2010 Sewing Goals–Let's Get Started!

It’s TIME!  After many, many hours, I’m happy to report that the data are in and we’re READY to begin!  Now that March is here, let’s start taking these goals seriously and get where we want to go, shall we?

Here’s what I learned from our responses to the Survey:

• 30% of us are fairly new to sewing, and have been at it a year or less
• Nearly 40% of us are either entirely self-taught or have learned from blogs and books
• A whopping 53% of us spend an hour or less at the sewing machine PER WEEK–and we hate it!
• Those of us who primarily sew clothing and those who primarily do crafts, home dec or quilting are pretty evenly distributed.
• Nearly 90% of the responses indicated that they’d like to be sewing more clothing (compared to 32% for quilting, 30% for crafting, 34% for home dec, and 29% for profit or business).
• Most of us (62%) would be perfectly satisfied if we completed one project a week.
• Well over half (63%) of us plan projects out and never complete them, but a full 85% are bummed if we don’t finish at least one project in a week.
• A huge 83% have either done sewing for a charitable cause or would like to.
• Only 11% of us have kept a small fabric stash–the rest are all in need of organization and some serious stash busting.
• Nearly half of us (47%) have patterns we’ve been hanging on to and not using.
• While only 13% of us thought a checklist would help us get things done, a massive 87% of us said we’d benefit from some form of community interaction: a buddy system for accountability, a forum for exchanging ideas, inspiration from other people’s projects and ideas, or a contest or competition to up the stakes.
• While not having enough time was the single biggest factor preventing us from getting more done (with 58% choosing that option), another 24% felt it was skill and confidence keeping them from reaching their goals.
• A frightening 84% of us want to improve or organize our sewing space–must be nice to be one of the lucky 16% who have an awesome studio space!

Based on that data, it appears that we all share the following goals in common:

• Find (or make) enough time to sew
• Make more clothes for myself
• Stay motivated with a buddy, a reward, and inspiration from others
• Reduce and organize my stash of fabrics
• Tidy and beautify my sewing space
• Build skills and conquer new techniques so they never stand in the way of finishing a project
• Sew for others and give back with my needle

Sound good so far?

I’ve created a page for us to collate the goals we’re working toward and give us a place to link back and track our progress. Our attack will be on two fronts: over the next 10 months, I’ll be posting a number of new series here on the blog addressing each goal one-by-one (beginning with organizing our space and busting those fabric stashes!). Inspiration is important to ALL of us, it appears, and having new ideas and challenges thrown at me is one of my favorite ways to get in the mood to create.  I can’t even begin to list all the amazing things I have lined up for Whipstitch in the coming year, but suffice to say we’ll all be sewing more clothing, and learning to make time to sew.

While I’m busy posting daily blog entries, I want y’all to have plenty of resources to pursue each goal as you’re ready to tackle it, whether that’s what I’m gabbing about it that day or not.  I’ve created a number of pages to give each of us a chance to work at our own pace:

• A community forum page, for posting ideas and questions and meeting other folks who are having the same experiences
• A Sewing Buddy program, where Whipstitch will match you with another stitcher who can keep you focused and on task–like Secret Santa, but with emails and pep talk!  (Note: I’m super excited about this one, but it’s still under construction–stay tuned for more details)
• A stash busting program that includes an inventory system and links all over the web to great projects that will work through your stash based on how much fabric you have on hand–let’s maximize that stash while we get it out on display where it belongs!
• A whole mess of original Whipstitch tutorials to build your skills as you grow–plus links to other stellar tutes on the web that will get your confidence up in the stratosphere and get you stitching!
• Contests all over the web–including some here on Whipstitch–to give you a carrot to chase and maybe nudge you out of your comfort zone to try new things
• Links and information about various charitable sewing projects going on all over, with a new one featured each month.  We’ll be participating in these at the Atlanta shop, too, so you can join us in person or virtually.

Whew!  I’m crazy, super excited about all this, and am itching to see what all of you produce this year.  I hope that organizing our ideas and giving us multiple places to share them will be a great beginning to really tackling these goals!  I’ll post more as we go along, and am seeing a checklist or calendar in our future–stay tuned!

If you haven’t signed up for the Sewing Goals Challenge, now’s a great time to do it!  Grab the button from the sidebar, add it to your blog, and check back often.  See you soon!