HOW DID I GET HERE? MY 2018 SEWING GOALS AND HOW THEY SET ME ON MY PATH FOR 2019
An early success: McCall’s 7774 in a cotton barkcloth from Tomato Select in Tokyo. I took my sewing photos on our back balcony when we had one.
It started innocently enough. When I was first dating Jason, he noticed that whenever I wanted to sew, I had to drag my sewing machine out of the kitchen closet in my wonky railroad apartment and clear off a desk in another room. So when we moved in together, he casually suggested I have a designated desk just for the machine. And then he built me a simple desk. (Swoon.)
It was autumn 2017 and I hadn’t sewn regularly in years. Having a designated sewing space was all I needed - suddenly I felt motivated to get back to a lifelong hobby that had fallen by the wayside. I had a small collection of patterns I’d been stashing, and I was excited to have a reason to go fabric shopping in midtown again.
Sadly, I don’t have any photos of my sewing table from that apartment! This was my workroom. On the opposite wall, I had my sewing machine desk. I cut and pressed on the floor (!!?) because I didn’t own an ironing board at the time. Photo by Aaron Bengochea for Domino Magazine.
The first few things I sewed were ridiculously too big, a little (jk a lot) sloppy, and always out of a way too heavy fabric (canvas for a spring dress, wtf). Yet, they were deeply satisfying projects. I’m never too precious with anything, so I would just keep hacking away at the tissue, at the half-sewn garments, and at my scraps, until I had something vaguely wearable.
I could feel the muscle memory of childhood sewing returning to me; I knew the right way to do things but was clumsy and out of practice. I started reading sewing blogs and forums online, always seeking out pattern reviews before cutting out a new pattern. I got a subscription to Threads and bought a few sewing and tailoring books. Basically, I got really into it.
This black linen dress sewn from a vintage 1970s pattern is an example of a perfect garment that I somehow made in 2018. It is one of my most-worn garments.
So, as 2018 approached, I decided on a New Year’s Resolution: sew one wearable garment per month. I qualified with “wearable”, because I wanted to add to my wardrobe, not just make some wacky unravelling half projects to stuff at the back of my closet. Soon, I was hitting my goal, and then exceeding it. By the end of the year, I had created far more than 12 wearable garments. A few of them are, hands down, my most worn and loved garments. I’m not sure how I nailed it those times, but there are a few dresses in particular that are straight up PERFECT. Easy to wear and launder, deep pockets, solid black or simple patterns, comfortable, and they fit!
My top 9 makes from 2018 - all of these are still in rotation and some of them, I don’t know if I will ever top how much I love them. The one in the center literally fell apart because I wore it so much and the fabric was cheap. The bottom right corner dress is too short. Otherwise, I still wear all of these often.
Needless to say, I was hooked. I wanted to keep sewing. I started reading about people who sew all of their own clothing in these modern times, and learned about Ready-to-Wear (RTW) Fasting, i.e., abstaining from purchasing clothing for a set length of time. Goodbye Valentino is probably best known for doing this, and she always looks so chic. I was inspired. Next thing you know, my 2019 resolution was to sew ALL my own clothes. I don’t love calling something a “fast”, and I don’t use Facebook so I couldn’t officially participate….so I just said I’d be sewing my own clothes.
At the time of making that resolution, I don’t think I understood how much work, patience, time, and frustration would be involved. But I stuck to it! I’ll be writing about my year of sewing in my next post, but wanted to give some background on how I got here. I haven’t decided on my sewing goals for 2020 yet, but I am happy I can do a little shopping in the meantime. XO Martha