Top 5 Hits and Misses of 2013

I’ve seen so many wonderful posts from everyone participating in Gillian’s Top 5 of 2013 Posts over at her blog  Crafting a Rainbow and really wanted to participate even though it’s already the last day of the year!  I’m a brand new blogger so please excuse some of the photo quality as most of these are from earlier this year.  So here are my Top 5 from this year:

1.   My first pair of zipper fly pants with pockets!  I made these from M6707 in a lovely Navy Linen and they are so comfortable.  I wear these all the time and they can easily be dressed up or down, a wonderful basic Capri with great set in pockets.  I’ll be posting about them in a day or two so stay tuned!

2.   My Colette from the Hawthorn sew along.  I love this pattern!  This is my most successful dress to date & really helped to improve my sewing skills.  I’ll  be reviewing this pattern, as well as the Laurel, in the coming weeks.

3.   My Holiday sewing for the kids!  I love these patterns and the fabric made the outfits!

4.   Flared Wave skirt.  I get so many complements on this one!  This was my first foray into natural dyes and I love the results.

5. Halloween Costumes!  My 2yr old wanted to be Little Bo Peep and she looked so adorable.  I made the dress up in a slightly larger size and then took it in so I can let it out in the future as she grows.  It’s from Butterick B5900 Girl’s Historical Dress.  I dressed up as Jess from New Girl and made my dress as well.  I used Butterick B5882 from Patterns by Gertie, which I had wanted to try out for a long time but wasn’t sure of my skill level yet.  It’s a lined dress with  a pleated bra and a boned bodice.  I’m thinking of making up another version in a cotton or linen in a pastel color for the summer.  You can check out my Halloween Sewing board here on Pinterest to see more.

On to the Misses.  So this year is my first sewing clothing for myself ( other than hand sewn costumes) so I had many trials and errors.  My biggest misses were:

1. Waistbands and zippers!  I think I’ve finally got the hang of these now but I had a lot! of ripping out to do in the beginning.

2. Too many dresses that I can’t actually wear very often.  I’m still breastfeeding my kids so dresses can be a bit tricky to wear if they don’t have nursing access.  I usually only wear them if I’m out without the kids or know they won’t need to nurse for a while.

3.  My massive pile of half-finished items or pieces I gave up on.

4.   Early sewing pieces.  I liked the patterns but the actual sewing is not so great, especially compared to what I’m working on now.

5.  Some questionable Fabric choices.  Many of my early pieces are sewn in polyester or weird remnants that I found at Joann’s but I really don’t like how they feel on.  I’m trying to choose more organic, sustainable fabrics now but hate to waste what I already have.

What were your hits and misses?  Let me know in the comments.  Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!