Please excuse my unglamorous Flickr photos; I thought I would share a corner of my life as a sewing diva. Or wannabe, anyway.
This afternoon I unceremoniously took pictures of all my fabric – the accumulation of five or six years of pursuing my passion:
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I buy fabric when I know what I’m going to sew with it. Hey, does that sound weird? Not so much; except many seamsters do not do so (buying fabric without a purpose yet as to what one will use it for; or buying fabric that ends up un-sewn for a long time, is called stash and methinks it represents a lot of money and occasionally, marital strife). In my case, purchasing fabric sparingly keeps me focussed and intentional – and not overly consumptive. If I’m dying to make something, I can wait a few days (or longer) to make it, ordering fabric online or travelling to find it. Yet I am never at a loss for something to sew; my scraps and leftover yardage can offer inspiration; last on my list I will mend our clothes.
I am often gifted fabric and I try to be relatively selective about what I keep. This has worked well as I have several things I’ve sewn from “free” fabric (including my last several projects).
I need to be able to see all my fabric. This keeps me inspired and encourages me to use what I have, not buy some more! Although: please don’t misunderstand – I love, love to buy fabric. But I do have a modicum of restraint.
My sewing SOP: my large yardage is cut into garments. I save the scraps. If they are large enough for me to use, I fold them and keep them (that’s what you see in the first picture). If they aren’t, I either save them in my tub (rolled up with a rubber band), or send them to a friend who has a repurposed fabric Etsy shop. If they are too small for *that* (less than 4″ square), I put them in an all-cotton pillowcase until that’s stuffed full, then I sew it up and donate it to the animal shelter as a pet bed. I sew with all-natural fibers so I know my fabrics are biodegradable.