2015 in Review & What’s Ahead

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday. Thank you for all the support you’ve given this past year. I hope to be able to keep creating beautiful things and sharing things I learn on my blog. To start off, I wanted to recap some highlights from 2015.

My 5 most worn items I made in year 2015Watson bra in black laceSweat pantsGinger jeansChambray button upBurdastyle Parka

Wedding dresses and items
This is my current focus. I would like to continue expanding more bridal line in year 2016.Bridal robeFloral motif lace wedding dressPhoto collaboration with NounouFlower crown
Wedding welcome bears

69 Blog posts

I wrote 69 blog posts in the year 2015. That’s about 5 blog posts a month. That’s not many, but I found that a once per week frequency is easier to maintain. That frequency allows me to come up with ideas and still enjoy writing. I am planning on continuing this frequency for 2016 as well.

These three posts generated the most page views:

MADE | Ginger Skinny Jeans View B
MADE | BurdaStyle Parka 09/2012 #129
MADE | Navy Blue Lace Dress

It’s interesting that these are all my “MADE” posts, showing the clothes I made for myself rather than for other people. Maybe the readers can tell how passionate I am with these makes from my detailed reviews of the pattern or the process.

Newsletters

I started a newsletter last year. The mailing was infrequent (maybe two or three times) but I want to increase it to once a month this year. It will be a round up of the blog posts of the month, some behind the scenes stuff and links of things I enjoyed reading/watching. If you are interested, sign up here.

2016 Resolutions

I have two resolutions.
1. Last year I read 58 books. I kept track of the title, author, the date I finished reading and short comments about the book in a spreadsheet. This became really handy when it came to recommending my favorite reads to friends. Most of the books were Japanese books. This year, I want to alternate reading Japanese books and English books. It’s easier and faster for me to read in Japanese, but I should read more in English to improve my English vocabulary. My first English book of 2016 is the Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor.
2. Keep track of hours spent on working towards the business. I am guessing that I am putting in about 15 hours per week, but this is a complete guess. It might be more. We will find out. I still work full time during the day. Finding out the actual time I spend on the business, and comparing that to what I earn will help me articulate a more focused business plan.

Find me elsewhere: