Could improve…

“Kirsten could achieve very highly if she only applied herself consistently…”

Did anyone else consistently get that on their school report card? I think I probably got that remark from at least one teacher every year. And to be honest, its something I still struggle with. I’m all detail oriented and obsessive about something, and then I just get lazy toward the end and decide that I can’t be bothered finishing whatever I’m doing to the same standard as the rest of it. I’ve been coming down hard on myself when I’m finishing a sewing project, and I’ve got much better at doing things like under stitching facings and finishing my seams. And it really does make a difference to my finished garment, I’m so annoyed at myself for slacking off on some earlier projects! I may think that it will be fine when I’m rushing to finish something, but generally those skipped steps will mean the difference between the final garment being something I want to wear, and something that gets banished to the bottom of a drawer, never to see the light of day again. These aren’t exactly groundbreaking revelations, but I’m going to be much stricter with myself about doing things properly from now on.

The other thing I want to improve on is the way I take pictures for the blog. Lately, my photos have just been a bit…shit, really. A big part of this is the time of year, its hard to get enough natural light to take nice photos when its so overcast and gloomy outside! There isn’t a lot of daylight at the moment anyway, though today is the shortest day (happy midwinter/midsummer!) so things should start improving soon. Happily, Tilly (from Tilly and the Buttons) posted this excellent and timely information about how to take good photos of your sewing on her blog. So hopefully things will be looking brighter soon, both in my photos and outside! Call these my six month blogging goals (six months! Holy moly!)

…anyway, some photos so that this isn’t a boring all text post!

The top two pictures are the fabric for my next couple of projects, some beautiful Japanese cotton lawn and some merino (hanging outside in the vain hope that there might be enough warmth in the sun to get it dry after prewashing it…) and the last one is my latest project! More about that on Wednesday. You can also see the lovely earrings that my colleagues gave me on Friday as a leaving gift 🙂