 the start of a new year, the start of a new decade. It's a very, very exciting time in my mind and in my heart. And over the course of the last few years with this channel, I have been very vocal with you guys about sort of the idea of resolutions, the idea of setting goals for yourself, and none of that has really changed. I'm not one of those people that makes a ton of resolutions. I'm someone who looks at it like an evolution. So it's not like by the end of the year, I will have done this exact thing. Instead, it's like, I'm going to work on this and I'm going to be better at that. And that definitely applies to my sewing. I mean, I haven't been sewing that long, you guys. I'm not one of those people who grew up with it. No one in my family ever sewed. I really just found it as an adult in my late 20s and just became obsessed and so learned really quickly. But with that comes a lot of things that as I am more confident in my sewing, there are things about my sewing that I wish I were better at, things that I wish I did differently, things just, you know, just an evolution, an evolution of becoming a beginner sewist, becoming very obsessed, trying to learn as much as you possibly can, making as many mistakes as you can. And now that all that's kind of settled down, I feel like I can be a lot more diligent and vigorous about my sewing evolution. I don't ever want to just stay stagnant. I don't ever want to just say, well, you know, I can make just about anything I want to wear. So, you know, that's it. I really, really want to just keep learning and keep getting better. So I actually went back on my laptop and see here and rewatched my last resolution video, which as it turns out was from 2018. It wasn't, I didn't make any resolutions in 2019. The only reason I can think of is because I had just moved and things were very chaotic and so it must have just slipped my mind. But it's interesting because the resolutions from 2017 and 2018 are kind of still things that I am working on. One of them was to finish everything, uh, what would my future self feel if I take this shortcut? So if I skip this interfacing, for example, and I'm going to wear this garment in the future and it's kind of falling apart and not holding up well, my future self is going to be really disappointed that I took this shortcut now. So don't take this shortcut, see it all the way through, finish it perfectly, so on and so forth. And I am a lot better at that, a lot, a lot better. I think that my holiday dress from this past December, like a few weeks ago is the prime example of that really, really seeing itself to the like nearly, I don't want to say I'm perfect at it, but we're getting very, very close to nirvana with that. And so I feel very, very proud, but there are certain things that I'm still, I still catch myself, especially like on the garment set a little bit more casual, I don't know, I feel like I can take extra shortcuts there, not changing my serger thread, stupid stuff, stupid, stupid stuff. So I'm almost there with that. Another one of the resolutions, bless my heart, is I really wanted to perfect a pants pattern. No, we're not there. I mean, I'm making pants, loose fitting pants. I can do that really, really well. I can, as you saw in my jeans video, I can take something that's ready to wear and get it to fit me. So I have better fitting pants now than I ever had in my whole life, but I am not necessarily making pants all the time, or certainly don't have one pattern that is like my go to pants pattern. With that said, though, I'm not really a pants wearer. I have a few and that gets me through what I need. And if all of them happen to be loose fitting, cool lot style pants, what's wrong with that? That's fine. I don't have to have like cigarette pants. I don't have to have, you know, a pair of jeans that I've made myself, especially if I can figure out a way to get ready to wear ones, get them at Goodwill. So I'm helping the environment still, helping my wallet still, and get them to fit well. Then you know what? I'm kind of okay. And that's part of an evolution too is just settling in and realizing what your strengths are, what they aren't, finding a good compromise for the things that you aren't going to be exceptional at, and doing the best you can. Maybe that's what I mean about my, you know, sewing journey and kind of where I am now that I'm a little bit more confident. I don't have to be able to make absolutely everything. And I am perfectly, perfectly okay with that. What's hysterical is two of them from two years ago was lessen my stash and no more works in progress. And I don't know, maybe I am just that person that's going to always have a work in progress pile. I am always that person that is going to continue adding to her stash, even though she's got plenty of fabrics to choose from. Maybe that's just like, you know how there are some people who make their bed every day, and there are some people who don't. And there are some people who always have the kitchen sink empty without any dishes. And then there are the people who let it all pile up and then deal with it later. Maybe that's just how it's going to be. I don't know. But what I do know for sure that speaks to kind of both of these things is that, and I started to subconsciously do this toward the end of the year, is that I don't feel like I need to make all of the things. I, you know, when a new pattern release comes out, I used to buy like a lot of those patterns, more than 10. I have an insane pattern stash, which I started to call a little bit, which is nice. And then I would just feel like, oh my god, I've got to sew all of this stuff. I've got to, you know, be not be one of the first people to finish that garment. But certainly, you know, if something is like I like a pattern a lot, I want to add it to my wardrobe as quickly as possible. And I think what I'm realizing now is that, A, that's not necessary, B, a lot of the patterns that you are drawn to with every release, you have something similar if you've been buying patterns as vigorously as I have been buying patterns. So a lot of times I'll be like, oh, that's really cute. But then I'll be like, but wait, that's a lot like that other pattern that I have that I haven't sewn yet. So I'm kind of feeling a little bit of a relaxed sort of attitude toward that. And not like I have to have the latest and the greatest thing, you know, personally, this comes into my life. And I've talked about this personally with among my friends and my boyfriend and all of that is the idea of the bigger, better deal, right? Like you make plans, let's just use that as an example, you make plans with someone to do like to go work out. And then that morning of your workout that you have scheduled with a friend, someone text messages you and like, hey, we're going to brunch. And that's like the bigger, better deal. And you cancel your workout with your friend, leave them hanging to go do the more fun, exciting thing. Like that's not right. And for a long time, I have really tried very hard to not go for the bigger, better deal. It's not always just with plans, with all kinds of things. And I feel like this is part of that. I feel like the bigger, better deal with the sewing patterns is the new, fresh, hot, you know, cool one that just came out when in your stash, you have something that is just as comfortable and would be just as beautiful. So that's where I'm at with, you know, sewing this patterns, the pattern stashes that I have fabric stash wise. I think the biggest problem that I had was that I was going to New York City and buying everything that they had to offer. If I liked it, I was buying it. The first three years I came home with, I mean, dozens of fabrics. And so that's why you see such a large stash behind me. This past year, I did go to New York City. I went for one day and I didn't buy any fabric at all. And I was perfectly fine with that. I went into the shops, I looked around, I was looking for something very specific, which also helped. And so I haven't really added to my stash at all. And you'll see in my plans video coming up, I plan on sewing from the stash all year long. So my style is I feel like an opportunity where I can really start to tackle some of the stash. Because those patterns are a little bit more basic, I feel like that's why I haven't reached for the fabrics I have now, because I'm going for like a fancy pattern and all the fancy fabrics that I love, love, love, love, love, love, I've already made. So what's left are kind of like the basics. And it's hard to be inspired from the basics. On top of that is the works in progress situation. And I feel like what happens with that is I am very, very excited to make something. So I cut it out. And then something else distracts me, squirrel, and I'm off to make the next thing. And what I really need to do is just say no, like just be hard on myself. You know, like if you're tackling your health and fitness this year, you can't just go into the pantry and get a bag of chips every time you're hungry. So it's the same kind of thing in your sewing room, you know what I mean? Like I can't, I just can't allow myself to just willy-nilly whenever I want. I have to be diligent about it. And the second part of the work in progress situation is I'll start to make something and realize it's not going to fit or it's not going to turn out the way that I like. And so I bail, but I don't fully bail. I just partially bail meaning fold up the fabric and tuck it away somewhere and tell myself that I'm going to get to it. And then I never do. So I just have to be really, really hard on myself in all of these situations with the stashes that I've got. And I think that that's just a matter of not necessarily like being more mature, but just being more knowledgeable and more real with myself, more honest with myself. So I guess in a way that's kind of how all of that is evolving. I should just admit when a project is a fail and just that's what it is and move on. And we have those and we learn from those and that's fine. And I should just tell myself you've already got that pattern in your stash. Tell myself this other fabric will be perfect for that pattern. You don't need, you know, the new hot fabric. So that's kind of where I've gotten with my sewing resolutions and my sewing evolutions over the past few years. I am still always working to be a better person, but also a better sewist and be someone that in this sewing journey, I am very proud of all of all the aspects of it, all the facets of my sewing. I don't want to be someone who hoards so don't. You know, I don't want to be someone who doesn't finish a project perfectly. So don't. I don't want to be someone who's hung up on trying to learn one type of garment and that's preventing them from sewing things that they really love. So don't. So that I guess is my message for you all this year as you're thinking about goals and plans is that it's a journey. It's an evolution. You're always reaching for Nirvana and Nirvana is one of those things that you'll never reach, but you're always working really, really hard to get there. So don't be so hard on yourself. If you're a new sewer and you just got your first sewing machine, yes, you are going to go nuts buying all the things, trying to sew all the things, and you should. That's how you're going to learn, but don't be so hard on yourself if it doesn't work out. Don't be so hard on yourself. If you failed, it's fine. And for those of you that have been sewing forever and ever and ever, sometimes I feel like we can be the hardest on ourselves almost because we know better. You know what I mean? So but don't. Don't be so hard on yourself. At the same time, be honest with yourself, be true to yourself, to that own self, be true. And I think that the sewing journey will just carry us through to the next phase of whatever that looks like. So I am excited for this year. I'm excited to see where my journey is going to take me. I'm excited to see kind of what my thoughts are about this at the end of 2020. I'll be sure to do a video about it. We'll see. We'll see what happened. But let me know what you guys are going to be working on for your sewing, for your sewing evolution and your sewing journey. Leave those in the comments. Let's help inspire each other, whether it's a very specific, smart goal, specific, measurable, all of that attainable. Or if it's just something like me where it's just like, you know what, I'm just going to, it's like a more of an idea than an actual tangible thing. Let me know what it is in the comments. I can't wait to hear kind of where you guys are on your journeys and kind of what that, how that translates to your goals and resolutions for 2020. But that's going to do it for me today. Thank you all so much for watching and I will see you very soon. Bye.