How did the holiday season go for you? I am happy to report that I survived my first Nutcracker season. After numerous drives back and forth to the ballet school for practices, in the end it was all worth it because every performance was spectacular. As the costume manager for this production, I’m super pleased that no costumes were permanently damaged or lost! There were easily over two-hundred costumes, so that was really good news.
As soon as the final performance was over, there was some last minute Christmas dress sewing which included my first ever Garden Party dress. Have you sewn one yet? My daughter was thrilled to wear her new red and gold dress.
Now that almost all of our holiday decorations are down and put away, it’s nice to have everything tidy again. I’m really ready to start tackling my new year of sewing.
Another thing that’s motivating me to get back into the sewing room is that I just watched the first episode of “Cousu Main, Saison 2″ (in English, “Hand Stitched, Season 2”) over the weekend. It is the French version of the Great British Sewing Bee. Are you watching it, too?
As we turn the calendar page to 2016, I want to get a bit more organized than I have been in the past. One example: I’d like to make more use of my existing pattern stash (especially if I want to come up with something creative for the mash-up challenge that is currently going on). So I’ve started work on my first creative resolution for the year.
To start, I created a Pinterest board with all of the Oliver + S patterns that I own. I really love the visual aspect of Pinterest and it’s nice to have them all in one spot. I can always refer to it whenever I want and it’s so easy to add new patterns as I get them. I was recently reading that science proves that people stick to their goals better if they’re done with another person or group of people. So let’s do this together. Let’s start out 2016 by organizing our sewing patterns. Your homework for today is to go to the shop page of the website and pin all of the patterns you own onto a Pinterest board. Here are mine:
- Oliver + S patterns that I own
- Liesl + Co. patterns that I own
- Straight Stitch Society patterns that I own
- Lisette for Butterick patterns that I own
How many Oliver + S patterns do you own? I thought it would be fun if everyone would share their pattern stash, so please leave a link (in the comments section) to your Oliver + S sewing pattern Pinterest board, so we can all see.
I have also seen Pinterest boards dedicated to each pattern a person owns in order to offer inspiration on what can be done with it. This is a really good idea, too.
Here’s another organizational tip I have for you today. When was the last time you measured your growing child? Print out a fresh new Measurement Chart and fill it in with his or her updated measurements.
So there you have it. Just a few tips for getting organized in this new year. Happy planning! May this be your best sewing year yet!
I’ve been using that wonderful downloadable check list from the forum to keep track of my Oliver + S pattern stash.
I’m delighted to say I no longer need it. Thanks to eagle eye Janice I got hooked up with someone selling their patterns and I now have my last 3 missing paper patterns on their way to me in the post.
Every paper pattern, every size. My collection is complete! 🙂
I think they deserve an extra shelf in the bookcase, so time for a little New Year organization after all…
Ooh, I love this!! Funny, I own nearly ever paper pattern, but recently I’m reconsidering and have purchased them digitally. I realized I preferred cutting/pasting on paper, rather than tracing. Maybe I’ll have to sell them. The Pinterest idea is *brilliant* for remembering what I have! I keep all my patterns on Evernote.com (free digital storage)
Love this!
I own all but one pattern (puppet show in the smaller size, I know i could get it digitally but I’m holding out in hope I find it in paper one day).
I’ve made a list of all my patterns and which ones I’ve sewn. Currently I’ve sewn from 26 of the 48 patterns, but one of my new years resolutions was to change that!
http://www.loveauntmaggie.com/sewing-them-all/
I own 14 paper patterns of which 10 are in two sizes. Having 4 girl granddaughters from 9 years to 4 years of age I have used them all several times. I love them all, so easy to follow directions. They are all paper patterns.
I own more than I thought but many more to go… 🙂 https://www.pinterest.com/jlihepler/oliver-%2B-s-plus-other-patterns-i-own/
This was our first Nutcracker season too – and it was totally exhausting! Thanks for the pattern organization idea. Here is my Pinterest link: https://www.pinterest.com/mashahr/oliver%2Bs-pattern-stash/
I own most of the patterns in the smaller size and am beginning my search for the rest of them in the bigger sizes! I do find it helpful to be able to look through all of my options in one quick glance on Pinterest. Here is my board: http://pinterest.com/thatlucegirl/my-oliver-s-pattern-collection/
This is a good idea! Sometimes I forget what I already own… I think I’ll make another pinboard called “patterns I want.”
My main resolutions this year are to finish a bunch of projects I started last year or years before that (yeah, I have a pretty large UFO list :P), and to first try to use fabric I already have instead of buying new fabric right away ;).
These are my links:
https://www.pinterest.com/vothgirl/oliver-%2B-s-patterns-i-own/
https://www.pinterest.com/vothgirl/liesl-%2B-co-patterns-i-own/
https://www.pinterest.com/vothgirl/lisette-for-butterick-patterns-i-own/
Thanks for this post. I have since changed my pintrest boards to ‘patterns for adults I own’, ‘pattern for children I own’ and ‘pattern wishlist’. It’s fun to have an extra board to save patterns that have caught my eye but which I am not yet ready to buy. I have also since printed the instructions of my digital patterns and put them in a binder. It’s so much easier to plan my sewing now! I am thinking of other ways of organizing my sewing and look further to any other posts on this subject. Many thanks! Liz