Sunday, May 6, 2012

Spring Cleaning the fabric & pattern stash

I've seriously been spring cleaning.  I don't know what came over me, but the desire to organize, fix, rearrange, and tidy has taken over.   Burned out lightbulbs have been replaced, broken drawers have been fixed, the living room closet avalanche has been cleared.  

The fabric cubes in the fabric closet (which I showed you last June) were slowly self-destructing and collapsing.  Clearly the cubes were not meant for holding yards upon yards of fabric at a time. So I braved Home Depot and bought new shelving. 

Ta-da!
DSC08341

Here's the annotated view:

annotated closet
 I wish I could say that's all of my fabric, but there's another third of a closet of fabric in another closet.

I also purged patterns today.
patterns scheduled for deletion
I don't know if I'll bring all 10 pounds of purged patterns with me to pattern review weekend for the pattern exchange, but we'll see. I still need to reorganize the patterns/book/"remainder of my fabric" closet. That closet is also self destructing, though the patterns are all organized, phew.

By going through patterns and fabric in the same weekend, I've reconnected with some pieces and patterns I've totally forgotten about. I've reorganized the stash once again in a way that makes more sense. I found failed projects that I will now dump, and I laughed at myself. I also realize how far I have come with my sewing in the 5 years since I started getting serious about sewing again.  Each of those failed projects was a step toward me becoming a better sewist.  And I now have a list of stuff I want to buy in NYC!

I found a scrap of Nick and Nora flannel that I sewed up this afternoon into a little pillowcase for a small Ikea pillow I use while reading in bed. I love the featherstitching on my machine, which I sewed in three rows to be decorative.  the pillow is maybe 14x9 or something, here's part of it:
DSC08343
Here is a closer view:
feather stitching closeup
You can also see the next pattern I want to sew. I saw it on Kathy's blog. Maybe next Saturday the dream will become a reality?

Here are my brand new cards for Pattern Review weekend. I bought them from moo.com.  I felt the tights and Mary Janes summed me up nicely. 
My cards for pattern review weekend 2012 NYC
Ok, hopefully I'll have some garment sewing to show you next time!
Be well!!

5 comments:

  1. Yay I hope your new pattern works out well!

    I'm thinking I should really purge my stash as well. but last time I did that I just ended up buying more fabric.

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  2. When I clean my sewing room, it tends to excite my mojo. Have fun with your new project. Your cards are super! Oh, and your pillowcase is terrific too. Love that rose print.

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  3. I am refinancing so I gave my sewing room a cursory tidy in advance of the appraiser visiting. I really need to go in and truly do the job right but I'd rather sew than clean!

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  4. We must be on the same wavelength in regards to spring cleaning! I have been bravely sorting through my sewing room closet as well! I like the way you organized your fabrics, and I think the cards fit you well!

    I look forward to seeing what you do with that Butterick pattern, it's a nice top!

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  5. What better time to do cleaning than Spring. Its probably because Winter has just finished that people thought it best to clean. Still Spring cleaning is the best time to do some cleaning...

    carpet cleaning Willesden

    ReplyDelete

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