Happy birthday to me – Mindful crafting

Birthday tulips

Last week was my birthday. I got myself a present for my birthday. It arrived this morning. Really quick delivery. I got some notions and interfacing for a bag I’m making. I got most of the metal hardware from the Etsy seller Bag Making Bees. For the interfacing and fusible fleece the postage was better from Sweden so I ordered some H640, S320, zip and strap adjuster from Quiltbiten.

Bag making notions from Bag making Bees

Notions and Interfacing from Quiltbiten

I’m again trying to restrict my purchases this year. Last year went appallingly bad. So bad in fact that I’m too ashamed to even tell you how much I spent. The number one reason for the buying frenzy was to get the “thrill of making” when I had no energy to actually make anything. So now I’m making plans to use the fabric and yarn I already have at home. I’m not gonna say I’m not allowed to buy any new fabric or patterns but it should be thought about thoroughly before buying and preferably for something that I’ll sew up directly and not stash.

My aim this year is to incorporate some mindfulness into both buying but also making. How often do you do just one thing? If I’m going to sew or draw or cook, that’s it. No TV or video playing on the computer. The goal is to focus on just one thing and if my mind wanders off to what to make for dinner or any other of the gazillion things we think about each day, I will try to let it pass and keep my focus on what is currently at hand. Easy? No I don’t think so. It requires practise and that is exactly what I’ll be doing – practising.

Have you thought about your stashing habits? I encourage you to go read about the Stash Less challenge over at The Craft Sessions, especially if your not happy about the speed your stash is growing.

The challenges

Tomorrow is the start of Sew for a change. 75 points to spend on clothes and shoes. Plus it will be possible to earn 10 more points in the monthly challenges. Can’t wait to see what Malin and Alexandra have in store for us. February’s theme is de-clutter. Am hoping it is to de-clutter the wardrobe. Started with the undies drawer after the Holidays and the rest must follow.

Sewing or knitting your own clothes should cost less points than buying and I am hoping to be able to avoid buying any clothes . I won’t make any shoes and probably not undies either. I will definitely consider making my own bra later, but for now I don’t have the time. Nor should I need any more this year; I bought 4 at the end of December. But I do need new boots and maybe a pair of shoes, will see when spring arrives. So I think 15-20 points must be reserved for shoes and possibly underwear. That leaves 55 points to be used for fabric, which equates to 17 to 55 metres of fabric. The higher number is for organic natural fibre and the lower for synthetic fibre.

Hmm, doesn’t seem to difficult. What am I missing?  Plus, I am hoping to stick to my stash diet to try to get back to my original plan of not creating a fabric stash. Thus I need to control my tendency to shop whenever I feel blue and only buy just before I will start a project. Will have to see if a compromise is necessary. I buy online and since I plan to buy more ecological fabrics I suspect most shopping will be online thus inferring a shipping fee and usually cost less if buying in batches and not separate. Anyhow, lets get to the point. I think it is OK to have fabric for three projects at home and that’s not counting scraps. So until there’s only three unused fabrics in the house I shall follow this diet:

Fabric stash diet

*Sew 4 projects from stash before buying new.

*Use at least 2 patterns before purchasing a new.

*My Exclusions:
-Notions, muslin and lining fabric – to be bought on a project by project basis.
-Fabric or patterns bought to make specific gifts – unless of course these can be made from stashed fabric.
-Gifts of fabric or patterns I receive from family or friends – this includes gift certificates to venues that sell such items.
-Fabric bought during travels – while on vacation I will try and refrain from visiting such tempting places as fabric stores. Should I find myself at such places due to forces beyond my control (ha!), I will allow myself to purchase a maximum of 3 new pieces of fabric per vacation destination.

The exclusions are copied from Stitch parade, except I changed the vacation allowance to only 3. Even though I am allowing gifts they still count in Sew for a change.

Buliding my wardrobe

I wear a fraction of the clothes currently in my closet. This probably means I need way less clothes than I think. But ultimately I’d like to look and feel more put together and not buy or sew clothes I’ll never wear. I began my journey in that direction when I joined a Facebook group dedicated to sewing a 6PAC – 6 piece autumn collection – or SWAP as some say, i.e. sewing with a plan. My first plan is below. I only need to finish the trousers. I’m not doing a plan for spring since I want to focus on accessories and need to do some toile fitting.

6PAC fall 2013

So when Sarai of Collette patterns posted about her coming series on building your wardrobe I felt that was perfect for me. So I’m definitely gonna try to do that. Then there is Stitch parade’s and Today’s agenda’s stash diets. Haven’t decided on that yet but I will try to make the Sew for a change challenge. I will have 75 points to spend on clothes or fabric and there is a list of how much every thing cost in amount of points.