Sewing goals for 2025

Sewing for joy this year

I love discussing goals. January and September are both big goal-setting times of year for me. That feeling of a new year, new start is so motivating. I went to school in England, where September is the start of the new academic year. This is also true of university, which I attended for 8 years. So, in total that’s 22 years of my life, my formative years, spent in institutions that follow a September to June timetable. It’s a time frame that works nicely for goals set at the start of the year, January/February time, to have a check-in after the summer, when just over half the year is gone. I’m not bothered about a strict 6 month check-in, it often takes me most of January to mull over my goals and plans for the year and finally settle on my projects. By autumn I’ve got a good idea of whether a big project is worth continuing, or whether my goals have changed. It’s also the time of year I’m starting to think about crafts for Christmas presents, so new projects might enter the to-do list, and others might take a back seat.

My problem with crafting goals, is I’m easily distracted by other smaller projects, leading the main plan to take a back seat. I am bad for prioritising things that seem easy or straightforward, with the idea being I knock off a few things from the day-to-day to do list; repair a pair of jeans, sew a gift, use up some scraps, before tackling the main goal project. The problem becomes that all my sewing time slips through my fingers, finishing useful or perceived necessary projects (do I really need to sew that gift, when a purchased present would be just as gratefully received? Do those scraps need to be used by me, or could they be donated?), rather than moving my main goal along. After some self-reflection, I’ve realised this is because I struggle to prioritise things that are wholly for me, projects that are joyful rather than practical. I feel able to ‘spend’ time on practical sewing; converting old tea towels into dish cloths, sewing gifts for friends, mending and repairs, but struggle to prioritise spending time on projects purely for myself. I have an ongoing issue with ‘all or nothing’ thinking; feeling like I need to be crafting everything in my wardrobe to be qualified as ‘sustainable’ (whatever that means really). I struggle to allow myself to buy items I need, like cushion covers, because I know I can sew them, even though I might not want to spend my sewing time making cushion covers. I need to let myself prioritise time for joyful creating, rather than my sewing time being purely practical or functional. It’s OK to buy cushion covers from Dunelm or TK Maxx, like most of the population, rather than feeling like I have to thrift or sew everything to live a sustainable life.

Goal 1: The Hobbit robe

When I look back on my main 2024 sewing goal, I realise I made just that mistake. I never prioritised sewing for myself, and thus, unsurprisingly this goal is still unfinished. The only project I really committed to sew was my Hobbit robe. This is a patchwork wool project, to use up my wool scraps and remnants, that ultimately I had planned to turn into an heirloom piece, a dressing gown inspired by one worn by Martin Freeman’s version of Bilbo Baggins, from the 2012 film version of The Hobbit. I started the year strong, having completed the quilt top in January/February time, I booked to have it longarm quilted by Dastardly Line. I eventually got this done in May…only for us to then move house and city, and for me to move job to boot. It was packed away in storage, and I spent the summer prioritising small, manageable projects, of the type I could do with minimal brain power. I wasn’t in the right headspace, and didn’t have the physical space needed for a project of this size. Now I’ve spent all the time piecing together the topper, and all the money having it longarm quilted, I need to be really concentrating when I cut it up and make it into a dressing gown.

My plan is to use either the Sew DIY Tasi Robe, or the Wiksten Unfolding Jacket (which I think has been discontinued) to sew the dressing gown. Both are basically giant rectangles sewn together, so there should be minimal waste, since I want to use as much of my created fabric as possible. This is probably my biggest crafting goal of 2025, it’s a project that’s been at least 2 years in the making so far, so it’s high time it was finished!

Goal 2: Modern Sewing Company Darcy coat

My second goal has been brewing in my brain for at least 6 months now, so I think 2025 is the year to do it. I want to sew an oversized wool coat, lined with silk, and I think the Modern Sewing Company Darcy coat is the right pattern for my vision. My current wool coat is a second hand Boden camel coloured coat, bought for £10 from a Glasgow charity shop back in 2019. It’s done me well, and is only just starting to look a bit threadbare around the cuffs, plus developed a large hole in one pocket I need to repair. I get it dry cleaned around once a year, when it comes out of storage in the autumn time, and it’s fine but it’s not really ‘me’. It’s practical and neutral, and I have no real complaints, but it doesn’t feel like it represents my true personality and style.

My plan was born when Pinterest served me a picture of a green wool coat from Toast, around the same time as I became aware of the Darcy coat. I love the colour and texture of the Toast version, though I think I’ll choose navy as my colour, since it will go with more in my wardrobe, and I have the perfect piece of deadstock navy Harris Tweed I’ve been saving for the occasion. The Darcy coat is the perfect amount of oversized in my opinion, with a drop shoulder and cuffed sleeves. I want to make a wearable toile first, I was very kindly gifted some vintage Harris Tweed from a friend of the family clearing a house, and some of those pieces I think would be long enough for a toile. I’ve got two pieces of vintage Aquascutum silk in my stash, from my Craft & Thrift shop days, plus a polyester lining fabric from Andrew’s granny, with a very waspy polo pony print. I might use the polo ponies for the wearable toile, and the silk for the final version. My aim for this coat is for it to be a warm, winter coat I can throw on over a thick jumper or down jacket, on those really cold days.

Goal 3: Modern Sewing Company Worker trousers X Closet Core Morgans

This last goal is hopefully going to fill a gap in my current wardrobe, for stylish but comfortable jeans and trousers. I love my Modern Sewing Company Workers, but find the crotch is too long on my short frame, leading to an unsightly drooping of the front of the jeans. I love the fit of my Closet Core Morgans, but prefer the barrel cut of the Workers. So why not combine them?! I’m not sure this plan will work, but I’m thinking I’ll combine the rise and crotch of the Morgans, with the leg drafting of the Workers. It may be as simple as measuring the rise on the Morgans, and making the appropriate adjustment on the Workers to match. We’ll soon find out.

This goal feels the most achievable, since I’ve already made both of these patterns before, the Morgans multiple times. I might start with this one, as a way to ease into my sewing goals for 2025. Either way, I’ll be interested to look back at these goals at the end of the year, to see how they fared.

My over arching goal for my sewing this year is to prioritise sewing for myself and for joy.

Are you making sewing goals this year? Share them in the comments, we can motivate each other!