Welcome, 2016.

Last year I just skipped my year round tally and got on with it. Sorry, though: this year you\’re stuck with the year-end round up and the obligatory New Year\’s Resolution post! But I have some big goals this year, both in my sewing, and in my blogging…

I feel like I did really well improving my sewing this past year. I tackled shifty rayon challis, collars, knits, and figured out how to drape a sarong skirt. I cut with abandon into some lace. I made my own wedding dress! 

However, I didn\’t finish my Fall/Winter inspiration list, so I do have some techniques left untried: I skipped straight to the dresses (duh) and managed to avoid any tailoring. In my defense, I sewed dresses with new friends and had a lot of fun. But my nice navy wool and neatly folded blazer muslin are taunting me from their spot on my shelf! I\’m still hoping to make that navy blazer, and I have hot pink wool for either a coat or a cape. Tailoring! Let\’s go!

(Then maybe I\’ll just relax and make cotton sundresses for the rest of the year.)

My overarching blogging goal is to grow this blog. This past April, I celebrated 100 followers, and it felt great. I have had this blog for over three years, but only started taking it more seriously this year. I had a 250 follower giveaway in October, and in 2016 I would like to continue expanding my following. It seems a bit gauche to say this aloud; I think it the blogging community there is a general interest in an illusion of effortlessness.

 
My friend (and our host for the weekend) Alex just started a great blog Craigle & Co. 
She has amazing style (like this Alice & Olivia sequined dress) and her husband takes great photos (even on iPhone, at night). Go take a look!!

But I\’m not expecting to just have a bunch of new followers, obviously! To that end, I have two goals on the blogging front: take great photos and post consistently. I also did a little redesign–until now, I had done all my blog design myself, so it was fun to install a brand new template without any googling \”how to _______ on blogger\”!

I tried to post twice a week for a bit back in the spring/summer and started two alternating Wednesday series: What I Wore and Work in Progress. I made it for a few months before I ran out of quality content, mostly because I didn\’t manage to take very many style shots, the What I Wore half. It takes forever and my pictures looked good but not stellar and I don\’t know how fashion bloggers do it! I didn\’t want to just post half-finished objects and fluff–random round-ups and weird, unrelated filler posts–so I stopped posting twice a week. But for this year, I have invested in a nicer camera and a nice lens and spent some time familiarizing myself with manual mode. Once again, I want to add in some style posts, mixing things I\’ve sewn with things I\’ve purchased. I hope with improved photography, I\’ll be more motivated to do style shoots, and I can be more consistent with my What I Wore posts, and therefore my posting schedule.

Finally, combining blogging and sewing goals, I\’d like to participate in more activities this year! Vintage Pledge is just about the least effort activity I can join–I\’ll definitely do that! 5 patterns, perhaps?? I entered a few competitions last year (Imagine Gnats\’ Shorts on the Line and a Sew Sweetness\’s Dress Up Party) and did well, so I\’d like to continue with that. Maybe I\’ll even (co-)host something?

So that\’s it! I know these posts can get wordy and navel-gazey, and there are about 1000 of them this time of year, so good for you if you have made it this far. I know I post these things mostly for myself, and I suspect most others have similar motivation.

What are your sewing goals this year? Do you have blogging goals? Life goals?  I also want to exercise more, eat healthier, and save money–but who doesn\’t?