Year In Review - 2015

On the days leading to January 1st 2016 I looked back at 2015 and at first judged it as a VERY unsuccessful and unproductive year. It wasn't one of the best years of my life. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to finish the experimental stage of my pHD, and way too much time was spent worrying about the future. I worry too much, which never really helps but I still find it difficult to let go.

I don't know why I didn't realized it at first, but despite my subjective feelings, 2015 was indeed quite productive both in sewing and in real-life.

KonMary 

I started the KonMary project during April, but I'm not yet done with it. I'm slowly collecting shoe-boxes from everyone I know, and hopefully by the end of 2016 I'll be done. Despite the slow-going process the closet has been clean and tidy since April, which makes dressing up in the morning way more fun.
 I never thought that if I throw out everything I dislike I may end up with too little, but apparently this could happen. During the first months after I threw out most of the items I didn't like I had very little left to wear. I don't miss the clothes I tossed (even not the hand-made ones that were a bit more difficult to give away), on the contrary I really enjoyed the free space in the closet, but since I love sewing and I needed more garments, the space is filling up quite fast. 

Lounge Wear 

On May I pledged to wear a me-made lounge garment twice a week.
This didn't work out quite well, as at that point I only had a few garments for lounging/ walking/ dancing/ sewing (please tell me I'm not the only one who can't sew with jeans), some were store-bought. Ever since May, I tried to find fabric and patterns to beef up my lounge wardrobe. I'm a sensitive person and very hyperactive so the moment I come home from work I immediately change into the most comfortable clothes I can find. Additionally you will never see me wearing anything restricting during weekends, nothing with zippers/ buttons, and usually not anything from a woven fabric unless it has a lot of ease. 

Case in point, this is what I wore to dinner on Friday:
 

 My father was not too pleased with my outfit... I quite tastelessly paired the blue floral Linden with the black and white Go-To knit pants, but let me tell you - it felt great! Needless to say I need a few more options in my "easywear" wardrobe.


New-to-me patterns

This year I enjoyed sewing more patterns than before. The Linden by Grainline is my current favorite; after hacking the Strathcona into a raglan I finally bought the Linden and immediately fell in love with the loose fit, but yet the body-conscious sillhouette. 

 
 Above is my third Linden. Again, presenting one of my horrible lounge pants. 



 And again a Linden, this time with a Moss skirt. 


 The Morris blazer on the above pictures wins the "most surprising make of 2015". I had the fabric in my stash for a year or so, it was bought with the Lady Skater dress in mind but I don't wear dresses so often and I already have two in a similar fabric (different color) so it waited in my stash. After the first Morris, I thought this heavy jersey fabric can make a cozy and "spicy" blazer and I'm happy with the result! 

I enjoyed trying out new patterns and indie designers, and I hope I'll continue to explore new shapes and silhouettes in 2016 as well.

I hope your 2016 is off to a good start! The first week of 2016 was also the first week of my internal medicine rotation, so I'm still socked and tired from the change in atmosphere and routine but I hope I'll enjoy the rest of this interesting (yet very demanding) rotation. An update on the wedding outfit will follow, I'm happy to say I'm sort of on schedule and will probably have a white thingy to wear by the beginning of February so things aren't too bad on that front. 

Have a great week!