Sewing Goals: 2025 revisited

It's 2026! With many apologies for all those who have commented and not received a reply, who have posted and not received a comment, who have emailed and not heard back from me... I took a semi-deliberate break from the online world over Christmas and New Year. I am going to catch up on commenting especially over the next few days - it's the thing I'm most behind on. I had a lovely holiday - I did a lot of baking and cooking; made our Christmas pudding; played the piano; sang along to carols on the radio and ranted about how Classic FM stop playing carols on Boxing Day; sang carols for Midnight Mass; went to morning Mass; gave presents; hosted extended family; spent time with my brother who is back for the holidays; visited family in the New Forest and went for walks in the dark; ate lots of chocolate; went to a very enjoyable party; and played the piano music my parents gave me - the complete set of Chopin's Nocturnes!! 

"You have delighted us long enough, child. Let the other young ladies have a chance to exhibit."

Now I'm sitting in my room, surrounded by suitcases I should be unpacking rather than eating Christmas cake and blogging. 

It is the time of year for 2025 wrap-up posts! While my book/film wrap-ups are underway, my second ever post on this blog was about my sewing plans for 2025. It's about time I revisited them and did a review of my sewing for 2025... 

The first thing on the list was a fit and flare dress with some fabric I'd already bought. I didn't make the dress (spoiler alert - I still haven't) but I did make a skirt with the fabric. 

The next two things were pajamas (nope, still haven't done that) and a historical dress (Cecilia, were you crazy?). I didn't actually sew those; I got straight on with the next project, which was going to be culottes. 

These are a complete style departure and it wasn't worth taking. I used some weird fabric anyway, and the shape of them didn't really suit me... it was not remotely successful, but I learned from it. In future, I will not use cheap fabric that melts if ironed... 

I sewed a kirtle (a medieval dress) next. If I'd had a little more time, this would have gone better... but it worked well enough for the day and my brother was kind enough to say it made me look like someone in a Vermeer painting, so a semi-success, I think!

Then we moved and all sewing stopped for a while. When I had time and brain power to sew again, I scrapped the last thing on the list (a t-shirt) and sewed a blouse and a skirt instead:

Then I made a dress for my sister for Christmas. This was a definite learning curve, as it involved lots of construction techniques I'd never done before, plus using some very slippery fabric... 

But it worked!!

After that, I made myself a pinafore dress, not for Christmas Day itself, just to wear afterwards. It was a semi-success. I lengthened the skirt of the original and it wasn't the most flattering result. Also, the back was somewhat baggy, but that was genuinely the fault of the pattern, not me. I added a lining of the fabric I'd used for the Easter skirt, and also the pocket lining was made of the same fabric... secret prettiness! I've worn it a couple of times since and I'm warming to it gradually.

Finally, on the 29th, I cut out the fabric for a simple top. It is a very pretty design - it's got 3/4 length puffed sleeves! Oh, and it's stripy, which has to be a good thing.

So that's my sewing wrap-up! This year, I may sew more, I may sew less... we'll see. I have very few things I need for my wardrobe at the moment, so I may wait until nearer summer and start sewing dresses and skirts then. 

Next up... reading wrap-up! I need to get writing...

Tell me about your Christmas and holidays! Did you do any crafty things? Do you have any suggestions for future projects?