand sewed the embellishment. 

Skirt: Made a gathered skirt (with an Olaf pocket!) and then added some darts to take away some bulk from the waistband. The motifs were made with heat and bond and it worked very well! (I tried fabric paint and it didn't look as nice)

Cape: This was the biggest experiment and I am THRILLED with the results. I got a lot of inspiration from this tutorial but did not use any patterns. I made some mock ups before cutting it out of my fabric. I made the cape really wide so I could actually wrap it around me to stay warm.

Fabric: Fabric for skirt and cape were from JoAnn's. Fabric for motifs and fold bias tape was from Hobby Lobby. Cape clasp was from Walmart.

I want this costume to be an ongoing project. As I progress with my sewing skills, I'd like to update pieces or recreate them completely. I really want to work on the motifs on the bodice (it's hard tell in the photos, but it's crooked) and add some more details to the cape. I'd also like to get more of the pink fabric to make her hat. I used almost every bit of the 5 yards I bought for the cape!

Current Projects

• Two Full Moon Bags | I still have two to make for Christmas presents. All the fabric is cut and prepped, so now I just have to sew them.
• Striped Corduroy Fleur Pinafore | I'm so excited about this one! All the pieces are cut and interfaced and I think I finished the top part of it. 
• Quilt top | I'm making a rainbow scrap quilt (because I love to not waste fabric) and I'm about halfway done with the quilt top. 

Whew! That's a lot! I really had no idea I made that many things this year.  I never planned to learn to sew, but it has been one of the most fun creative ventures I've done. It's so rewarding and I really enjoy it. Here's to another year! It will be so fun to look back in another year and see what all I've made!

2020 Goals Recap

It's been so long since I've written a new post that Blogger has changed on me! I spend a lot of my free time sewing (and thus not blogging) and I'm okay with that. That being said, I really enjoy going back and reading my end/beginning of the year posts so I wanted to pop in and do that today.

As it turns out, NO ONE had 2020 vision and this year turned out completely unexpected. But not all bad! I do still try to block out March and April where I spent six weeks making masks. Shockingly, I didn't lose my sewjo. I was just so. sick. of masks. But I've sewed some fun stuff since, and I'll try to do a recap on that. (We'll see. ha!)

I honestly didn't even remember the things I wrote down at the beginning of 2020. It's been a long year and I decided to give myself grace on all the things I didn't do. But let's see how I did. 

Marriage

• Make sure to have one six-second kiss every day | I feel terrible saying we don't do this every day! Guess that just means it needs to be on the 2021 goals list...
• Two planned date nights every month | After a few months, we decided to bump this up to a date night every week and I'm so glad we did! We have date night every Tuesday and always look forward to it. Sometimes we go to a local restaurant and sometimes we stay in and do a puzzle or something low-key, but I love having the time to connect with Casey. Sometimes we plan something together and sometimes one of us does the planning. It's always fun to come up with something new and fun, and Casey always plans fun dates!
• Express my expectations | Unfortunately there's no real way to measure this, but I have definitely been trying to communicate better and more, even about tiny things. Opening up a conversation is actually what led to us doing date night every week, so there are definitely benefits to expressing my expectations.

Going Green

• Continue using reusable shopping bags, coffee mugs, water bottle, real china and silverware, limiting paper towel use, and refusing plastic straws. | 2020 has made this one a little more difficult. At the beginning of Covid, we stopped using reusable shopping bags because we weren't sure if it was a good idea to continue using them. Reusable bags aren't the norm here--I've literally never seen a single other person in town use them--so our town doesn't have any rules about them, but we didn't want to make any grocery workers feel uncomfortable. We have since started using them again and haven't had a problem (other than grocery workers being confused, but that's normal). I HATE using grocery pick up (which was our only option when we had to quarantine a few times) because they put every single item in its own plastic bag. I could rant, but I'll refrain. We use these plastic bags as trash bags, so at least they've been getting used.

We're still rocking the real china and silverware, but I need to do better at speaking up against using a plastic straw. We limit the paper towel use to pet messes which has increased this year because we are now kitten foster parents! Though technically our paper towel usage has increased a little because of this, I still am proud of us for being mindful of when we use them.

• Figure out what to do about recycling. I didn't do this and I'm not sure if I just lost vision or if it was a 2020 thing that I didn't feel like bothering with. Either way, I've decided we'll just pay the fee to have recycling pick up this year. The only packaging I've truly tried to be mindful about is egg cartons, and I try to get ones made of paper that I can throw in the compost pile. However, I met a neighbor via Facebook who raises chickens, and she said she'd be happy to take empty egg cartons, so I'm going to try to remember to give them to her instead! 
• Shop the farmers market regularly. We've tried our best to support the farmers market this year, especially through Covid. Our favorite booth is a lady who bakes all kinds of delicious pastries. We get some almost every week! I was thrilled that there were extra booths before Christmas, so we did some of our Christmas shopping there. I love to support local entrepreneurs! 

Personal

• Be a better friend | That lunch date with myself in March never happened because I was too busy making masks to eat lunch. (Apparently I'm still not over the mask-making trauma, ha!) We did have a friend move in with us a few months ago and she will be here until she gets married in April. It's been so fun having her here. We've also been able to have some friends over for small dinner parties (which sounds far more fancy than it is--usually I make spaghetti or breakfast for dinner then we hang out).
• Read at least one non-fiction book a month | Oops. I just checked my Goodreads and I only read (listened to) two non-fic books this year. I prefer to listen instead of read non-fic, and I discovered podcasts this year, so I've listened to podcasts and forgone the books. That being said, I've been listening to my Bible. (See below)
• Create a cleaning schedule for my home | Oops again. Okay, to give myself some credit, during November I decided to create what I considered to be my ideal daily schedule. Part of this includes cleaning time throughout the day, like doing dishes after breakfast and lunch, and spending time in the afternoon picking up around the house. On the days I follow this schedule, I've rocked it!
• Complete at least one sewing project per month. I just now looked back and made a list of everything I made this year. I'm SHOCKED at how much I accomplished! In addition to about 350 masks (which took me six solid weeks of sewing while Casey did most of the cutting), I also made 6 skirts, 2 dresses, 2 pinafores, 3 purses, a stuffed bunny, 8 (I think) neckties, and a Princess Anna costume for myself! I'm currently working on 2 more purses, another pinafore, and a quilt top.

Spiritual

• Read a new Bible plan | I'm 21 days behind and have 4 days to catch up (I'm going to listen to it while I do some cleaning). I HATED the Bible reading program we chose and was already regretting it in March. I'm going back to my One Year Bible next year and really looking forward to it. I did like that Casey and I did it together though!
• Grand Finale | Our church couldn't have our annual kids camp this year, so we weren't able to do this. But we have some great ideas that maybe we can use next year!
• Play more worship music at home | We have ROCKED THIS. Every morning when I get up I tell Alexa to play worship music and we play it throughout the day. We even got another Echo Dot so I could have it playing in my office, too. 

This took far longer than I expected it to, but I'm glad I sat down to do this. It made me realize that, even during a global pandemic, I was able to move forward and make changes that help me become the person I want to become. I believe that every small step contributes to a bigger goal, and I'm glad I kept stepping. Now it's time to work on a list of goals for 2021!