What I Finished: 2022 by the numbers
Whew, it’s been a whirlwind of a week or two, with a lot of work travel and a conference, and no time for blogging! It didn’t take long for my grand plans to keep up regular posting to fall by the wayside, but I’m back. Now that I’ve got my non-garment makes of 2022 out of the way, I’m onto the garments, which tend to be a lot more, so I’m breaking it up into things I gave away (turned out fine, just not for me - I’m picky!), things I trashed (not working out and not worth finishing), and things I kept (definitely the smallest). I go through waves of being super productive and finishing multiple things in a month, and then I won’t touch my machine for 2 months, so it’s always interesting to look back and see how much I actually made in a year.
Before I share my makes, I wanted to take a look at how the numbers stacked up. As a data nerd, I do keep a pretty detailed spreadsheet with my projects, fabric stash, and pattern inventory. I find these numbers really useful to look at for a few different reasons, mostly centered around conflicting emotions around sustainability. My motivations for sewing are many:
Probably first on the list is that I love to create things, and this is my primary creative outlet.
Related to that, personal style has always been something I’m really interested in, and being able to make exactly (to the best of my abilities) what’s in my head is exciting and fun.
As a shortie, it’s nice to be able to make garments that fit me better (at least attempt to). It’s not just about hemming pants, but really making sure all the elements of a garment are scaled properly, and I’ve learned a lot about fitting over the years.
The more I’ve learned about the fashion industry (particularly fast fashion), and examined my own shopping habits, the more I would like to not contribute to it, and move on over to the slow fashion side of things.
The first three all lead me to produce more and experiment more, and have fun with sewing - it’s a hobby, after all! The last one though requires me to slow down, be thoughtful, and consider my consuming habits further up the food chain (i.e., do I really need my massive fabric stash that would take me like 4 years of sewing constantly to get rid of, fabric production doesn’t exactly have the cleanest environmental impact - spoiler alert, it’s pretty bad, and is it really any better than fast fashion if I’m trashing and giving away half of the things I make?). It’s a struggle that I haven’t resolved, and truth time, I’m not sure how much better I am at the shopping side of things as well. That’s another one I go in waves with, and one of the things I realized being off Instagram for a few months was that I’m really susceptible to those ads, and they have me targeted for sure. Anyway, my annual review of my making hobby definitely helps me evaluate what I’ve made from a couple of different perspectives, and slowly move in the direction of converging my values around sewing.
2022 sewing by the numbers - project type by the item’s fate:
Whew, 59 is a lot of items for a year! I used to just track garments versus other, but one way that I am trying to take a more wholistic view on my hobby is to also track where I refashion or repair garments, so I don’t immediately turn to giving something away or trashing it. It doesn’t always work (I still ended up giving away 38% of my refashions/repairs), but it’s something, and helps me be more thoughtful about my closet, even garments I didn’t make myself. For garments I sew, I don’t mind if my gave away number is higher, since I do want to make sure I’m in love with everything in my closet, but I would like to get better about the number of garments that never even get finished (almost a quarter of my projects!)
2022 sewing by the numbers - monthly makes by the item’s fate:
I always find it interesting to look at my makes over time, as I definitely go through waves of productivity. On average, I made almost 5 garments per month, but you can see I’m much more likely to sew in the winter versus the spring and summer (when my garden and yard take over my attention and time). In March, I was on a t-shirt and underwear-making mission, so was able to sew a decent amount. December was similarly a productive month, but that was a lot of repairs/refashions that were quick - it’s always so satisfying to whittle down the big pile of repairs! I also like to mix things up - it’s always good to do a more complicated project and level up my skills, but it’s nice to have a palette cleanser like whipping up a quick tee afterwards!
Do you do any kind of regular review of your sewing/wardrobe/hobbies? Any fun takeaways or advice?