My Pledge

 I made a lot of stuff last year. Dresses:

Lingerie:

A TON of Tribbles and a few Star Trek communicator badges:

A pillow case:

I’ve barely made anything this year yet, though. Except for the owl pillow cover:

I gained some weight between October and March because of poor mental and physical health and a horrible cold winter. A weight gain is a tough thing for anyone, but it was definitely a barrier for me and sewing. I’m getting back on track in terms of mental and physical health, but there is a long road ahead. Luckily, I can still wear a lot of my clothes. The weight is mostly in my center and most of my dresses hug my bust and flare out at the waist/hips. I haven’t worn pants in forever, though. The few times I’ve tried a pair on have ended in tears. Big huge tears out of frustration.

Since March, I’ve been putting a huge effort towards getting my mental and physical health back in order: I started seeing a chiropractor, I went back to my naturopath after a year absence, I started walking to work again with the improvement in weather, I’ve been performing a lot in April (check out The Dandies for updates on that) and I’ve started my vegetable seedlings for the summer. Part of my mental health issues have to do with a lack of sun in the winter, but I also went through some major changes in the fall/winter and have finally readjusted to life.

I feel slightly held back in terms of sewing. I haven’t sewed a piece of clothing since October, except for a tutu for a show. I got some new patterns since October and feel inspired. I’m very pleased that Colette has a couple of plus-size patterns (Mabel and Moneta) now and are considering expanding their current patterns to include plus sizes. I bought the Moneta after reading a few of their plus-size blog tour posts (check out all the blogs they list there. My long-time fav is Young, Broke, and Fabulous and my new fav is Idle Fancy). I like the Mabel, but it’s not really the style of skirt I wear….er…I don’t really wear skirts at all; I prefer dresses. I also purchased the Espresso leggings pattern from Cake Patterns, Pattern Anthology‘s Just Add Jeans collection, BurdaStyle‘s plus size pattern collection (sadly no longer available), which contained a bundle of 8 plus-size patterns (a zip-up vest, wide silk pants, printed tunic, pencil skirt, long sleeve blouse, jersey dress, draped dress, and a cape) as well as a webinar on plus-size pattern grading, which I have yet to watch.

I’m excited by all of this, but to be honest I think the first garment I am sewing in 2014 will be a pattern I bought previously: McCall M6504. I want a colourblocked dress with princess seams and this one fits the bill. It’s been in my head since last year and I have to sew it.

I am scared to get back into sewing, though. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me considering I was having so much fun sewing last year, but I am scared to fail at it, which is a fear that I’ve had all my life and have felt a lot since November. Ultimately, that is something a sewist must reconcile and come to terms with. Sometimes things just fail. This is true in life.

My pledge is to embrace failure and to stop shying away from it. Failure is just another word for learning. I can’t stop doing the things I love because I am afraid of failing.

I will embrace failure and push for success.

 

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