2019 feels awfully close to 2020 to me… and 2020 sounds like it should still be far away! Luckily, my feelings about how far away a year feels have nothing to do with how much sewing and fun I have in each year! So I’ll leave my feelings aside and recap my sewing adventures from 2018 instead.
To start, projects I completed!
January: Third re-do of 1928 Green Silk Evening Dress (HSM #1)
February: c. 1955 Evening Gown with Queen Of Hearts sash
March: 1934 Metallic Evening Gown
March: c. 1935 Dressing Gown & Slip
August: 1925 Blue Coral Day Dress (HSM #8)
October: Vintage Inspired Book Dress
October: Gave My Old Hoops New Spots
December: 1920s Beaded Bag (HSM #11)
December: 1926 Silver Robe de Style
In May and June, I finally posted about my trip to Denmark in 2017 to attend a vintage dance week. That was three separate installments: Part I an introduction to the trip, Part II photos of the events, and Part III documentation of our sightseeing adventures. I also passed along the Mystery Blogger Award and the Liebster Blog Award in June. I appreciate all of my readers and am grateful that you’re interested in sharing my sewing adventures with me! In August, I started a new adventure, #virtualsewingcircle, a livestream of my sewing via Twitch; however, I realized that this format of sharing my sewing did not work for me at this time with my other life activities. I’ve still been plugging away at the projects I announced and I’m still using the hashtag for them on Instagram, but the live sewing is currently on a break. In September, I had the great fortune of going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida, which allowed me to photograph two new dresses seen above. The Fortescue Frock was sewn live on Twitch over the summer and the Vintage Inspired Book Dress was made awhile ago but took me this long to photograph!
I participated in my sixth year of the Historical Sew Monthly in 2018. This year I completed only 4 of 12 challenges since I had a lot of other sewing on my plate that did not count but kept my hands quite busy. Hopefully next year I’ll participate a bit more.
In 2018, I attended 10 balls, 7 other events (teas, picnics, outings etc.), and 4 vintage dance performances. That’s generally in line with my numbers from last year.
Last year’s deinfitely-to-do list was intentionally conservative so I could feel like I actually accomplished it. And… I’m proud to say that it was done by March! Of the things on the ‘maybe’ list, I finished one modern dress, made two more, and made a modern wool skirt. The only one of those that hasn’t made it to the blog is the skirt. I wear it all the time and really need to get photos! It’s a lovely cranberry color!
I also have a number of things that I made towards the end of last year but haven’t posted about yet–all made while I was sewing live on Twitch. I couldn’t keep up with photographing all the things I was producing! These include a new Henrietta Maria, a 1933 summer dress and hat, and another modern dress–the Autumn Plaid dress. So one of my goals is to share about those early in 2019. In addition, my definitely-to-do list for 2019 includes:
- finishing an 1896 cycling ensemble I started at the end of last year
- finishing a 1925 coat that I announced I would be making at the end of last year
And of course there are maybes. Many of these are the same as last year!
- a new 1860s evening dress
- finishing the 1884 plaid wool day dress I started in November 2017
- 1880s wool mantle
- sewing the 1790s stays I started in the winter of 2018
- 1790s petticoat
- 1790s dress
- modern dresses, pants, and skirts (I have lots of fabrics and patterns, I just need time…)
Wishing you a very happy new year!
(I think Kreacher wishes us a happy new year, too!)
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 
The green silk dress from January is my favorite, but of course I love them all. Looking forward to seeing more pictures as you get things finished. The cycling outfit sounds so interesting!
That’s a good one. I’m so pleased to finally have it at a point that I like. I don’t know if I can choose a favorite, though… Thanks for joining my sewing adventures!