What Worked in 2018, and What Didn’t

It’s good, they say, to review your day, and/or your week, and month, and, at the very least, your year. It’s something I’ve not really done, but am beginning to see why it would be a good idea to acknowledge what you did that worked for you or what was even so brilliant it surprised you. And of course, to also check in with what you could tweak to be better or maybe what you should just outright ditch because it isn’t worth your time.

So here is my short list of what worked for me this last year and what didn’t work so well.

YouTube – I upped my video game. I made a lot more videos last year for The Daily Sew while learning about and improving the light, sound, and editing. Making videos is a fun way to teach sewing and for many of us it’s a great way to really comprehend how to do whatever it is we want to do. Thank you very much if you subscribe to The Daily Sew’s YouTube channel. It’s growing so fast and that’s exciting.

A Menu – Even though I’ve always planned what to make for dinner a week at a time, I’ve always resisted the suggestion from my husband to make each day of the week a particular meal. “How boring”, I thought, “There’s no way I can only eat 7 different meals” but seven meals are better than no meal as I struggled to plan what we would eat for the week. So I decided to try it for a month.

It’s been four months now of easy menu planning, easy grocery shopping, and easier evenings in the kitchen. I gave each day a category, Sunday is soup, Monday is stir fry, Tuesday is a grain, a green, and a bean and so forth with Saturdays being no-cook night which means leftovers, going out to eat or just sandwiches.

It’s not that boring after all. The categories lend themselves to what produce is in season, and some days are switched with each other just because things come up.

A Sewing Friend – A friend and neighbor, who doesn’t sew, connected me to a fellow neighbor and friend of hers who does sew. Meeting someone, a bonus that she’s walking distance away, who sews clothing has been really great. We show and talk over fabric, patterns and projects. We even got together to sew the Ash Jeans pattern. Neither one of us has finished our jeans but that’s another story. So tell everyone you know that you sew – it may just pay off with a sewing friend (Of course, tell them you sew for yourself, and do not do free/cheap alterations)

A Meditation App – I know, I know, meditation is like the new fad, but really and truly, I find Insight Timer, a free app, to be just what I need when I need to be less worried, less anxious or more relaxed. It has guided meditations listed by genre and by time. I have a sleep meditation and a few start-the-day meditations bookmarked as well as a middle of the day, I-need-a-reset meditation.

And What Didn’t Work?

Being inconsistent – Not posting regularly, not sending out newsletters regularly, ignoring Facebook for weeks on end, this didn’t feel good. Being inconsistent is probably a weakness in character, or it’s a sign of high distractibility. Consistency is a big thing I’ll be working on in 2019. If you have any tips please send them my way.

No Morning Routine – Being the free bird I am I enjoy reading with breakfast, I like getting the kitchen straight before I go to my office, I like a cup of tea but I really can’t stand that before I know it it’s noon and I haven’t brushed my teeth yet. I get so defeated when I look at my planner and see I didn’t do what I wanted do, thought I could do, because I ran out of time. A morning routine, and perhaps it can still include the things I like to do, needs to happen this year for my sanity.

Buying Patterns – There are too many patterns and not enough time. I know this is a fact because I have patterns in every garment category, some purchased years ago, that have never been used. I obviously do not need to buy any patterns for quite a while. I will be doing a clean sweep of some of these uncut patterns this spring so be sure to get on my email list to know what will be available and when. (They’ll be free because you don’t need to buy any pattern either)

Vogue 9253 – This was to be the dream dress. Expectations were high; Very Easy Vogue meant easy project, I read Tessuti’s take on what to change to make it even better, and I wanted to wear it to a wedding.

Yeah, it didn’t work out as I thought. It wasn’t fast going (that was probably on me), I followed Tessuti’s alterations but should have left the sleeves alone. My plan was to make one up in some older blue linen, then make a second dress, learning from the first, in a beautiful wine red color for the wedding

I wore the blue dress at the wedding because I ran out of time to make a second dress. But I thought the dress looked fine so I packed it. Then I saw a picture of myself at the wedding and I thought, “uh… that looks a little sloppy”. So, 🙁 that didn’t work.

In sewing, as in life; You win some and you lose some.

Hope your 2018 was full of learning moments and some fun highlights. And here’s to 2019 – may we learn even more, and remember what we have already learned.

What were some things that worked for you?