And I finished!! The challenge started February 1st, but I didn’t find out about it until late March. I joined anyway, thinking the end of May was so far off…. but if I’d been honest, 8 weeks meant I’d have to average about 1 item a week, which is way faster than I usually sew.

Anyway, I learned a lot, tried new techniques and tools, and I think I’ve decided I’m actually officially past the beginner stage – there were several times during this where I thought to myself, “hey, why don’t you skip that part (pinning, pressing, stay stitching, whatever) and go straight to sewing”? … but I’ve enough experience now to know that skipping those things is false time savings. Without them, it’s a lot fussier/harder to do the actual sewing, and the finished items look a lot less nice.

In any case, the eight that made it to completion:

Vogue 8717 jacket & pants

Butterick 6021, ivy+blue dress, and made-up belt (I didn’t like the tie one in the pattern)

Vogue 8717 pants (the second iteration), and McCall’s 7357 tunic

Grainline Studios Scout tee

McCall’s 6604

McCall’s 7254, in a sweater knit