Tuesday, January 5, 2010

The perils of too much fabric

You can't see me, there's too much fabric!

What! Too much fabric??? NOT POSSIBLE you say.

To which I say, yes, unfortunately it is. I am a confessed fabric addict-so many patterns, so many ideas, so many gorgeous prints! I want them ALL! And now it feels like over the last couple of years since I started sewing I've been on a mission to do just that-acquire a bit of everything! I would say I'm lucky in the sense that sewing is pretty much the only craft I do-no jewelry, no bows, no wool felting-just sewing.

But even with sewing there are always new awesome gadgets (like this bias tape maker machine-WANT!), and beautiful new fabric lines (like this one from Sandi Henderson-SWOON!) that I just have to have. Let alone all the things you need to actually sew-thread, bobbins, interfacings, etc. That equals alot of STUFF! All of which I love to be surrounded by. The joke around the house when I'm getting stressed is that I need to go to therapy, then I'm sent to my sewing room. It keeps me grounded, and helps me get more centered to spend at least a little time with my machines every day.

But now, the stash is overwhelming. I have so many options that I freeze. I can't decide what the best method to reducing my stash is (other than the obvious to SEW it!), I know I can't just get rid of it, I'm physically unable to throw any usable fabric away, and I want to use it all!
This? This isn't even 1/4 of my stash now-both of those shelves are STUFFED and then some.

So, here's my plan of attack for 2010. I'm going to sew more of course, but I'm on a mission to reduce! In order to buy 1 yard of fabric (unless it's a NEED to finish something), I have to sew through 10. That sounds like alot, until you think about the fact that between October and December of last year I sewed over 100 yards of fabric-and didn't make the slightest dent in my stash. I need to pare down the notions too-no new thread, interfacing, etc. again, unless it's needed to finish a project.

I'll also be doing a month of scrapbusting (because um, ya-2 bins full) and I'm also going to be concentrating on finishing all the UFO's (unfinished objects) I found when we moved. January will be spent getting more organized, there are still boxes and boxes of fabric and such that my new sewing room simply can't fit.

So tell me-do you think there's such a thing as too much fabric? Got a load of UFO's you need to work on?

2 comments:

Neeroc said...

There are shelves in there? LOL

Mika said...

I know right? You totally can't tell! LOL!