Planning my sewing for 2025 | How I plan & what I want to sew this year…

How I like to plan my sewing…

When it comes to planning for a new year of sewing, I like to look back on the previous year and think about what worked, what went well, what I enjoyed sewing and what has worked well in my wardrobe. I’ve already gone through this in rather a lot of detail in this video here and blog post here so I won’t go over that again but for me that’s a big part of the process in planning for the year ahead. I also find this kind of fun to do too. You can also watch my ‘video version’ of this blog post over on YouTube by clicking below.

I also like look back on my sewing goals from last year and see whether I feel as though I’ve met them. Did they work for me or did I need to change my goals throughout the year. I did say that I wanted to be better at alterations and upcycles in last year’s video and I have to say I’m still not great at either of those things – oops!!

I also think about anything outstanding from what I wanted to make last year before planning any new things I’d like to sew. I had a pretty long list of things I wanted to sew for autumn/winter time which I shared in this video so I had a look through that to see if there was anything I still wanted to sew.

My goals for 2025…

So these are my goals for 2025. I want to emphasise that when it comes to setting goals I do these quite light heartedly. I’m not hard on myself about any that don’t get done or that I want to change later on but setting them does give me a guideline for planning makes as I go forward…

Goal No. 1 – I feel like I’m sounding like a broken record with this one but again this year I want to be more intentional with my sewing and I do feel like I’ve got that down to quite a good ‘thought process’. Not all the time but a lot of the time now, if I want to make something new I will think about how and when I will wear it, how it will fit into my current wardrobe. I also think about how it will it fit into my lifestyle.

So, for example am I making a fancy party dress when I rarely go to parties and spend most of my life working at home and walking the dog (basically my own life) is it really worth my time and effort making that dress.  I also think carefully about the fabric I’m going to be using (I’ll talk a bit more about fabric next) but for me this one is more about the colour, feel and quality of the fabric. So, choosing a colour that works with my colour palette from my colour analysis, making sure that it’s not something that I’m going to make and then immediately hate wearing because the colour drains me and makes me feel awful. I want things that are going to make me feel good. I also over time have come to realise that investing in quality fabrics that feel nice makes my me made garments last longer and get more wear.

Goal No. 2 – I’ve touched on fabric above so just to go further into that. I really want to be more intentional with the types of fabric I buy and what I’m sewing my clothes from. Now I really want to state that I am a novice when it comes to this sort of thing but what I’m getting at really is thinking more about the effect that fabric over consumption and fabric waste, clothing waste and that sort of thing is having on the environment. I am really bad at not really knowing the origins of fabric so where it comes from and, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is the kind of thing that is pretty hidden in terms of the clothing and fabric industry.

So for example, I would have initially thought that this would mean choosing natural fibres over man made fibres like polyester but even in terms of cotton production there is so much we don’t know about how areas of the world/ecosystems are being destroyed to plant cotton plants to keep up with the demand of the clothing industry. It’s such a difficult one and if anyone has any resources or books or websites they can point me to to learn from this I’d love to know because I find all of this so overwhelming.

Also in terms of when buying clothes, wools, yarns, silks are the animals producing those fibres being treated well etc. It’s a minefield but it’s definitely something I want to be more aware of and learn more about this year.

Goal No. 3 – Another thing I’d like to do this year is give myself more time to work on my smaller, slower sewing projects. So for example, hand sewn projects like the scrappy hexi quilt I started last summer because that has been neglected recently and maybe finish up a couple of other quilting and patchwork projects that I’ve started but not yet finished.

New garment types to sew this year…

In terms of goals with what I’d like to learn this year, I think I have two things I’d like to dabble in. One is swimwear. I have sewn swimwear in the past but it hasn’t been a great success. I made the Megan Nielsen Cottesloe two piece but it didn’t fit very well once I came to wear it in ‘real life’. Swimwear is difficult because you can’t really tell how well it fits until you wear it properly can you so I had initially thought my sets were ok but when I’d actually worn them out I realised that actually they were a little too far on the tight side and I could do with a better fit.

Another one is underwear. Another thing I always said I would never sew. I don’t think I’ll be making an underwired bra or anything like that but I’d quite like to try perhaps a bralet or some knickers or something and I keep hearing how good making knickers is for using up scraps too so that’s always a good thing.

Outstanding plans from 2024…

So on my list of things I wanted to sew for Autumn/Winter this year I had a rather ambitions list of 10 things I wanted to get made. Some have been made and some haven’t – these are the things I’d still like to get made in 2025 (at some point).

A Bomber Jacket – I would still like to give a bomber jacket a try as I love the look of them and how versatile they are for wearing with jeans or dresses. I think I could take a bomber jacket into spring/summer from a lighter weight fabric.

A Midi/Maxi Dress – I would still like to get this sewn and it’ll probably be another fully button down Lyra dress like this one here. I could really do with a dark, long dress to wear out and about with tights and boots in the winter. I have the fabric, I just need to get on with this one.

A Dark Smart Coat – This is very much still something I want to make. It was very obvious to me at the end of the year that I could really do with a dark coat in my wardrobe. With the exception of my wool Ilford, all of my coats really are camel or beige so yes this one I’d like to get done and I might look for another coat pattern for this one because it would be good to try a different style. I still like the look of the Avid Seamstress The Coat but we will see. This one may be pushed back to autumn time 2025 as we are coming into spring now.

A Black Blazer – I still really want to get this one done. At Christmas I went to a black tie event and I almost bought a black blazer so I’m sure that this is something I would definitely get some wear out of, great for occasion wear but also casual too. Probably will go with The Blazer again just because I know that one but also still have a bit of a thing about wanting to try the Heather Blazer – we shall see!

So still a little bit to get sewn from that list and I like that it’s quite a mix of easy and more difficult things.

Anything new added for the new year…

We have a ‘hot’ holiday booked in April so I am going to want to get a couple of things sewn for that. Here’s my list of dream items I’d like to sew for that holiday if I have time!!

Blanca Flight Suit – I made this last year and it turned out to be one of my favourite sews! For a holiday I’d like to try and make another one of these but as a shorts version. I think using a linen or linen blend would work well for this.

Dawn Jean Shorts – I love the Dawn as jeans so I’d really like to try a shorts version. I think a pair of these shorts in either a black or light blue denim would work so well and go with everything!

Swimwear – Obviously meeting my swimwear goal in time for this holiday would be perfect! I love the look of this two piece pattern, it has a lovely nod to vintage style and a pair of good hight waisted bottoms which is always a bonus!!

Knitting goals...

Just to touch on knitting. No major goals for this year I’m just going to see where knitting takes me, I am currently knitting the Salthouse Sweater by Rowan which was on my plans video so I’m on track with that. Not a very specific knitting goal but this year I would like to try knitting something with Fishermans Rib because I love this stitch and it’s something I’ve never tried!

So those are my, kind of all over the place goals and plans for this year so far. Let me know what you think. I’d love to know what your goals are and of course I’ll be sharing the progress of mine with you as I go here and on YouTube and Instagram. I’ll also keep you updated on my thinking with the fabric and intentionality plans as we go.

I think that’s all from me for now – take care and happy sewing!!

Sally xx