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July 1, 2022
Here's a long weekend coming up - in the US, but a good time to talk about sewing over a break time or a time away from the normal day-to-day activities.Â
Time is our most valuable resource. Yeah, I know a lot of us feel like that money, but it's not - here's why. You can go to the bank and borrow money. Maybe not a lot but you can borrow some. You can even pay out a large expense on your credit card. Of course there's cost, but you can do that.Â
With time you can't go to the bank and borrow more time. Even if it costs more time, you can't borrow more time. The time you have now, is all you have. So with that in mind, it seems logical to make the most of the time you have.
One way to start is to think about the time on a large project or a project that will take you more than one session in your sewing space. Naturally when we get ready to quit, we may just leave everything out, because that way we won't have to get everything out again - it will simply be here.Â
There's a problem with this. When you re-enter the room, suddenly you have 3 or 4 or more parts of the project screaming at you, "Do me!" or "Look here!" or "I need attention!" And suddenly you are overwhelmed and want to walk out and have a cup of coffee on the back porch! Then no sewing gets done.Â
Instead what happens if you have all your parts in neat stacks and so that everything is in order of how you need to work on them.Â
What happens now is that the thought track that you were on when you last left your space, is now back on track again, and before you know it (like instantly) your brain can pick up where you were and you can start up where you left off.
Part of what's going on here is that you have a track while you're creating, and when you get ready to leave your space for the day, you are also leaving your creative track of how you're going to put your project together. Inevitably, I think while I'm sewing: "I'm going to put the darts in first, sew in the shoulders, put in the collar, side seams, underarms seams, armholes, and finishing. So that if I quit sewing after I've cut, I
essentially loose that tracking of what's next.Â
If however, I put all my cut pieces in order of how I'm going to assemble them, my track of thinking is organized, so that when I come in, I know these pieces are in order, and I can literally pick right up where I left off the last time I was in my studio.Â
Here's the big secret about this process. It's too simple. For something as simple as creating stacks and keeping your work space neat and in order for your next tasks, this seems very simple. Therefore it can't work. I mean where's the list written down of how the assembly is to be done? How can you possibly remember that without writing it down, or leaving directions around or something like that?
The plain truth is that putting things in order before you leave your studio, is too simple to work, therefore it won't work. Here's a good practice to try. Next time you are leaving your work before it's finished, try placing everything in neat stacks, and your workspace organized and in order for the next day you want to work. You will be shocked at how easy this is and how quickly it works. You'll also be surprised how disciplined you will be
about almost immediately getting to work.
The problem with this technique is that is it so simple that it can't work. But because of its simplicity is the basis of what makes it work.Â
Try it next time.Â
For more goodies on Time Management, check out the SewingArtistry Library for some more ideas.
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This is a beginning guide on what to do with your core pattern after you have fitted and worked on it.
All the work that you have done in your core pattern contains all the information to make a garment that you will totally love. This means you really don't have to buy another pattern for making skirts, pants or leggings. Variations on your core pattern makes it possible for you to have the styles you see in a photo or on Pinterest without having to look for the pattern that looks like it might work. You can now simply trace it onto your core pattern and
you're done.
This resource also contains some other important resources at huge discount because they are so important to this creative process of varying your core pattern. It also contains some downloads that aren't available in the Resource Library at all, but are vital toward making good design.
In this world of crazy, illogical fashion, we sewists are having to turn into designers. That sounds really hard and foreboding, but it's not. Unlike designers, we simply haven't had all the experience they have, most of that experience they got when they went to design school. More than anything I wanted to make this process encouraging, empowering and enlightening without having to worry about whether or not you could vary your core pattern.
You can! It isn't that hard. It is knowing some guidelines and charging out into the unknown. That's what we sewists do and we do it very well most of the time.
This is the beginning of the series into variations on core patterns. I wanted to start with something basic, so that you wouldn't feel so intimidated. It takes a while to write these up, cause I'm an idea factory, and coordinating and organizing these ideas can be monumental with the sewing muse yacking in my ear 24/7.
The resource is available now at a discount so that you can enjoy it before spring starts in full force. Right now, I'm thinking happy, colorful and pretty. Those are all fresh looks for future clothes. When things seem upside down, it's great to have something to make us happy and often bright, springtime and summertime fabrics are just as much as drab, dark and somber fabrics. I'm ready to be beautiful, comfortable and look flattering in my clothes and
I'm dying to share that with you.Â
Skirts, Core Pattern Variations, Part 1 (but there's more than skirts in here)
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