You might recall that instead of telling you our goals at the start of 2020, we asked for yours.
Now that our denim month is over, we thought it was time to let you know the results of the goal polls and see how you are going now we are 1/6th of the way through the year (how terrifying?!).
We asked you what your goals for 2020 were in three categories: fabric goals, skill goals, and making goals.
Fabric Goals
It has been very exciting to see our year-long challenge to #SewThePrecious fabric take off, and this fabric-focused goal poll shows us why! By far the most popular answer was to use the fabric we have, even if it’s precious. The second answer is also illustrative: many of us only want to buy more precious, and not settle for “close enough.”
We thought it was pretty interesting that the basics of buy more or buy less were the least popular categories. It shows the thoughtfulness of the community at large!
Skill Goals
Next up are skill-related goals. Sewing is a lifelong journey and the answers for this section reflect that too! It’s great to see lots of us pushing into new skill territory, and almost as many focusing on honing the skills we have already learned.
Making Goals
Finally, we come to your overall making goals. This one seems least consistent, with three pretty popular categories. Making a coordinated wardrobe with more TNTs (“Tried and True” patterns) was the most popular, but making what you need more of and making something new were both tied in a fairly close second. You could argue these categories might represent the same sewing (i.e. I want to make lingerie because I need more of it!).
“Selfish” sewing is still dominant, with only 6% of us looking to make more for others (loving the self-care and self-prioritisation here!).
Own Goals (!)
We also left a section for you to tell us about other goals you had which you didn’t feel were captured in the multiple choice options.
Not all of you added your own but of those who did, about 30% of you fall into the category of “making more,” especially making more time for sewing.
“Make more time for sewing”
“Make more clothes that I’ll actually wear! Not just special occasion clothes”
“Sew more – ‘find’ time for sewing even though life is busy!”
Sewcialists #SewingTop5 Goal poll responses — January 2020
After that, the most frequent comments were about “doing it differently” and specifically quite often focused on improving fit:
“Tackle slopers and blocks for amazing fit”
“Branching out in using social media more in projects”
“Better fitting clothes — it won’t work if it don’t fit!”
“Adapt my sewing to my changing body during pregnancy, breastfeeding and beyond!”
Sewcialists #SewingTop5 Goal poll responses — January 2020
and one that we say YES!!! to:
“Sew for the body I have right now without feeling bad about it…”
Sewcialists #SewingTop5 Goal poll responses — January 2020
There were heaps of others, but these are just some of the great answers we received.
It’s been fantastic to look through the responses and see how the community is setting goals for 2020.
Now the big question — HOW ARE YOU GOING? Are you already progressing on those goals or did you forget what you clicked? Let us know below whether you are on track, have decided on different goals, or need a kick up the butt to get on with it!
Chloe is a Sewcialists Editor, who lives and sews in Australia on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. She blogs at chlo-thing.com and can be found on Instagram here.
I’m doing well on my goal to sew something special with gorgeous fabric every month… What a hardship!!!! It’s like I pledged to eat cake every month. Ok, I got that! 😉
Ha! I need some basics to go with the nice fabric things because I mostly wear separates. I should have a goal to sew with boring fabric!!!
I felt like I was doing badly, since I’ve only finished 2 things this year, didn’t get past cutting out my denim project during the theme month, and am having to seriously rethink my plan to sew a dress for a family wedding. Then I looked at my goals post and saw that I had things like “embrace slow sewing” and “hold my plan loosely.” So I guess I’m doing better than I thought? I did use some things from my scrap bin already, too!
What did you decide about the dress for the wedding vs an everyday/Church dress? I hope you went for the practical and everyday-enjoyable choice!
Yes! I bet slow sewing was on there so you didn’t push yourself to rush and make mistakes or feel bad about how many things you sewed… Let’s reframe this as you have already sewn two things this year and cut out a denim project 💪
I didn’t actually develop an articulated goal until (honest to goodness!) last night. I think I need to either sew or rehome the paper patterns I own but don’t use. I love following along with others’ plans, too – wishing everybody luck!
Using or losing the patterns is good one – I need to copy that 👍
I may have been the one who wrote about sewing for my body. In any case, that’s why I started sewing clothes and was my goal for this year. It’s going well. It’s often difficult to figure out which measurements to use. I have major inflammation changes, often changing measurements by 6″+ from one hour to the next. But I’m learning and it’s nice to finally expand beyond RTW leggings and tshirts.
Sounds like you are going great! I am sure there was a post about sewing for a body that changes a lot but I can’t locate it. We can do a call out for pattern recommendations if that helps? It does sound like you are figuring it out 👍
I didn’t really make goals, but I’m embracing the sewing the precious and only buying fabric I really need goals anyway so feeling quite pleased with that 🙂
I made a list of things I wanted to sew at the start of the year, which was about 18 pieces. I’ve not even made any of those, haha, I felt like making other things. But one of them is a sweater that went into heavy rotation straight away, which is what I wanted. So I’m trying to not beat myself up over the fact that I’ve ‘only’ sewn two things so far. Because I’m going on a sewing weekend soon, so I’ll be able to tackle the zadie jumpsuit then! And make a dress for my sister’s wedding!
I’ve also realised that I want to pursue the goal of adding brighter colours to my wardrobe. I love the idea of a mustard yellow sweater, and a yellow /orange /red dress.
Sounds like you have your fabric goals sorted and if you made something in heavy rotation that should definitely be considered a win, whether that item was a goal or not! Love the sound of that sweater too 👍
I’ve made a few things towards plans – but was asked to make a quilt for a leaving present at short notice, which was my sewing for the end of January and the first half of February. Currently getting sidetracked by the Sewing Revolution on Instagram.