What’s next?

What next?  I haven’t wanted to just repeat what I was doing.  I want something different and new.  I also want to leave room in my time to pursue other interests, so I’m not doing one a week anymore.   

Let me walk you through some of my thoughts so far.  I, like others before me, have realized that I don’t want to consume fabric and resources without purpose.  I’d like to be thoughtful about what I’m doing.  BUT, purpose driven sewing projects are harder.  I did start out this sewing journey with the purpose to make one specific dress.  I couldn’t find the pattern or fabric.  I searched in vain to make my vision a reality.  Eventually, I shifted to inspiration based sewing.  When a pattern and a fabric had chemistry, I sewed them.  This has led to many amazing pieces that I’m excessively proud of.  The downside of this is I approach my closet and still struggle with feeling like I have nothing to wear.   The pieces don’t all coordinate, and I have several pieces that not much goes with.  

I’d like to get back to more purpose based sewing to fill in real holes in my wardrobe.  The problem with that is I have several pieces in my stash that are very inspiration based, so that doesn’t fit this new vision and buying more fabric before using what I have clashes with the “don’t stock up” philosophy.  

I’m at a crossroads where most possible plans contradict with others, so I’ve come up with what I’m hoping is a perfect balance.  

I’m going to have a soft goal of three projects a month.  Some months I have more time and crank out way more than that, some months real life is so ramped up it’s unreasonable to be sewing that much when I have a house, a marriage and children to care for.  

The three projects will cover all the areas I’d like to touch on.  One project will be very purpose filled to fill a gap in my wardrobe, for that, buying new fabrics and patterns when necessary is allowed.  

One project will be inspiration based from my stash.  It will fall in line with my desire to keep my stash low and use what I have.  It doesn’t need to be practical for my wardrobe like the first one.  

Lastly, I’d like to get better at refashioning items.  So much of what we ship off to the thrift stores doesn’t get reused.  Our landfills are filling with our fast fashion.   We use up this world we were charged with being good stewards of at a rate that is simply unsustainable.  Our drive to buy, buy, buy, donate, donate, donate isn’t working.  I recently made two of my husbands shirts into shorts for my son.  I love the shorts and love even more that I reused something we already had to make them.  

So there it is, the new plan.  From November to November, three projects a month.  One useful, one create/inspiration based, and one redo.  

What do you think of the new goal?

One last thought or side note, I started all of this as a way to be mentally healthy.  To keep my mind challenged and creative.  Essentially, it still is that for me.  Creating pieces that aren’t purposeful on occasion is important to me.  I think other artists feel similar, that art is sometimes just about the process of constructing something beautiful.  It is so important in this messy and often brutal world to add beauty back in.  Happy Sewing Loves!