My goals for 2023! #SewingGoals #DigitalPlanner

This image shows Chelly Wood's sewing goals printable digital sewing planner sheet, filled out with Chelly's goals for 2023. Beside the image of the goal sheet is a hot pink text that says hashtag goals!
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

The goal sheet shown in the image at the top of this page is easy to download and available as a PDF document that you can purchase in color or in greyscale, in my Etsy store for a whoppin’ 99 cents (American)!

Please consider supporting the Chelly Wood library of free, printable PDF sewing patterns, by purchasing your own printable goal sheet from my Etsy store.

Today I’m sharing with you my goals for 2023…

First, I’d like to convert all Ken doll clothes patterns to PDF’s this year. In 2022, I finished converting all Barbie patterns to PDF’s, and as there are tons of free Barbie patterns here, I’m really proud to have achieved that one.

But I still need to convert most of Ken’s doll clothes patterns to PDF’s as well. And I’ve got some really neat Ken clothes that I’ve designed over the years! They just need to be made more accessible to the general public.

A Mattel Ken or Ryan doll stands in a whitewashed room wearing a tux. To his right is a white pillar with climbing vines curling their way around it. To his left is the bust of a famous composer, and above that, a window with a purple painted frame. The Ken dolls wedding attire consists of a white cotton shirt with collar and tie, a black felt jacket, and a pair of black cotton trousers. He wears black plastic dress shoes as well.

Next, I’m actually enrolled in some college coursework through PBS — yes, that’s the Public Broadcasting channel that we all know and love because of shows like Sesame Street and Antiques Roadshow!

I’m about six homeworks behind in that class, and I’ve got to get caught up in order to re-certify as a professional teacher and librarian in the state of Idaho. So this is right at the top  of my goals for 2023. It’s also one of the reasons why I’m taking a month off from writing original blog posts in April.

Some things just have to be put on hold, so I can catch up with life.

The image shows a building shape, made out of safety pins. Inside the building are the Times New Roman font words: "Out of the Office" to indicate that sewing blogger, doll clothes designer, and You-Tuber Chelly Wood will be on vacation from December 24th until January 2nd.
We’re out of the office for now. If you wish to submit a question, check back later. Thanks!

Once school’s out for summer, I’d like to re-design my “Shop” page on ChellyWood.com, so it shows images of the products I’m recommending through my affiliate marketing program.

That will make it more appealing to purchase your fabrics, snaps, and various notions through my shop.

In this image, a photo of the Chelly Wood doll (which is actually a Spin Master Liv doll that has been "doctored up" to look like Chelly Wood, the doll clothing designer) stands to the right of a column of computer generated buttons from the Home Page of the ChellyWood.com website. These buttons have three new additions, which are highlighted with arrows pointing at them and the word "new" beside the arrows. The "new" computer buttons say "shop," "blog," and "sewing basics." When you click on these new buttons, they will take you to the website's shopping guide, blog entries, and tutorial videos for people who are just learning how to sew doll clothes.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I’ve started to create YouTube #Shorts videos, and they seem to be a lot of fun for everybody (including me). It takes quite a bit of time away from my weekends to make these, though, so I’m setting a goal to try to keep up with this until summer gets here.

Once I’m on summer vacation from school, maybe I can jump the gun and make a few #DoApick videos in advance, so I can keep posting them again in the fall, after I go back to work at the school library.

If you’ve been following this blog, you’re probably aware that I’ve been working on designing a wardrobe that my Judy Littlechap doll can wear.

I’ve also been made aware that there’s a new 13 inch Barbie out now, so I’m wondering if Judy Littlechap and the new 13 inch Barbie can swap clothes. I’ll be experimenting with this possibility in 2023.

Judy Littlechap doll wears a handmade dress designed by Chelly Wood, with inspiration from the Tressy doll wardrobe in Simplicity 5731. In this photo, we see Judy standing slightly to one side. She faces to the viewer's right. Her dress has very slight pleats in front. The felt bodice of the dress suits the doll nicely. The dress's skirt's hem drops just to the bottom of Judy's knee caps.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I also bought a Sindy doll in 2022, and I’d like to build a wardrobe for her as well.

If you’re not familiar with Sindy, you can read all about her on the OurSindyMuseum.com website. The ladies who run that website have been super helpful in answering my questions, as I prepare to design some clothes for my new/used Sindy.

The challenging thing about designing a Sindy wardrobe is this: in the UK (and in most other countries outside the US) they use A4 printer paper. When I post my Sindy doll clothes patterns, I’ll need to provide A1 (American sized) PDF patterns PLUS A4 (international sized) PDF patterns.

My research will take a while on this front, but I’m certain it will help to have a Canva Pro account.

Here’s what Sindy looks like:

The image shows a photo of a 1970's Sindy doll with messy hair and dirty legs. She stands with her legs slightly apart. She wears a peach colored swimsuit made of jersey fabric.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Sorry about her messy “bed head” in that photo. She had just arrived in the mail, after I purchased her on eBay, and she really needed a bit of a makeover at the time. I’ve cleaned her up since then, so she isn’t sitting on my shelf looking disheveled while she waits for her new wardrobe.

If her face reminds you of my Tammy doll, there’s a reason for that, but if you’re curious about her history, as I said earlier, visit OurSindyMuseum.com for more information!

Here we see a vintage Ideal Tammy doll modeling a solid pink tank top with a three-tier skirt. The top tier of the skirt's cotton fabric exactly matches the pink cotton of the doll's tank top. The middle tier of the cotton three-tier skirt is made of a white cotton fabric with tiny pastel polka dots sprinkled throughout the white cotton fabric of the middle tier; the third and bottom tier of the three-tier cotton skirt is made of ruffled pink cotton that exactly matches the fabric of the doll's tank top. The ChellyWood.com logo sits in the upper right corner of the photo, reminding us to go to ChellyWood.com for our free, printable PDF sewing patterns for making this and other doll clothes to fit vintage Ideal Tammy dolls and vintage Pedigree Sindy dolls.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

It may seem greedy, but I’ve also set a goal to earn $5,000 in 2023. My fear is that once I retire in 2026, the prices of things will continue to go up, and I won’t be able to maintain this website.

Currently, I’m paying $499.00 (that’s almost $500) every two years, to maintain the digital space needed to host all my free patterns on my WordPress site. My Animoto Pro software costs $180 every year, so I can quickly and easily make my tutorial videos. And there are other expenses like that too…

I only earned a profit of $1,000 after all the expenses were deducted in 2022, so I’m concerned that there’s not enough of a safety net there to keep the website running after I retire.

That’s why I’m exploring new avenues for earnings in 2023.

I’m not a fan of selling my handmade doll clothes, but I’m going to try that. I’m sure it will bring in money, but it may also bring frustrations.

A long string of doll clothes includes (front to back) bermuda shorts with a pocket, a white long-sleeved shirt with a lace collar, lace sleeves, and a front placket that's edged in lace, a floral print short skirt, a pink jumper (American sense of the word), a burgundy tank top, a pink raglan-sleeved short-sleeved shirt made of cotton, and a long burgundy floral print skirt with an elastic waist. The entire wardrobe hangs from handmade (and one store bought) plastic hangers -- some of which also have a cloth shoulder area), and they are hanging from a black string of yarn. The ChellyWood.com logo is in the lower right corner.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

As many of you know, who sell your handmade doll clothes, you can spent 10 hours making a little doll dress, sell it for $5 plus shipping and handling, and get a bad review. That’s what I mean by “frustrating,” and that’s why I quit selling my handmade doll clothes and started to just give them away instead.

But I’m going to have to buck up and start selling again.

If you’ve experienced the tragedy of selling handmade goods online, only to be given a bad review, feel free to rant about it in the comments. I’d love to hear any advice people can give, too, as far as boxing and shipping, and how to make the whole experience more pleasant for everyone involved — buyer, seller, and child recipients!

And then, of course, another goal for 2023, is to continue to give to charitable causes.

The graphic shows many hands forming a shape of a heart. The following words appear inside: International Day of Charity; September 5th. The website address for the International Day of Charity for the United Nations appears inside the heart shape as well.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

If you didn’t read about the charitable project I was involved in during 2022, you should really go back and read, “There’s a cat in my sewing room!”

Even if you are not a cat fan, you might feel inspired by my story because it’s motivated by the loss of endangered and threatened species in my region of the world.

I’m not sure which charity will receive funds from ChellyWood LLC in 2023, but the right charitable cause typically presents itself as the end of the year draws near.

On a purple cotton fabric with tiny white polka dots (the backdrop color) we see an orange cat wearing spectacles, seated at a sewing machine. Pink fabric is in the machine, and the cat's facial expression clearly shows her frustration, even though she carries her white-tipped tail high as she sits at the sewing machine with grumpy whiskers.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Finally, I’ve listed on my goal sheet, “Cut ties with ZenBusiness.”

I try — I really DO TRY — to be fiscally responsible. But ZenBusiness took me for a ride, and I foolishly got on that gravy train, only to get burned.

And I was left holding the bill.

The image shows the Chelly Wood doll holding an envelope. Beside her is a sewing machine and behind her is a dess form modeling a handmade doll dress. The watermark says, "Chelly Wood dot com : free patterns and tutorials."
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns to make doll clothes for dolls of many shapes and sizes.

It’s a long story, and I’m not going to slam another business just because I was foolish enough to make a bad business decision. But I won’t get fooled again.

I’m gettin’ out from under ZenBusiness! End of story.

So those are my goals for 2023.

If you can think of more ways for me to make money in 2023, please let me know in the comments.

Once I’m caught up on my college homework, you’ll want to watch my Etsy store, my Teachers Pay Teachers store, and my eBay store for more digital products, handmade doll clothes, dolls I’ve taken good care of but won’t be needing in the future, and diorama props I won’t be needing anymore. I’ll be selling Peter to pay for Paul.

During the month of April, we’re going to revisit some of these tutorial videos, to allow me time to get my 2023 goals underway…

For more of my free tutorials, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1.

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The free printable PDF sewing pattern offered here on this website is the design of Chelly Wood, and it is marked with a Creative Commons Attribution mark. Any similarity to other companies’ or other crafters’ projects of a similar nature is unintended.

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