Top 5 of 2025!

Happy New Year! I'm back to blogging after a little holiday break. It was a lovely relaxing time to eat and doze and perhaps even sew a bit ;) But to cap off the year, and start a new one, I wanted to look back over my 2025 sewing and see what I liked about it. 

What were my favourite makes of 2025? For the last few years, I have put together a Top Five post of my faves -- it's a good way to see what worked and why, and what to try next! 

Without further ado, here are my fave projects of the last year: 

Calcifer Dress - this is a Celeste Dress by Itch to Stitch, a repeated pattern for me. I made this fun dress from a sheet in my stash as part of my Literary Sewing Circle round featuring Howl's Moving Castle, and I really feel it hit the target! 

Milou Dress by Fabrics-store.com - hmm, another dress made from a sheet in my faves for the year! This one was made for a bunch of challenges and I really loved the colour and fun styling options. 

Burda 121-11-23 - this is the first thing I made myself in 2025 and I love it. It's comfy, I love the 80s vibe and it has great pockets too. 

Simplicity 8964 (Glass Room Blouse) - this is another project I did for the spring round of the Literary Sewing Circle! We were reading All the Things We Leave Behind by Riel Nason, and this fabric was perfect for the theme. It's a good fit and so colourful. 

Burda 112-01-2020 - This is the last thing I made this year! It's a surprise fave, since I was just testing the pattern out in some thrifted fabric. But it worked out beautifully and the fabric is just right. A great pattern. 

My bottom 5 -- well, really 3 -- are thumbs down from me almost entirely because of fit. I was underwhelmed by the Style Arc Ines Dress -- bad fit and fabric is too polyesterish to be comfortable. Then, the Terrace Top I made from a wonderfully soft tablecloth just doesn't fit well, the neckline is too high. Should I fix it or give it away? Haven't decided yet. 

And the McCalls 8501 Sarong Dress was fun to make, and I adore the fabric. But the fit is weird, the skirt pulls uncomfortably. Maybe because I added pockets or maybe because the fabric is the wrong weight for this pattern. But I want to reuse the fabric for something else because I love it. 

Overall, not too bad this year with wins and losses. 

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I also took a look at my year of sewing and compiled some interesting stats. I only made 15 items in 2025.  That's a lot less than in previous years. There was a mix of 6 indie, 7 big four, and 2 Burda. 

I only reused two patterns, the Terrace by Liesl & Co and the Celeste by Itch to Stitch. And Simplicity was the highest number of patterns, at 4. Then Burda with two, and 1 each from Vogue and Butterick, and indies Liesl & Co, Sew Liberated, Marilla Walker, Itch to Stitch, StyleArc and Fabrics-store.com. 

As for fabrics, 9 projects were made from the stash, 5 from new-to-me fabrics (some for collaborations) and then 1 refashion. I really didn't get a lot of sewing done, but I did buy a lot of fabric... so I guess that means that 2026 should be a low-buy, high sewing kind of year! We'll see if I can manage it. I want to sew more, but had some sewing slumps this year due to some extreme busy times at work with lots more responsibilities. Hopefully I can balance all that out to get myself more sewing time once more. 

I have lots of plans for things I want to make. Hoping that 2026 brings them to fruition!

Top Five of 2024!

 

I'm back to blogging after a little holiday break. It was a lovely relaxing time to eat and doze and perhaps even sew a bit ;) But to cap off the year, and start a new one, I wanted to look back over my 2024 sewing and see what I liked about it. 

What were my favourite makes of 2024? For the last few years, I have put together a Top Five post of my faves -- it's a good way to see what worked and why, and what to try next! 

Without further ado, here are my fave projects of the last year: 

Butterick 6655 - this is my favourite piece. The fit is great, the fabric is really comfy as well as being a print I love, and the colour means it goes with everything. This is the second time I've made this pattern and I love both versions. 

Simplicity 9601 - this is one I also love - it's a 90s pattern and made from an upcycled duvet. The colour is amazing and it turned out to fit me well. Love it. I would use this again.

Oxford Dress by Treize Coquelicot - I made this for the Spring Literary Sewing Circle project, and it turns out that I really like this pattern! I used some stash fabric and it just worked beautifully. Cool and comfy, I've worn this a lot. 

Butterick 6727 - this was one I made as part of the Fabricville Blogger program, but I really enjoyed this cotton fabric. It was great to sew with and the pattern suited the print well. Such a cute and colourful one. 

Factory Dress Top by Merchant & Mills - this is one of those projects that I had in mind long before I made it. I think that the print and the silhouette work together very well here. Also a repeat of a pattern I've made before. 

And one little bonus fave, the bag I made in a workshop with my Garment Guild! It was fun and I used fabric from other participants as the lining, which was extra nice. 

The less successful projects of the year were ones that I ended up not liking the fit of (no matter how I try, I just don't like flowy oversize things!) or that I just chose the wrong fabric for. Only a few duds, not too bad. 

I also took a look at my year of sewing and compiled some interesting stats. I made 21 items (most of them shared on the blog).  That's quite a few less than in previous years. There was a mix of 9 indie, 5 big four, and 6 Burda. And I made one patternless project, the bag above!

I don't usually repeat patterns but this year I did make frequent second or third versions of patterns I've used before, with 2 of them ending up in my best 5! The patterns I used for another go round were Butterick 6655, Factory Dress Top by Merchant & Mills, Style 4037, the Style Arc Lacey Dress, and Burda 115-11-2018. Fully a quarter of my projects this year were repeat patterns, a record for me, I think. 

And I used Burda the most in my sewing this year, with 6 patterns coming from magazines or envelope patterns. Then Butterick with 2, and everything else was one each from varied companies. 14 of my projects were made with stash fabric, and 7 were made with new to me fabric either bought or received as blogger partner projects. But I bought much more fabric than I used this year (some fabulous thrift store finds) so I've got to get busy sewing down the stash in 2025. 

I had a lot of sewing slumps in 2024, and sort of let most of my original plans go by the wayside. I'm hoping to get back on track this year, and be able to both plan and execute my ideas, whether those are wardrobe pieces for me, for others, or art pieces that I'd like to complete. Looking forward to being more efficient and motivated this year! 

Top Five of 2023!

 What were my favourite makes of 2023? For the last few years, I have put together a Top Five post of my faves -- it's a good way to see what worked and why, and what to try next! This year I'm lucky, as I have 6 Top Makes. I was unable to whittle it down any more than that. 

Without further ado, here are my fave projects of the last year: 

Yanaka Jacket by Liesl & Co

This is my favourite make of the year! I made it last January and enjoyed the challenge. Looking through my stash for matching remnants, using up fave fabrics, finding a good lining and getting the fit right were all challenging in the best way. It's comfortable, colourful, and I feel good wearing it! 

Hot Pink Burda 105-04-2018

I just finished this one before the end of 2023 but it's a definite favourite. I was pushed to finish it by the deadline for the PatternReview Fitted Blouse contest -- where you can go and vote for this make, until Jan 10 if you are a PR member. 

Butterick 5987 (Willi Smith blouse)

I made this in February for the Black History Month Pattern Designer Challenge. I had this 1979 pattern in my stash, and used a fabric I found in the drapery section of the fabric store. It was a perfect marriage and I LOVE this shirt. It goes with a lot in my wardrobe, too. 

Antonia Dress by PatternDivision 

This is such an easy to make dress -- 3 pieces and a quick sew. But the fit is also great, and the pockets are nice and big. I love this one, and plan to make a solid version, or two. 

Talulah Dress

I made this inspired by the Literary Sewing Circle -- the pattern has been on my list for a few years! I wasn't sure about this profile on me but as it turns out I adore it. Love this dress and the colours are fun also. 

I AM Barbara 

I had to include this one as I found it a challenge and was happy with the results. It's such an unusual design that even if the whole thing isn't perfect I still love it. I have to go back and tweak a few things, but I've worn it, enjoyed making it, and am delighted by the idea of it. 

The less successful projects this year are ones that I don't like the fit of, or I just haven't worn. There aren't many that I actively dislike, thankfully! Most of my favourites were made as part of challenges and/or sewalongs, which is quite unusual -- the reverse of what usually happens for me. It was a good sewing year!

I also took a look at my year of sewing and found some interesting info :) I made 33 items (most of them shared on the blog).  There was a mix of 15 indie, 14 big four, and 4 Burda. 

I make most patterns only once, but there were a couple of repeats this year. I made Burda 105-04-2018 for the second time, and repeated Burda 6074 back to back. I made both the top and the dress view of the Liesl & Co. Santa Rosa and I made another Mandy Boat Tee to add to the ones I've made in the past. 

And I used Liesl & Co the most for my sewing this year, with 5 makes. Closely followed by a tie between Butterick and Simplicity with 4 each! 7 out of my 33 projects were made with new (or new to me) fabric; all the others were from fabric that had been in my stash for a while. Hoping to use up more of my stash this year! 

Most of my sewing this year was enjoyable and I hope to continue making things that I'll enjoy wearing -- it's so much easier to choose projects when you have a good sense of the fabrics and the shapes you will like. I look forward to another year of challenging projects!