I LOVE doing a year end “review” and looking at my sewing projects I didn’t like at all and looking at my favorites. It really helps me to plan better for next year, learn from my mistakes, and have a closet full of clothes that don’t make me cry when I get dressed in the morning. I am also a rather sentimental personal and love to look back, remember, and think about how my opinion on a subject may have changed over time.
I am so excited about this post. This is the post where I spill the beans about what I REALLY wore. I enjoy pattern testing and try to push myself to try new styles and colors, but sometimes that means I make stuff that I don’t wear. You can read my round up blogpost of sewing fails from this year here.
I have 5 categories of favorites to go over with you today (and a bonus quilt category). I had a hard time picking just one winner on some of the categories, but since I make the rules that is ok. To be listed as a favorite, though, the item had to be worn ALL the time and made in 2018. It had to be picked first when cleaned, well loved, and make me happy every time I wear it. My 5 categories are tops, pants, shorts, gym clothes, and outer layers. I also found it hard to limit this post to only 2018 makes. I still had several 2017 makes that were in constant rotation this year.
(1) Tops
5 out of 4 Camilla. At the beginning of the Spring of this year, I made the 5 out of 4 Camilla in the sleeveless view and have worn it NONSTOP. It is so easy to breastfeed in and comfortable to wear. I think it is also one of my favorites because of the color. I wear all shades of pink first. I wear white and black just as much when a shade of pink doesn’t go with my bottoms. Then, when all of my pink (or white or black) shirts are in the laundry, I look through my other tops.
I initially blogged about the Camilla here. Then, it made its second appearance on my blog paired with a Linden Skirt. You can read that post here.
Then, once it was fall, I paired it with a cardigan in this blogpost. I still wear this Camilla all the time. I am so glad I made it sleeveless so it works throughout the year.
Also worth mentioning is the 5 out of 4 Mabel. I just made this top at the beginning of November, but I have worn it every week since. I blogged about it here.
(2) Pants
Greenstyle Brassie Joggers and P4P SOS Pants. It is no secret that I love the Brassie joggers. They are my ultimate comfort pants that I wear more than any other bottom. I already gushed a ton about them in this post so I won’t repeat everything I said. My most worn pair so far this year has been this olive cotton lycra pair.
I also really felt comfortable in and wore my SOS Pants by Patterns for Pirates a lot so I wanted to include them in my favorite bottoms category. They had pockets and felt like real pants but were essentially leggings. You can read my initial post on them here. I have worn the distressed blue knit pair the most.
(3) Shorts
Greenstyle Taylor shorts and Sew a Litle Seam Linden Shorts. I couldn’t pick just one favorite shorts pattern so I will include both. My most worn pairs were my grey Taylor shorts and my navy Linden shorts. They were both sooooo good. I can’t wait to make more pairs next summer.
Here are my navy Linden shorts. You can read my initial blogpost on them here.
Here are my favorite grey Taylor shorts. You can read my initial blogpost on them here.
(4) Gym Clothes
Greenstyle Xpress tank, Power Sports bra, and Super G Tights. Besides my normal everyday clothes, I separately (try to) work out a lot so I do a lot of activewear sewing. For the gym, my favorites makes from this year are: Xpress tank (top), Super Gs (leggings), and the Power bra. I think this was my favorite outfit of all of them, but I also have a navy Xpress tank I wear just as much with my rose or orange colored Super Gs.
The awesome thing about the Xpress tank is that it fit me amazing post partum. I must have been crazy because I tested the Xpress tank and modeled pics when my baby was only 2 weeks old! I still felt so squishy and had zero sewing time, but I ended up making 3 during the test because they were so quick and made me feel like I was back to sewing again. I needed the mental break but definitely couldn’t handle a project that took any amount of time or lots of thought.
The good news is that all the tanks I made newly postpartum still fit me now even though I have since lost all that pregnancy weight. I just tie the back a little tighter. Here is the navy one I wear all the time.
You can read my initial blogpost on the Xpress tank here. You can read my post on the Super Gs here, and my post on the Power bra is here.
(5) Layers
This category was hard for me because I wear my RTW coats, cardigans, and sweaters about the same amount as I wear my me made! I feel like a traitor on this category! Having said that, the most worn me-made layering item from 2018 was the Greenstyle Pacific Pullover (and in close second place is the 5 out of 4 Elenore Cardigan that I was wearing above with my Camilla top).
During testing, I made all three versions of the Pacific – the collar, a neckband, and a hood. My favorite of all three was the hood. I think I would be wearing it more than my store bought layers if the zipper went down far enough for me to nurse in and if it was in a color I liked. I much prefer pink or navy. So, sometimes I would go to grab it, and it didn’t match me at all. It also fits me much better now that my bust has shrunk. After this photo, I learned to take photos of my makes AFTER I nurse the baby.
So, for 2019, I plan to make a Pacific Pullover that will go with more items in my closet, have a hood, and have a longer zipper. I am not sure why I didn’t initially put in a zipper that was long enough for breastfeeding (my fault not the patterns), but now that I know better, I will do better. Speaking of plans, I have some big plans coming for 2019 so follow along for that post.
You can read my initial blogpost on the Pacific here.
Also, do you notice anything about what colors I came back to over and over…. I think I need to pay some serious attention this next year as to which colors I grab the most and buy (and sew!) more of those!
Quilts
I also must mention that I finished a quilt this year! Yes, just one, but I think I spent more time on clothes than quilts this year, and the quilting projects I have chosen are either massive multi-year undertakings or are being done mostly by hand. This year’s favorite (and only) quilt finish was a hand-pieced Grandma’s flower garden quilt all out of 2 inch hexis. It was such a great car project that kept my hands busy when I was bored.
I already have my next English Paper Piecing project picked out, but it may need to wait a few years before I get to it because there are about 5 quilts in the queue ahead of it!
You can read my initial post on this quilt here.
Thank you for reading my post today. I hope that I inspired you. You may follow me on Instagram or receive updates by liking my page on Facebook. If you want to take a look into the things that inspire me, you can follow me on Pinterest. You may also follow my blog with Bloglovin.
Disclosures: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you purchase via my link. There is no cost to you, and it gives me money to buy more patterns and fabric! Any and all opinions expressed are still my own.
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