How I use MyBodyModel with my bullet journal sewing tracker, by Leanne

Hi sewing pals! I’m so excited for my first blog with My Body Model and to show y’all how I use my personal croquis in my bullet journal sewing tracker for each month.

As I ramped up my sewing a few months ago, I started looking around online for a sewing journal I could use to keep track of how many things I made over the month, but I just couldn’t find anything that was exactly what I wanted. I had previously purchased a My Body Model croquis, but never got around to actually playing with it. I’ve had an obsession with bullet journaling without actually attempting it, but using one together with my croquis seemed like a good combination for a perfect sewing journal.

I know a lot of people use the croquis to plan out a garment they’re going to make, but right now I’m using them to document what I’ve sewn each month. You could make a page for just extra special makes, but I really wanted to see what my output each month was, and as well as have a sewing scrapbook of sorts, so I’ve been making a page for every garment I sew each month.

Even though I use these pages after I sew, they could just as easily be used for planning pages that you incorporate throughout your monthly bullet journal spread.

Organizing my bullet journal sewing tracker spreads

Since my sewing pages are for documenting what I’ve sewn at the end of each month, I put them at the end of my monthly spreads in my bullet journal. When I started these I came up with a page layout, and so far I’ve only tweaked the sizes of the boxes, I really love it as is so far.

I start by drawing 3 boxes on each of my Make pages:

• a large box at the bottom right for my croquis and sketch of the make (20 dots X 13 dots) – hands down this is my favorite part of the page. It makes it feel like a sketchbook of sorts, and I get to feel like I’m being artistic even though I can barely draw stick figures.

• a small box at the upper right for a fabric swatch (8 dots X 8 dots) – I love being able to touch the fabric I used when looking back, it gives the page a scrapbook feel, and as a lover of all things stationary…it makes my heart happy.

• a medium size box at the bottom left for keeping track of where I have to post the makes (12 dots X 12 dots) – some of the clothes I make are in collaboration with fabric companies, or are for pattern tests that require being posted in certain Facebook groups and/or to Instagram and this is an easy way to quickly see what goes where.

Then I add the information that I want to track for garment that I make. The information you document for each make can be whatever you want, but so far I’ve gone with these focal points:

• date started
• date finished
• difficulty
• adjustments – I write the adjustments I made as well as any I would make in the future
• pattern name
• view
• size

Adding my body model croquis to my bullet journal sewing tracker

My final step is to cut and paste my body model croquis to the sketch box on each sewing tracker page.

If you follow my setup dimensions exactly, printing page 9 (the 12 models per page format) from your MyBodyModel printable fashion sketchbook with your croquis at 115% scale will give you appropriately sized croquis to fit in your sketch box.

I’ve spent a lot of time printing and reprinting to figure out the size they need to be, and I’ve found that scale to be the sweet spot with the box dimensions I draw. Once you have your croquis printed to the appropriate size, cut them out and glue them on, it’s that easy!

Here’s what the final page setup looks like:

Supplies for my bullet journal & sewing tracker

If you like the look of my bullet journal, and want to dip your toes in with me, here’s a list of the supplies I use in mine:

1. Journal: Leuchtturm 1917 Medium A5 dotted journal in pacific green
2. Pens: these pens for my lines and writing in various sizes (08 for box outlines and upper left header; 05 for information points; and 02 for filling in the information)
3. Markers: (I have this pack & this pack) because I love that they’re colorful yet still subdued, which I find makes them easier to look cohesive with the page. As I color in more clothes, I am noticing that I could use more colors, but these two sets have been working for me so far.

Here’s what the pages look like when they’re completed:

Benefits of sketching & tracking my makes

After the first month of using my body model croquis to document my makes, I was hooked.

• I love being able to look back at what I’ve achieved over the month.

• I like seeing my basic drawing skills slowly (VERY slowly) improve as I continue drawing out my makes.

• Seeing all of my clothes I make in one place really helps me to see any patterns I find myself being drawn to, as well as favorite fabric bases and colorways.

• I’m able to see what my style was like that month and if it stayed the same or changed throughout the months.

• It’s also kind of therapeutic to draw clothes onto a body scaled to look like mine, which wasn’t something I thought would happen. I find myself being less critical when I see my body in the mirror, because I’ve spent so long looking at little croquis with the same shape in my journal. It’s helping to turn my body from something I pick apart to something I see for what it is…just my body.

I can’t wait to see how my sewing pages in my bullet journal grow in 2020. I’ve only been using my bullet journal for 4 months in 2019 and it’s been so good for my sewing progress and my self confidence, so I can’t wait to see where I am with it this time next year.

Do you have a sewing bullet journal? If not, are you going to start one in 2020?

I’d love to see your setups! Tag me on Instagram @threadyforit so I can get some bullet journal inspo from y’all too!

Happy New Year + happy sewing y’all,

Leanne

For more bullet journal and planner/tracker inspiration, check out these blog posts:

My Personalized Sewing Planner, by Elana

Making rubber stamps of My Body Model for my bullet journal, by Micheline

31 Days of Outfit Sketches, by Ciara

Leanne Bagala

Leanne is a native New Orleanian who currently calls Phoenix home with her husband and two cats. She began sewing over 2 years ago and it’s quickly become an integral part of her self care journey. Sewing has given Leanne so much self confidence and self love, and she’s proud to say that the only RTW items in her wardrobe are undergarments and jeans- something she hopes to tackle in 2020. Leanne’s favorite thing to do while sewing is listen to podcasts or catch up on her latest show obsession. In 2019 Leanne taught herself to quilt and knit, and she’s excited to add these crafts to her arsenal along with garment sewing. You can follow along on all of her crafty adventures on Instagram or her blog.