Every year I sit down and decide on what my direction for the year will be. I don’t have a word of the year as I find that these too narrow in what I am hoping to achieve.
So I have a good think of what the last year looked like and what I want the next year to be.
Looking back at the last 12 months, longer really, I have seen how I have been crippled with my sewing because I can’t get clothes to fit me perfectly, that I just give up or have gave up.
I recently read an article where the author talked about how all the current fitting books, classes etc are setting us up to fail from the beginning by talking about trying to get the “perfect” fit, when in reality we won’t and that we need to understand that fitting is hard, and needs a lot of practice. She went on to say that we don’t need to aim for the perfect fit and that a few wrinkles are more than ok.
So this year, I am hoping to focus on my actual sewing and and try and learn new skills along with fitting. Trying to focus on that near enough is more than enough but in the same boat, try and understand what the wrinkles are trying to tell me.
I found the below quote on the internet and think it fits very nicely with my 2025 goals – might print it out and stick it somewhere so I can keep check of myself!
Embrace progress over perfection and give yourself permission to make mistakes along the way.
I have signed up to a fitting course – not an in-depth one, but one that will give me enough clues as to what I am looking at and how to try and resolve them. I have been working on a toile and have been reminding myself that it is practice and only calico so have been happily cutting, slashing and writing on it. I am about to make a couple of adjustments on the pattern itself and then sew up another one.
I have also signed up for a sewing class, where the instructor shows you how tailors sew clothes and gives you all the insider tips and tricks. It isn’t cheap but the projects you make – look amazing.
I have already picked up a stack of tips on setting up my overlocker and how to overlock clothes!
I am also applying all of this to my gardening. I have not gardened before, and need to remind myself that it will be a huge learning curve, that I will lose a few plants here and there and that that is ok.
I feel good about 2025 and hopefully will see me learning to embrace mistakes and that they are ok.
cheers
Stephanie xox