starting the year off right

I've had such a slow start to my sewing year so far - here we are in the third week of January already and I haven't even finished a single garment yet. Well actually, I did finish one dress but I wasn't happy with how it turned out so I've taken it apart and am currently reworking it.

But I have started the year off on the right foot. I gave my sewing room an almighty clean up - putting away the remnants of last year's projects, packing away loose pattern pieces that were laying around, giving everything a good dust and vacuum and tidying up my fabric shelves. In fact my sewing room is so clean, I almost don't want to use it for fear of messing it up!

I didn't make any sewing resolutions or goals this year, in fact I think this year I will just sew on a whim: whatever takes my fancy is where I shall go. I may as well do it this way, since I'm absolutely hopeless at sewing with a plan and there's no real hole in my wardrobe that I need to fill.

I will continue on with the one intention that I made last year and was actually successful with - no new UFOs. Yes, that's right, I either finished all of the projects I started or I remade them into something else for Anna if they didn't work out. Of course I haven't finished all of the UFOs that still reside in my big box of UFOs either, but not adding to the pile is something at least. Which is where the dress I'm currently taking apart comes in - I was tempted to put it down and move on since it's supposed to be a simple summer dress that is in fact turning into a fiddly nightmare, but I'm determined to finish it and wear it. So stay tuned!

And because I don't like to post without a photo, here's a photo of the unflattering pleated navy blue polka dot skirt I made from Burda 10-2008 pattern 103 , reworked by evenly gathering the fabric around the wide waistband:

Much better! This was a great skirt to wear on our holiday to make it through the steamy hot days.

Thankfully my inlaws survived the floods with no damage to their house at all, except for the loss of the contents of their fridge and freezers due to the electricity being off for a few days. Which is nothing compared to what others have experienced, so to keep karma on side we shall be making a donation to the relief effort.