My Sewing Space!!!

Most people are aware that the East Coast of the US is recovering from Blizzard Jonas from this weekend so that left a LOT of free time for me (and my mom) while I was snowed ALLL the way in with no options to leave. What did we decide to do, you ask?? What we were supposed to do in December 2014! lol Clean out the space I started using as my sewing room. It was my mom's office, then, over years, it got piled up with a bunch of things that did not need to be in there, unfortunately. So I've been sewing in the room for a little more than a year with VERY limited space to walk around and do what I needed to do.

We did a DEEP cleaning of the room. Went through every pile and every bag of stuff and we made sure that EVERYTHING had a place. People can finally hang in the room with me while I sew lol It was one of my early visions for the space and now it's possible.

2015 Recap and a new outlook

So, I wasn't planning on doing this. But as I was going through old posts I decided that I had a REALLY good sewing year in 2015 and it'd be a shame to not take a second to appreciate the work and growth that I experienced. 

This year I turned a quarter of a century, became a godmother, traveled a little internationally (Toronto, Panama), hosted another meetup and spent a lot of time just being happy.

This year I made 25 different pieces and I'm keeping 18 of them. I think that 72% is pretty good! My track record got pretty impeccable at the end of the year with the things I made off of my Fall Sewing Plans list. I sewed 8 out of 11 of the plans and I'm happy with and keeping all of them. :-) 

Time Knows Better - McCall's 7194

I want to travel back in time to when there were Christmas trees outside, songs of cheer, people giving, and it was 68 degrees outside lol. I want to go back and talk about the last item I made before my NYE top. Right after I had finished my blazer/cardigan thing, I started on this another faux accented make and finished a day later!

I think my most loved makes have been a testament to why I shouldn't rush my sewing or jump on every thought that comes to my head. I bought a couple yards of a brown sweater knit fabric from JoAnn Fabrics in my FIRST year of sewing when I didn't know where to look for patterns and that patterns went on sale for $1 and change and I was buying them off of Etsy lol. I had found a pattern on Etsy that I liked and had planned to make View C from this brown sweater knit. It felt like my style and I thought I'd probably wear it often. That was 2013.

Time kept passing and I kept accumulating more patterns and fabric, but every time I came across the brown sweater knit fabric in my stash, I reminded myself that it was reserved for the Butterick pattern so I left it alone. Each time I would do long-term planning, I would pull the pair out but I never made it up.

It wasn't until this past Fall that I really took a look at the patterns I had bought and what I would probably wear, that I decided to give the brown sweater knit another fate. In my Fall Sewing Plans post, I paired it with McCall's 7194 and at this moment, it has been one of my best sewing decisions.

Happy New Year! - McCall's 7051

Ever since I was a child, I have spent New Year's Eve night in a church. I didn't even know that it was called Watch Night Service until I got older. It was just what my family did. Long story shorty, when I went off to college, a got exposure to the parties and got a taste of freedom that I had never experienced before. So on the breaks, when NYE would be around the corner, I started considering ideas of going out to the club or going to parties at peoples' houses to drink..... but I never did. Even though really I wanted to, and sometimes made plans to, I would decide against it at the last minute and go to church and spend time with my family after. 

My desire to do something "different" for NYE was always trumped by my fear I would do something or be somewhere/in a situation that I would truly regret. My decision to go to church instead and stay in with my family always brought me peace and I never regretted it. But, if I'm honest, I always wanted to know what it felt like on the "other" side. 

Fast forward a bit... remember last year when I talked about the new friends that I'd made? Yea, a few of these friends run a group called Culture-New Norm. One of the things that the group does is throw Christian parties every month. I know, I know. Every time I tell people they look at me like "Huh?!" lol Well yea, they play music by different Christian Rappers and singers that get you just as hype as music that plays on the regular radio, the messages are just different. It's a "Party without Compromise". Wellll they were throwing one for NYE! Right in the heart of DC nightlife.

I wasn't just going to NOT go to church though. I do serve and am usually part of the service in one way or another. Plus, I would feel like something was missing if I didn't go. Conveniently, they set the time of the party at midnight so that people would be able to attend Watch Night services at their churches and come to the party after! So perfect. I had such a fun time at the party and I definitely satisfied my wanting to have MORE fun bringing in the New Year. I got to enjoy myself in an environment that wouldn't have my mom worried, I got to dance and party along to music that points back to Christ, and I didn't have to pretend to be someone I'm not. That may be my favorite part.

Once I knew that I was going to the party, I knew that I wanted to make something to wear. At first I considered different dresses but I realized I wouldn't have enough time to dedicate to a full dress. After combing through my fabric options, I found a couple more yards of  "Black Corded Light Weight Suiting" from Fabric Mart that I used to make one of my favorite skirts from earlier in 2015. I figured I would just make a top out of the same fabric that I could tuck in and have an outfit that LOOKED like a dress.