Make Nine 2021

I think we are all hoping for a better year in 2021 aren’t we? Although it looks like things aren’t changing anytime soon I hope by the end of this year we will all be in a much better place mentally. I am going to try and pretend that the world is normal-ish and am going to set some intentions for the new year.

In 2020 I actually managed to make all nine items on my 2020 make nine list and this was largely due to picking patterns I was genuinely excited by, choosing a mixture of sewing and knitting plans, and selecting patterns that I already have the fabric and yarns to make. That last point was particularly useful as 2020 threw so many curveballs and my sew-jo went from non-existent to constantly sewing and back again so having projects ready to go was something that I found so helpful! I have tried to bear all these things in mind when making this year’s list. I asked mostly for yarn for Christmas so more than half of my plans are knitting plans as I have the materials on hand for some seriously exciting projects. Let’s take a look shall we?

2021 Make Nine List (from left to right):

• Top row:
• Evelyn Trousers (Pattern no longer available but I already own the paper pattern and want to get use out of it)
• Sorrel Sweater
• Vogue Michael Kors 2873 Pea Coat – learn tailoring techniques
• Middle row:
• Whitmoor Sweater
• Coastal Confessions Cowl – learn brioche knitting
• Forestland Sweater
• Bottom row:
• SOI Heather Dress
• Ladyfingers Sweater
• Patchwork Garment – use up linen scraps I’ve been saving for years

Writing this list really reminds me of the way people talk about curating the perfect mix tape. I’ve tried to curate the perfect mixture of easy wins, interesting patterns, materials I want to use, and new techniques I would like to challenge myself with. The backbone is four sweaters that I am SO excited to knit and am dying to wear (the Whitmoor, Forestland, Ladyfingers and Sorrel) I know these are slow burns and will be lucky if I manage to make all four of these. I have chosen Ladyfingers and Sorrel to use up several individual skeins in my stash, I’ve had the yarn for the Whitmoor in my stash for a while, and my husband bought me yarn for the Forestland for Christmas so these are all good to go! I’ve chucked an easy win in there – the SOI Heather dress is a knit dress that I’ve been meaning to try for a while and will probably whip up quickly. I’ve added in the Evelyn trousers that I’ve been meaning to sew for years, I won the paper pattern when it was released and have both toile fabric and fashion fabric ready but have been putting it off as I see it as hard. As well as these six garments, I have also chosen three techniques that I would love to learn during 2021.

Firstly, I have been saving every scrap of linen since I started sewing with linen two years ago. Because I have quite a defined colour palette these all go together really well and I have been drooling over lots of gorgeous scrap busting patchwork garments in recent months. This is a slow fashion goal for me, I sewed up a denim scrapbusting jacket last year and loved the process and finished garment but that one didn’t involve any patchworking which is something I am not very familiar with. I also have two pieces of linen in my stash which will obviously generate more scraps once used, I might sew those before I start on this endeavour so that means this one may happen later in the year. I also cannot decide if I want to make an outerwear garment like the Wiksten Haori or the Grainline Tamarack or if I would prefer to make a patchwork dress like the Hinterland, of which I have seen some amazing versions. This tutorial from Elbe Textiles seems like a good place to start, look at the amazing dress they made!

Secondly, I spent all of my birthday money on 2m of beautiful green wool from Fabworks. I have sourced some lining fabric third-hand (thanks mum for giving me some she picked up at a fabric swap) and I have the pattern ready, BUT I know nothing about tailoring and want to do a good job so I intend to learn some tailoring techniques before I do this. I’ve signed up for Craftsy to learn some tailoring techniques from their classes. Obviously this is another long-term goal but I am in no rush to own the jacket and would like to set the intention to learn some tailoring this year.

Finally, the third learning goal I want to set for 2021 is to learn how to knit brioche. I kind of see it as leveling up my knitting game and have chosen to start with the Coastal Confessions Cowl as recommended by the amazing @darcidoesit. The pattern comes with a knit-along, email instructions, video classes and an amazing teacher. I don’t mind if it takes me a long time to learn, I think it is lovely to set some goals to challenge myself.

Hopefully these goals are intentional and achievable but even if I don’t complete them all I am excited to learn some new things and continue along my sewing and knitting journeys. I am intending to sew and knit from my stash more again this year but don’t want to set too-strict restrictions on what I can or can’t buy/use. Hopefully you are being gentle with yourself too. Happy new year!