A Vision-Based Sewing Year
see the first post here
This five-part series explores an alternative to traditional sewing goals. Instead of resolutions and quotas, it asks a different question: what does a sewing life look like when it’s truly working?
Through reflection, data, and play, this series walks through the process of casting a vision, learning from past sewing seasons, and creating gentle structures that support creativity without pressure.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by goals but still deeply committed to your craft, this series is for you.
Looking back at my 2025 sewing, I set three goals:
- Sew one garment for myself each month that is NOT for a League of Dressmakers lesson
- Purchase ZERO new fabric for myself & reduce my stash
- Purchase ZERO garments and donate or upcycle garments that can be replaced with handmade makes
I also had three “categories” in which I wanted to sew last year:
- JEANS and corduroys
- bras & underpants
- yoga wear/gym clothes
My sewing list? I kept in this extraordinarily high-tech handwritten sheet stapled to the inside of a notebook on my desk, because here at Whipstitch Industries we use only the finest of New Technologies.
I wrote down each project only as it was completed. I also had a running list of “to sew” projects, but I discovered pretty early in the year that I must have been hallucinating when I made it because following that AND sewing for The League AND planning the next Murder Mystery Quilt would have required two Time Turners, and I am not cleared for those. Instead, I opted for a more “Honey Did” list than a “Honey Do,” and it worked for me.
Of those projects, I had no trouble averaging one garment per month that was just-for-me and sewn off-camera, although they weren’t technically made one-per-month.
Goal two? To purchase zero new fabric? LOLOLOLOL Be so for real right now, that was always a doomed plan. Moving on.
Goal three was to purchase zero new garments, and I can sincerely say that I don’t recall a SINGLE clothing purchase for myself last year. Seriously, not ONE. Not even thrifted! Amazing all by itself (but if you’ve seen my closet, not completely surprising).
Analyzing the categories in which I wanted to sew gives some additional raw data. I did not make bras and underpants, I just didn’t make the time for it. It felt like “delicate” sewing and that wasn’t the emotional space I was in during 2025, so while I did LOOK at the laces and elastics I’ve purchased for making those things (of course I have already bought it ALL), I didn’t do the sewing.
Jeans? I made the hell outta some jeans. Between standard jeans and corduroys (not counting jeans patterns sewn up in non-denim or corduroy), I made a total of TWELVE pair last year. Of those, five were for other people (three of my children got jorts, my youngest got an additional pair of full-length jeans, plus a friend volunteered to be a fit model for the How To Sew Jeans series at The League). The others were all for me, and I loooooooooove them.
Athletic and yoga clothes were also a BIG check, and constituted seven makes last year. If you include sweatshirts and hiking pants, that total rises to thirteen garments.
My total garments sewed in 2025? FORTY SIX.
That number matters less than what it revealed.
I learned that repetition refines skill.
That certain categories energize me while others require gentler seasons.
That goals don’t always predict outcomes, but outcomes reveal patterns.
And those patterns were about to shape my vision.
Next up: the moment that made my 2026 vision crystal clear.
BEFORE YOU GO: When you look back at last year, what surprised you most about what you actually sewed? I’d love to read your self-reflections in the comments!
1 Comment
Pamela Linden
January 7, 2026 at 1:42 pmAs I Look at the list of garments I made this past year, surprisingly I sewed very few. I did many sewing projects like wallets, bucket hats, several computer cross body bags and cloth napkins for my son’s wedding but not as many actual garments. It is interesting that you noted in your blog that repetition of making multiple of the same item really helps with the comfort and ease of sewing them. I know that true to be for myself as well, that first cross-body computer bag went together just okay, the third one was a breeze.
For this upcoming year I had already decided that I wanted to not just plan on doing one of a specific garment but plan on doing a couple or more so that I can find that comfort and easy-peasy breezy feeling while sewing them. I may need more denim to do 12 though.