Goals for the New Year

It's funny, I don't really like making lists, and I don't think I'm necessarily a goal-oriented person. But I do love setting goals for the New Year. 

The constant struggle between writing and sewing!

My biggest goal this year is to do a lot of writing. I have four novels that are in various stages of completion/ drafts/ etc. I want to start writing second drafts, finish other drafts, and so on. I also want to contact as many literary agents as I can. I did that To a small degree during 2016, but really need to step it up. 

The siren-call of The Historical Sew Monthly will, I'm sure, tempt me throughout the year. I don't have the time and resources to do all the challenges, but there are several which have caught my eye, and which I think I can manage with what I have on hand in the way of patterns and fabric. 

The September challenge is to recreate a costume from a film, and make it historically accurate. I've always loved this blouse from 'Random Harvest' (1942), whose story begins in 1918. I found this lovely - and very similar - blouse pattern from 1914, and would love to try it out. We'll see!

During the next two years, I want to delve into the 1910s even more. I want to expand my 1910s wardrobe, and revisit some of the poetry and memoirs inspired by the war.  I also have several magazines from that decade, mostly Modern Priscilla, and I'd like to try some of the sewing and cooking tips they offer.

Which brings me to my next goal: properly learning to crochet. I attempted this, but never mastered it, and I mean to in the year to come. I'm pretty sure all these projects will keep me plenty busy in the next twelve months! 

End of Year Reckoning

This past year I worked on several sewing projects (many not pictured, or rather, featured in a post, alas!). Though I didn't create anything on the scale of my 18th century stays and dress, I completed just as many pieces, even branching out into the late 20th century -- not just the 1910s this time.

A vest I made from an early 1970s pattern

This year, I tried making a few things for other people as well - I managed trousers for my sister Morag and a skirt for my sister Heather:

Heather in a skirt from a pattern by Decades of Style

I've also worked on a lot of writing this year. There's no visible way of showing that, alas, though I know I've written at least 81,000 words, which is quite a lot.

A skirt I made from the same pattern that included the above vest. 

Since last November, I've also been working on Kayla Itsines Beach Body Guide, thanks to my sister-in-law April. I've not perhaps been as vigorous with it as I should, but I have lost twenty pounds in about a year's time. I've never been a proponent of working out, and I still don't like the idea of gyms, but that's what I liked so much about this programme. It gave me time to still look after my nieces, and write and sew and all the rest of it.

2016 has been a crazy year for all of us, but I am grateful for the things I've learned, and the opportunity, in the year to come, to continue to learn and create.