My plans for 2016...

After reviewing 2015 in my last post I thought I'd share some of my plans/goals/ideas for 2016. 

I've broken them down into creative/sewing and non creative, which is mainly health and wellbeing.

First my sewing plans for this year.

Gain new skills / improve existing skills

I've never really had a sewing lesson in my life - other than quilt making - and I decided it was about time I upped my skills a bit.  I've been lucky enough to be able to book on two of Alison Smith's workshops at her School of Sewing that I'll be attending this year.  I've booked the Tailored Jacket workshop and the Couture Dress one, and I'm really excited about both of them. 

I'm also hoping to do some more pattern drafting workshops at Fabric HQ to expand my (currently limited) skills in that area. 

Also in this area I'd like to experiment more with free motion embroidery, either finding new ways of using it, or adding more textures/layers and detail to the projects I make. 


Consider what I'm sewing

I wasn't sure how to word this, or completely what I mean if I'm honest.  I want to end up with a more coordinated wardrobe of lovely items that sit well together, rather than my current mish-mash of things I've made just because I love the fabric/pattern/felt like making it. 

I've got a little list of things I'd like to make this year, which includes some jeans, either the Closet Case Files Ginger jeans or Baste + Gather Birkin flares, I'm not sure which yet.  Ideally I would do both as they'd fill different gaps in my wardrobe.  I'd also like to make the Style Arc Carly jumpsuit I was planning on making last year and never got round to, a denim or chambray Pussy Bow blouse and the Oki Style Salt jacket.



I'm not going to set myself any more specific sewing plans, as I've done that before and I always end up changing my mind part way through the year.  I'm going to try not to get too side tracked by the "new and shiny" this year, but my magpie brain finds it very hard not to get distracted from any plans I make.

My non-sewing plans, as I mentioned above, are all health or wellbeing related. 

The main one is to improve my mental health.  I was struggling a bit towards the end of last year, and a combination of medication and cognitive behaviour therapy seems to be helping.  I had a CBT session last night and actually had a major breakthrough, when suddenly the reasons for me feeling the way I do all seemed to become clear in an instant.  I'm not going to share the reasons here, but I'm sure you can imagine that it was quite an emotional experience.  I still feel quite emotional about it today, but I also feel good that I seem to have found the root cause and can work on it.

Anyway, that was a bit of a diversion, what I want to do this year is to challenge negative thinking, find something positive about each day and to accept myself for who I am.  I have a habit of comparing myself to others, and I want to try to stop doing this.  Truly Myrtle's post yesterday The Comparison Game really resonated with me. 

My other wellbeing goals are to try to eat more healthily - I am erratic with my healthy eating at the moment - to drink more water and to try and find a form of exercise I don't hate.  This will be a hard one for me because exercise and me are not natural friends.  I enjoyed running a few years ago but stopped because I had a problem with my hip.  I'm thinking I might give it another go. 

Do you have any plans whether sewing related or not for this year?  Can you recommend a form of exercise you love?

As always, thank you for reading.  I really will be back soon with some sewing to share with you. 

13 comments

  1. Some great sewing plans there Sam. Hope they go well. Also jealous you are going to the sewing school!

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    1. Thanks Manju. I'm very excited about going to Alison's sewing school.

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  2. Thank you for the link to the Salt jacket! I'd never heard of OkiStyle before and their patterns are very intriguing.

    I was a kid who hated PE and still dislikes most forms of organised exercise. I do a lot of walking, though (I don't drive), which I love - even if it's just going for a walk round the park I find it makes a real difference to my mood to be out in the fresh air moving around. This September just gone I started going to a tai chi class after attending a taster session at work, and have been really enjoying it. It's very low-impact and the individual stances & forms are simple, but it adds up. What's also been good for me there is a very businesslike Daoist instructor: she assumes that people come to a tai chi class to do tai chi, and focuses on the practice itself, without body-talk. (I have no desire to lose weight and find it really unsettling how frequently people assume that being thinner is something _everyone_ wants.)

    I am glad CBT is working for you and hope it continues to do so! I look forward to seeing your creations in 2016.

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    1. The OkiStyle patterns are very interesting, aren't they? The jacket I've picked seems to have a Vivienne Westwood vibe to me.

      Like you I've never liked PE and organised exercise! I do quite enjoy walking and I've done pilates in the past and quite liked that. I've never thought of tai chi, I might investigate that.

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  3. Good luck with your goals for 2016. I love reading about this kind of stuff.

    I empathise with you about the exercise thing. I LOVED playing team sports when I was a kid/teenager, but that is almost impossible to sustain as an adult with a job and a family. I loathe walking - it's SO boring and HOT (I live in Australia) and the chlorine in pools drives my skin crazy so I can't swim often either. However, I have found an exercise I love. I don't know whether you have it in the UK, but I've discovered Cardio Tennis. It's an exercise class built around tennis drills. It's high intensity (but you can adjust to suit your fitness level), can be slightly competitive in a fun way and it's run in small groups so you get the social aspect as well. I'm not going to lie, though, it's also HOT! :-)

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    1. Thanks Kelley. I've NEVER enjoyed playing sports - PE was my most hated lesson at school. I don't mind walking, but I agree it can get boring. I've never heard of cardio tennis, I don't know if we have that here, I'll have to do some investigation!

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  4. Find an exercise that you enjoy doing. Running could be it but there might be something else you might want to explore.
    I'm so glad you're making headway and are on the path of being who you want to be. I've always considered your sewing skills to be way ahead of mine and that's simply because I admire what you do. Please don't take this as a comparison. I understand what Myrtle wrote about and I'm glad she wrote that post too.
    Wishing you lots of joy in 2016!!!

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    1. Thank you Maria. Isn't it funny, I would have considered your sewing skills to be way ahead of mine! Just goes to show how we perceive ourselves compared to others, doesn't it!

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  5. My sewing is largely self taught although i did have some basics taught to me at the beginning so am rather jealous of your two upcoming classes - the best of luck with them and i look forward to hearing of them. re the exercise bit..... i used run but the main reason (aside from laziness) i am not running now is that it makes my rosecea worse and my rosecea was awful 2 years ago (now improving). I do a basic set of yoga moves in the morning. they are called tibetian rites .http://www.mkprojects.com/pf_TibetanRites.htm I varied the 2nd one so its more like I am touching my toes with legs and arms towards the ceiling while lying on my back (it pusts less strain on the back) and I have been doing them for the last 5 years. The first year or so I gradually built them up. you start of by doing 3 only and then build up to doing 21 of each. the good thing about the build up is that its easy to commit to a short routine, and then the more you do them the more they fit in. they take about 10 minutes for the full lot i think - and you do the exercises as you feel comfortable, they are stretches and the main thing is not to over do it. best of luck with whatever you choose.

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  6. Congratulations on your breakthrough moment. Painful to go through but much better afterward. I love that you are making jeans and the styles you have chosen look fabulous. Have fun finding an exercise that you love. Have you considered dancing (doesn't have to be ballroom - you could try ballet, tap, belly, salsa or hip hop)?

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    1. Thanks Jen, I have to say I feel a lot better for having the breakthrough. I'm excited to start making the things I've decided on. I hadn't thought of dancing, I did both ballet and tap many, many years ago and salsa always sounds like fun!

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  7. I was looking at the blog happilycaffeinated and saw that she mentioned a jeans pattern by Itch to Stitch that had option for skinny, straight leg, or flares? I've already got the Ginger pattern, but if I had seen that one first, I'd have given it some thought. Maybe it would fulfill your jeans desire. :)

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    1. Yes, I noticed the Itch to Stitch pattern just a couple of days after I wrote this post. I also saw that Closet Case Files have released a flared jeans add-on to the Ginger pattern as a pdf.

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