Cross stitch review 2019, top 9 and 2020 plans

After a 2 year absence I picked up my cross stitch again and once again became addicted.  I currently have 5 WIP and about to start another

This year I've stitched
QS Old Friends, my focus piece, 31681 stitches,  10 rotations, 192 hours, 31.31% completed.  The picture is from pattern keeper as it is very hard to photograph the white sky/snow on white fabric.

At the Steps, I started on 18ct but  after the first rotation decided to restart and try stitching on 25ct half cross for the first time.  After restarting I did 1 rotation,   6201  stitches   22.5  hours 2.53 % completed

Ornament Witching Hour 11560 stitches,3 rotations  77.75 hours, 52.8% completed

Sans Souci  4258 stitches, 1 rotation, 25 hours, 17.56% completed

His Eye is on the Sparrow (estimated stitches) 25400 stitches, 2 rotations, 52 hours 16% completed

I started keeping records when I started using pattern keeper.  Since 1.10.10 I did

49736 stitches
187.75 hours
 9 rotations

I am still evolving how I work out what to stitch. I select a project by spinning a virtual wheel.  I stitch one project from 1st of the month, spin and stitch the next from the 11th of months, spin again and stitch the next from 21st of the month.

Additionally I have a focus piece. This year it has been QS Old Friends.  To ensure I stitch this more often than the others, if a piece comes up again in the wheel and has Old Friends has not been worked on since I last did that project, then I will stitch Old Friends instead of the selected project.

I started this spinning wheel selection process from the beginning of October.  In that time, neither Witching Hour, nor Healing Rose were selected.  So to ensure everything gets some look in time, at the end of each quarter, anything not stitched over the previous 3 months will be done, so the wheel will not be spun.

I've  decided for 2020 I will no longer focus on one piece but just spin the wheel and see what happens.  After every quarter  anything that didn't get selected in a spin will get a rotation.


I'm also stitching cross country.  Initially I started stitching just with the highest amount of colours and stitch on the available area in the Q Snap, however I've changed again to stitch the highest amount of colours but then stitch 2 or 3 colours that have the lowest number.  That way I'm not left with a ton of confetti at the end.

I also use Pattern Keeper, a new app, to record my progress.

I'm evaluating what size fabric I like to work with and trying tent stitch.  My previous favourite was 22ct and I also did full crosses but find now I need to use magnifying lenses.  However with the lenses I think I can enjoy 22ct again.  I am trying out 25ct on At the Steps in tent stitch, however not really enjoying the fabric.  I may restart it for the third time on 22ct and tent stitch.

I think future HAed projects will be on 22ct 2 over 1.   Tent stitch  speeds my progress up immensely.

When I started the first version of At the steps on 18ct full cross I did 4711 stitches in 28.75 hours, when I restarted on 25ct half cross I did the same number of stitches in just 15.5 hours, nearly twice as fast

In July I started an Instagram account dedicated to my crafting, mainly cross stitch.
My top 9 from Instagram are:

So goals for 2020.

I'm not really setting any, but I should finish Witching Hour and possibly Sans Souci.  I'm also going to measure my progress by following the challenges in HAED stitchtalk facebook group.

I"ve also just found out about a  free blackwork stitch along run by peppermintpurple.co.uk.  They email out part of a design each week and it is a 52 week challenge.  I've never done blackwork but would like to give it a try.  So long as they don't take me too long to do I might give them a try.

I have enough in my rotation but I was also tempted by the free mystery sampler sal by linenand thread.  They have the previous years available for free download and post the new part of the chart each month.  This could be something to consider for next year if I finish Sans Souci.

Year in review, part 3: The stats and goals

This post looks at what I achieved in 2019 and what I hope to achieve in 2020.

First the stats.

This year I made 35 garments and 1 lingerie item.  This compares to last year when I made 36 garments and 26 lingerie items.

I spent $890 on fabric, for an average cost of $25 per garment.  Last year I spent $670 on garment fabric for an average cost of $16 per garment.

I made exclusively from indie designers and breakdown is

true Bias	2
Itch to Stitch	7
Megan Nielsen	4
closet case	2
StyleArc	3
tessuti	3
Love Notions	14
Wardrobe by Me	1

The types of garment made were

blouse/shirt	4
cardigan	2
coat	2
dresses	9
jacket	2
lingerie	1
pj	2
shorts	1
skirt	1
t shirt	4
tops	3
trousers	4
vest	1

So did I achieve my goals.  For 2019 they were

• I'd like another pair of jeans - in light denim      X
• Another denim jacket - this time in light denim  X
• Make leggings, and get more into tunic type tops that I can wear with leggings  X

• Possibly an anorak - possible the Closet Case Kelly.  /
• Make a winter coat.  I've bought some wool in the end of winter sales and the Style Arc Stella pattern. /
• Make a rain coat.  I've seen some waterproof polyester on line and thinking of making Tessuti's Melbourne coat. X
• Eliminate my stash.  I have 12 pieces of fabric in my stash and I want to use all of it.  X

So I missed most of my goals.  I never did find that light denim for the first two.  However after wearing my jeans a lot the previous year, this year I didn't wear them. at.  all.  Leggings are so cheap to buy, I can't really be bothered making them.

So goals for 2020 are:

• Make a raincoat.  I have the Melbourne pattern, but need to order the correct fabric from Tessuti.
• Again eliminate my stash.  Last year I got rid of 10 pieces, but of course have acquired new.  So I must get rid of the previous 2, plus 5 that were added this year.  I'm thinking for the 2 from 2019 I will make the Helens Closet pinafore pattern.

Other than that, I'm not setting any goals for 2020.

last dressmaking session for 2019, aka 3 garments in one day

These were all quick sews and I got them done in just one day.  They are all part of the Luna nightwear patterns by Love Notions.

Camisole top- for a sleep top

Sleep shorts

the set.

Bralette - for casual around the house.

The details.  The camisole is made out of jersey, made in L size and with leftover jersey binding for the neck and armholes.  No changes made to the pattern. The shorts are made out of some unknown shiny fabric.  The only change I made was to omit the tie waist band.  It has an elastic waistband and that is enough.  The bralette made out of scuba.  This is just for around the house for comfort wearing as it gives no support, but this is what I wanted.  Again no changes made, except for way in which I applied the elastic at the bottom. I placed elastic on top of scuba and then coverstitched on. So much easier than sewing on and then turning and sewing again.  I love my coverstitch!

Xmas 2019 crafty gift giving

I had a lovely Christmas day with family.  Weather was perfect, sunny skies but not too hot.

As usual I made everyone a gift as well as buying something.

10 reversible bucket hats with initials or embroidery on one side.

Bag from Sweet Pea designs.  The background fabric is sparkly with little planets.  I also made a little coin purse out of the background fabric but didn't take a photo.

Monster bag and purse from SweetPea

Peek a Boo book

Tuxedo Dress pattern from Love Notions.  I love this dress, unfortunately it was too small.  I made a dress for a 1 year old, as she is 12 months, but she is the size of a 2 year old!  I've asked her Mum to regift it to a friends baby.

Another Pia Dress

I liked my first Pia dress that I had to make another straight away.

Again this is in a linen.  This is a fast sew as well, only around 3 hours

Tessuti Pia dress

I made the Oslo coat by Tessuti patterns earlier in the year and really liked it.  I didn't think their dresses were my style, but I recently loooked again - and changed my mind.

I was wanting to make a shift style dress and knew they had a few.

I rather liked the Pia dress, it has unusual pockets in the front which set it apart from just a plain shift.

I made this in a linen from Spotlight.  It is a teal colour which doesn't show up very well in the photos.  Those pockets weren't too difficult to do - just precision sewing but still not too time consuming.  Tessuti give great instructions and everything fits together beautifully.  This probably took me around 5 hours to sew.  Not a difficult sew at all.  There isn't even a bust dart, the curved front at the skirt means its not needed.

I am happy with this and have some more linen that I plan to make another Pia with.  It encourages me to try another Tessuti pattern.

The Year in Review: Part 2 - The Misses

Last year I  tried to find 5 misses but struggled to come up with 3.  It just goes to show you should never become complacent - this year I had no trouble finding misses.

1.  Grace Dress by Wardrobe by Me.

This was horrible in every way.  The construction methods, in my opinion were poor, instructions were poor, and worse when finished it just looked frumpy.  I wore this for the photo and then it went in the bin, too embarrassed to even donate to charity.







2.  Chai shirt by Itch to Stitch

NormallyITS  fit perfectly, but this time I got this far in the construction and realised it was way too small.  Maybe I printed the wrong pattern size?  This was another one destined for the bin.









3. Jodie pinafore by StyleArc

  This was the first printed pattern I bought from them.  However it is a bit on the small side and I felt that striped denim made it look more like a butchers apron.  Not in the bin yet, but I've never worn it and not sure I want to donate it neither.  Hanging head in shame.








4.  Sonata Dress by Love Notions

Not as bad as the others, but this dress is too short for me so it is consigned to around the house.  Also fitted under the bust isn't the best look for me - I need to make sure I dont go for that style in future.








5. Flint pants by Megan Nielsen

I'm only including these because I don't wear them!  I actually like them, fit is good, fabric is gorgeous but the thing is palazzo pants aren't really ME. I feel self conscious wearing them, though I know no one is thinking "why is she wearing palazzo pants".
  I could wear them around the house, but in summer even rayon pants feel too warm I just want to be in skirts and dresses.  Maybe I'll wear them this summer????




Sadly I managed by 5 misses this year.  Hopefully 2020 will be better.

2019 the year in review: Part 1 The Hits

Time again to look at hits, misses and goals.  This year my dressmaking has been somewhat sidelined by my re-found obsession with cross stitch.  However it was still a busy year and I am trying to balance the two crafts.  I will have a separate post this year on my cross stitching.

This post will be looking at my top 5 dressmaking achievements for 2019.

1.  Kelly Anorak by Closet Case Patterns.

 

At 30 hours sewing time this was the most time intensive project and at $75 was  the most expensive garment.  However this has become a staple piece of my wardrobe and got so much wear over autumn and winter that it was well worth the time and money invested in it.  I was very proud of being able to complete this as it was a complex sew - and fully lined!





2.  Oslo Coat by Tessuti.  This was another project I was very proud of.

 

My first winter coat, and again lined.  I sewed this in May and it only took 13 hours sewing time - a breeze compared to the anorak!  At $45 a great buy for a winter coat.  This is another one that got a lot of wear over winter.









3.  Cadence top/dress by Love Notions.

 

This could become my TNT version of the laundry day T but in a woven.  These are a quick sew and I made 3 in a row.

4. Boyfriend cardigan by Love Notions

 

I made these late in the season so they've not had a lot of wear, but I think when the weather cools down these will be used a lot.

5. Lennie shirt by StyleArc

 

I wore the one on the left a lot.  A lovely smart casual blouse, though the placket is fiddly.

Those are my favourite makes for 2019.  Next post - the misses, and there were a few this year.

Wattle Skirt, His Eye is on the Sparrow update

I've admired the Megan Nielsen Wattle skirt for a while.  It can be made in various styles: pleated, gathered, bias cut and in different lengths, knee, above knee and midi.  It comes with pockets and has the button fastening on the side that I like

I made the midi length bias cut skirt out of a nice linen from Spotlight.

I didn't make any changes to the pattern.

I had enough fabric left over to make a matching bag.

The photo doesn't show it very well, but it is lined with a bright pink dotted fabric.

I've just finished my second rotation of His Eye is on the Sparrow by Heartstring Samplery

Rather than spinning the wheel for my next rotation I have decided to restart At the Steps.  I've only done one rotation.  As it is a very large design I've decided to try stitching with continental tent stitch on 25ct and see if that will go faster than full crosses.