Day One! I've enjoyed following so many other sewing blogs. It seems to develop a sense of accountability. And that is what I need right now! I was taught to sew by my mom. She was a fantastic seamstress. I remember beautiful dresses and suits she made. And coordinated outfits for my two sisters and me. She trained in millinery in Germany, but turned to sewing when she moved to the US. I learned from her.... I made many of my formals, college and early work clothes.

But four kids came along and my focus turned to them. A beautiful satin and lace christening gown, mom and daughter dresses for Christmas, coordinated halloween costumes. And in the past fifteen years, I've developed a love for quilting. To the point I'm co-chairing our guild's quilt show for next year!

But my goal this past year was to get back into fashion sewing for me. I do not have the figure I did twenty years ago, and clothes are more difficult to find in the stores for my, shall we call them 'anomalies'? And I do have a fabric stash plenty large enough to draw upon.

I started re-focusing last year by making a simple skirt totally in the coture method-and I do mean totally coture; there is not one single machine stitch in that little skirt. It re-taught me, and taught me new in some instances, a lot about fashion sewing. (I 'taught myself' using Claire Shaeffer's Coture Sewing book). This year I'll go back to sewing on my machine but with the benefit of some of those techniques.

There seems to be such a sense of accountability and sharing with bloggers, that I am hoping this community will help me be more accountable to reach my goals this year.