Sewing Block, A Discovery...

OK, so maybe not a huge discovery.  More like pissing and moaning...anyway...

For the last few months I just haven't had it in me to sew much.   I've tried, oh how I've tried.  I have a few patterns cut out.  I have a few things traced.  I have a considerable amount of adjustments on one paper pattern. I have a pair of jeans and a purse cut that's just sitting there because I lost interest.  I made a few Barbie outfits the other day (Manly because I paid $23 for 6 hootchie looking outfits and I won't be doing that anymore.  But DD insists that she can't play with naked Barbies).  I made one big pregnant clown wadder.  Ugh!  I have the new MyImage here that I just fell in love with the second I saw it.  And I got two back issues of La Mia Boutique in the mail today.

There seems to be inspiration everywhere.  I can't get nothing finished.  Shit, I can't get nothing started.  Well, I take that back.  I also have a few UFOs hanging around.  Laughing at me...

I think I know why; I hate my stash!  For the last two weeks I've been in and out of my stash closet trying to find something that might be appropriate for whatever it is I feel like doing.  Turns out, among the big huge pile of crap, I have very little that I actually like.  Sure, the stuff I bought or was gifted in the last two years I really like, but I've also been sewing more of the newer stuff up, so the 'nicer' stuff doesn't seem to hang around as long.  What's eating me up I think is the 400 or so yards of crap I bought previous to the last two years is just getting in the way and I can't see past it.

I know I need to purge. But although I hate a lot of it, for some reason I can't bear to get rid of it.

My pattern stash is out of control too.  However, that doesn't seem to bother me as much.  Also, since I've been feeling really uneasy about the sheer amount of shit I have, I have managed to move all the patterns from my very cramped closet to out in the garage.  Hopefully this will at least give me a little more access to my fabric.  That is, if you don't count the tubs I have in one of my DDs closets that I can't get to when she's in her room sleeping.  :/

Sorry about the rant, I just needed to get that off my chest.

Trudy Jensen Patterns

One thing I don't normally have a problem doing is spending money on stuff that I don't need. However, I think 2011 might (might!) be a new year for me. So, ok, i've already bought a half dozen european pattern magazines I don't need, two Hot Patterns and a Jalie. OH! And lets not forget the Kayla Kennington pattern I didn't need, and probably won't make because if i'm reading the envelope correctly, this project takes 11 1/2 yards of fabric! Yuck!

So, here I find myself eyeballing these cute Trudy Jensen patterns. I really like the Wrap Coat:






and the Designer Denim Dress:















So, here I am actually contemplating NOT buying something. I'm not so sure how that's going to work out, but I think i'm going to wait a few days to see if I still want it as badly as I do now. I'll update you on Wednesday!

A girl's gotta stash something!

For the last few months I haven't been very interested in fabric buying. The more I think about about that, the more i'm starting to realize that it's ok to not buy everything I like. Don't get me wrong, i've bought about 8 or 9 yards already this year. But i've already sewn 4 of what i've bought, and i've sewn another 8 yards, for a total of 12 yards out already. These are promising numbers for me! Now if I can keep this momentum up, i'll be good.

HOWEVER, yes, you knew that was coming. I've always heard that usually when you drop one vice you pick up another. SO true! Now i'm buying patterns. This typically isn't an issue for me when they're the $1 JoAnn special. This isn't the case right now. So far this year i've already bought probably 20 big 4 patterns but i've also bought 2 Hot Patterns, one Jalie and one Kayla Kennington pattern. (Isn't it beautiful!?) These are pricey patterns. That wouldn't been an issue if I sewed (is that a word?) every pattern I bought, but chances are, the pattern is just going to wind up in my stash, never to be seen again.

I won't even mention the January La Mia Boutique i'm pinning for.

Now, I will say though, and this is mainly for my own personal record, I bought the Jalie and Kayla Kennington pattern today from Sewingpatterns.com. I really didn't want to because i've read so many bad things about their ship time, but the price of the KK pattern was $12 cheaper than anywhere else, and PR was out of the Jalie pattern until next month. Hopefully I won't have to wait long for the patterns. Beacuse, yanno, i'm in a big hurry to bury them in my stash!

I'm pissed off at my stash!

..And i'm currently giving it Angry Eyes... >:(

So anyway, I finally decide to join the rest of the sewing world and make Vogue 8379. I had a nice fabrc picked out and was ready to go. Well, I notice that the pattern says I need 2 1/2 yards of fabric. I only had 2 1/4 of my chosen fabric. No problem, I said. I can make it work.

Well, apparently, no I can't make it work! I tried everything. I even traced extra pieces so that I could try and place each individual piece. NO luck. Nothing I tried worked.

Well, I took the high road and decided that i'll just go find something else in my stash. Can you believe that I have 555 (no kidding) yards of stash and not a single piece of stash is either long enough or inspiring enough? Friggen amazing! I need more knit prints, that's what I need! That's it, more fabric. The answer to all my troubles. Although, next time i'll be buying 2 1/2 cuts. lol

And the grand total is...

...537.25. That's only half of my estimated 1,000. And boy am I glad!

I still have a few items that I need to count -- mostly scraps. And some of that will end up in the trash. I have a small pile of yardage that needs to be counted, but I doubt it comes to more than 3 or 4 yards.

The great thing is that I have a whole empty storage bin left over. I'm sure it won't take me long to find something to put in it though. I think my scrapbooking supplies and when little bit of yarn I have can probably go in it.

Hopefully now that i've worked through some of the clutter, I can get some sewing done!

312.50 That's enough for one night

Well, the count stands at 312.50. I'm done for the night. I'm tired of standing and folding for what seems like hours!

The good news is that i'm probably 2 thirds of the way done.

The good news X2 is that i'm sure i'm not going to hit the 1000 yard mark! I'm proud to say that i'm not the horder that I thought I was. YAY me!

121 and Counting

I'm doing the unthinkable.

I'm starting to count my stash.

I'm two whole bins in, and already I have 121 yards counted. I've got about 10 more bins to go. I'm hopeing to not hit the 1,000 yard mark, but it's going to be close.

Oh, the UNopened box from my latest fabric.com purchase is still upstairs...

Here's one way to keep the stash under control...

...Close down all the damn fabric stores! If there are no stores, then I can't buy anything, right?

Last summer, they closed down the JoAnns in my city. It wasn't such a big deal, because I had another one not too far from me. Well, turns out, they're closing that one too. Now, I don't mind so much that the crappy fabirc is going away. If I really need something, I can buy online, and for notions, there is a WalMart a half mile away (although, i'm not a big fan of WalMart, I don't mind going there if all I need is a zipper). But I really feel like i'm losing a part of me with the closing of this store. It was one of the few places I could go and I didn't have to take the kids. I could just go there and look, even if I wasn't interested in buying anything. I sort of feel like they're taking my playground away.

I have to say, I still have a few JoAnns that are sort of near me, but I won't be making any special trips to go there any time soon. My stash will thank me for it.

Look at what I got!

I bought some Michael Miller fabrics off of Etsy.com the other day. I think these are so cool! Two vintage-y type fabrics. I just love it. I can't wait to make a shirt from the fabric with the pattern pieces on it!

If anyone is interested, I bought this from Rainbow Fabrics from Etsy.com. SHe has a lot of nice fabrics there.

Oh Geez! What have I done?

It's mid April. As of yesterday, i've added about 10 yards of fabric to the stash this year. So far so good with the stash.

So much for that! I added 27.25 yards today thanks to Fabric.com and JoAnns. I guess I can't really blame JA's and Fabric.com, but i'm going to anyway.

Most of the fabric was for projects that I actually have planned, so perhaps it will get used instead of sitting in my stash for 30 years. *sigh* perhaps. I bought 5.5 yards of fleece to make a jacket for DH and his friend. They do a motorcycle bike trip every year, and he likes something embroidered and unique for the trip. I make one for both him and his friend. Two of the most manly guys I know who for some strange reason don't mind looking like twins when it comes to whatever it is I make. Go figure.

I bought about 5 yards of Tutti-Fruity fabrics from JA's. I use that to make dress for DD. While I don't actually have plans to make her anything right this minute. I'm not too worried about it, that stuff will get used.

I bought 2.5 yards of novelty US Navy print for a shirt for DH. This won't be a shirt he can go to work in, but it will be nice on BBQ days.

I bought a yard of quilting cotton for this Studio Kat purse pattern. Studio Kat has awesome patterns, BTW. (NAYY and all)

From Fabric.com I bought:
4 yards of poplin, 2.5 of black and white polka dot knit that i'm sure will sit in the stash for forever. 5 yards of sweater knits that I just couldn't pass up and some silk shirting for DH. The shirting is the ONLY reason I was really actually looking for fabric in the first place, and look at where it got me! Let also not forget that I added 3 cones of Talon brand serger thread to the order. Bah!

Oh well, like I said, I actaully have something planned for these fabrics, so hopefully they won't sit for too long. We'll see.

First Fabric of 2009

Well, I was doing really well not buying any fabric this year UNTIL I found out Melody over at Fashionista Fabrics was having a sale. I got two different knits to make some more maternity tops (see post below).

I didn't do too much of damage though, only three yards. Considering that so far i've eliminated 20.5 yards from the stash this year, that three yards doesn't even count! lol

HOW DID THIS GET SO OUT OF HAND??!!

So, well, I managed to get my 'known' patterns in the bins with no problems. 186 patterns, not too bad, but I would have sworn I had more. I went into my 'sewing lair' and found about another 100 patterns or so. UGH!

I've got over 1000 yards of fabric, probably about half i'll never use. OK, so I will probably never use most of it, since I always seem to be buying more. I might have to make some baby steps and consider donating some of it. What a crappy option.

I've only been sewing for about 4 years. Wonder what my stash will look like in 10? Damn, I don't want to know. :(

Trying to get things in order.

I'm a sewer. I'm also a stasher. I have tons of stuff. Fabric, trims, patterns, buttons, interfacing...machines...you name it, I have plently of it.

Well, it seems as though all my 'stuff' is getting out of hand now. So, i'm trying to get things together. It's a slow-go. I'm going to start by rearranging my patterns. Currently i've got over 200 patterns (a conservative estimate, i'm sure) along with plenty of Burda WOFs and other publications. I've claerd out space in a large three drawer plastic storage bin, so I hope all my envelope patterns fit in there. I still have another 3 drawer bin that has most of my magazines. The Burdas may end up on eBay soon, as i really sew very little from them.

We'll see how that works out.