Inspired by Rosie at DIYCouture, I thought I'd break down some numbers on last year's sewing. Although I think I have less detail to go into! I'm trying to master PivotTables (if there is such a thing as mastery of excel things), so this seems like a nice simple way to put that into action.
I'm skipping things like diaper liners, mending, etc, because... that doesn't feel like making something. And it would be un-fun to count.
I mostly sewed for my son, which makes sense, because that's what got me sewing again. It had been three years from my previous actual project. Towards the end of the year I started sewing for myself more, but baby projects are such a nice break that I keep going back to them.
Who I sewed for
And categories
To figure out where fabric came from, I really didn't count anything as from my stash as it's not previously been a thing for me. I did buy a bunch of knits from Carden Fabrics when they closed, but those don't count as stash until 2018 ^_^. A lot of projects used a combination of sources, and scraps play a big role in my sewing because I hate to throw any out (I freecycle the small but quilt-usable ones that I don't use myself, periodically) (and use knit scraps to stuff stuffed animals... oi). Instead of trying to track that granularly, I just count by the dominant fabric source.
Where that fabric from
Because I don't count notions and such, the local non-Fabricland stores get short shrift. They're mostly quilting focused here, and I only like to buy organics/ hemp/ tencel/ deadstock which is hardly an option anywhere in town, but I did make a grow-with-me romper (as a commission!) for a friend with fabric from Unique Textiles (who do, occasionally, carry tencel).
Where that pattern from
Self patterns win, because of baby clothes experiments (I only used patterns for adult stuff). Apple Tree and B&T both provided a lot of my go to baby patterns, and Delia Creates is all the toque pattern I like to use. I made the Blueprints geodesic twice, the See Kate Sew mermaid sleeper a couple times, and a tie & a kielo from Named.
Others are: Jennifer Lauren Handmade (Gable), Schwin and Schwin (booties), Victory Patterns (my Ferdinand shirt), Wholefully (booties), Stitch Upon a Time (undies for me - see this becoming a repeat), the Birch fabric (Helga elephant) and the Wolf and the Tree (socks).
How do I feel about the finished piece
Loosely, I am in love with 11 of the things I made last year. 2 of those were for me and the rest for baby.
My me favs: the fancy floor geodesic sweatshirt I made myself (it's in a marble summer sweat) and my kielo (neither of which are blogged, but maybe I should make myself some notes on these huge successes style-wise). Both grey, because that's what I wear.
My baby favs: his grow-with-me romper, the Applied String Theory romper, the pilsbury doughboy onesie, his bear and whale toques, one of the pairs of grow-with-me pants (black + bears), and his bear painting stars sleeper.
So in total, I'm thrilled or in LOVE with about half of what I made, and all the way down to fine I wouldn't go back and do anything different, even if the finished piece isn't a runaway hit. That's 3/4!
I called my Gable a little unsatisfied, because I'm still unhappy with the gaping neckline. I gave it to my mum and it seems to fit her better. My oh boy is reserved for my baby star trek onesie experiment gone awry.
And lastly, the most obvious graph, with all those soft baby clothes making up so much of my sewing:
This exercise has given me some tracking ideas going forward.... good stuff.
