2018 Hits and Misses

I've been busy over the last couple of weeks making Christmas presents, so while they still need to be kept secret I thought I'd share a quick round-up of some of my favourite projects from this year, as well as a couple of things that weren't quite so successful. Let's start with the hits...

My Vogue 8577 dress is probably my favourite dress that I sewed this year. I think a major part of the reason it was so successful is the combination of the pattern and the fabric - the cotton sateen that I used has a good weight and drape to it, which makes the skirt hang really nicely and swish pleasingly as I walk in the dress. I'd definitely like to make another version of this dress in the future - I'm keeping my eye out for the right fabric!

The Sew Over It Carrie trousers that I made this summer were a bit of a surprise hit for someone who usually lives in dresses and skirts! I really enjoyed wearing them, and it was nice to try something a bit outside of my usual comfort zone. I'm planning on trying out some other trouser patterns in the future.

Time for some knitting now! With the amount of work that went into my "Lovely" cardigan (I always feel the need to emphasise the fact that "Lovely" is the name of the pattern and not just an adjective I'm using to describe the cardigan!), it definitely deserved to be included in my top projects of the year. I'm really happy with the fit of the cardigan, and it's proving to be delightfully cosy to wear now that the weather is colder.

Next up we have my Carolyn pyjamas. In some ways you might think that all pyjamas are fairly standard, but the trousers and shorts that I made from the Carolyn pattern are by far and away the nicest fitting pyjama bottoms that I can remember owning. They're the perfect combination of having just a touch of shape to them to make them fit nicely, whilst still being baggy enough to have the comfort that you want from PJs. I'm hoping to make some more soon.

And the last of my hits is a fairly recent addition to my collection - my Pippi pinafore. I love wearing pinafores at this time of year, so it was always a fairly safe bet that this was going to be a success. It's lovely to wear and the pink denim that I used is a great cheery colour for brightening up dull days. What more could you want?!

Now, let's turn to projects that weren't quite so successful. I'll preface this by saying that I didn't have any complete disasters this year (I've got a fairly good idea of what suits me, and I make toiles so I can spot any fitting issues early on) and all of the projects I'm about to share definitely have their plus points too. For one reason or another though, these haven't got as much love as some of this year's other creations.

First up is my foray into sewing lingerie. My Watson bra is perfectly fine and I do wear it occasionally, but the insides just look a bit messy (totally due to my lack of experience of working with all the different elastics rather than any fault of the pattern) and I stick by the assessment that I made at the time that this is one occasion where it might just be better to buy something than make it. As for the Acacia knickers - after wearing them a few times I was forced to admit that the elastic is just a bit too loose. I've been meaning to go back and try to fix it, but fixing things is always at the bottom of my list of things to do so I never get round to it! I do still want to try making more knickers to use up jersey scraps though.

My McCalls 7714 dress is a bit of a sad tale - I really liked the dress and happily wore it. Unfortunately, when I washed it some of the red from the background of the fabric bled onto some of the white flowers making them a wishy washy pink. I'm not sure why this happened to the finished dress when it didn't happen to the fabric when I prewashed it, but there we go! It's still wearable, but it does look a bit odd.

Lastly, we have my Sew Over It Clara blouse. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this project - I enjoyed sewing the pattern, I like the fabric, and it fits nicely. I struggle to know what to wear it with other than this red skirt though, so it just hasn't been worn that much. I'm including it in my list of "misses" at least partly to try to remind myself to try to find other ways to wear it!

So there we go, a fairly successful year of sewing/knitting all in all! I'm now starting to look forward to the new year and planning what projects I want to make in 2019. Have you come up with any plans yet? And what was your favourite thing that you made this year?