Sorted most of the stash

Well I managed to sort through it. Dragged it up from the cellar, out from under the bed, washed it, folded it, stacked it. OK, I have another 2 bin bags to go through yet and there is some in the washing machine.

But this is most of the fabric stash. The pink and green boxes have clothes that will be recycled and the shoe boxes have odd bits and pieces that will probably be sewn in as surface decoration, should I ever get to grips with free motion embroidery.

The bags at the bottom have interfacing, upholstery squares and pillowcases and tank tops ready to be brought downstairs and made into totes.

This one is my craft corner. the box on top has felted woollens and the pillowcase and golf balls it takes to full a jumper. Then books, a shelf of broken jewellery and beads and craft equipment, tools and lots of little trays to use for individual project pieces.

It includes a wire jig, pliers, glue gun, polystyrene block for drying paper beads, templates,  lots of hair scrunchies, clippies and other pound shop trophies.


 
I also have smaller trug things for felting, ribbons and one full of the doings for sewing books and needle cases - my next project. There is also 20metres of brown paper for patterns, a carrier bag of elastic and, out of shot, tea bag paper for use as tearaway paper and three bags of jeans and other clothes for upcycling.









I also have a rucksack full of threads, scissors, pins and other sewing 'hardware'.

Question: Do you think I have enough, or do I need to collect more before I could sit down and actually sew things?

Seriously, I have a red basket full of soon to be totes, project 1, and a pink truglet full of sewing case materials, project 2, all ready to go. The rollaway under the bed is full of jeans. This will be project number 3, skirt tops, bags, coasters, oven mitts etc. Then the box of jumpers will be project number 4. I will need to cut patterns first then hats, scarflets and wrist warmers.

Then, when I have cleared the space, I can start on making a skirt or 2 for myself. Project 5 is pattern drafting a pencil skirt and an A line skirt.

But, if you are still reading, you know that I read and think more than I sew. Maybe I will review a couple of books before I start :D

Hopefully I will be back soon with something from Project 1.

2 in 2 days

So this morning I have folded and stacked and tucked away lots of interesting stuff. It is all under the bed or on top of the chest of drawers.... lurking!

Don't worry, nothing was injured or thrown away during the tidy up. The rest of it is still in the other bedroom, in a pile :D

I found some really good stuff that I have not looked at properly, stuff that came from car boots and Freegle. Next week, when the lawnmower man has built the cubes, I will remember to wind up the camera and take some really good piccies.

The best bit was finding the blackout curtain lining. I had wondered how to stop the edges of any folded fabrics from getting sunbleached. Now I know. I shall velcro the curtain lining to each cube. Easy to remove and no problem to do. I may even decorate it - eventually!

I suspect that I will prevaricate a while longer whilst I consider using piccies to catalogue what I have.  Oh but shall I sort by material, by colour, by possible end product....? Oh how complicated it all gets.

Meanwhile I have re-sorted all of my tools, beads, bits and bobs into the mushroom trays I have collected. It almost looks tidy now!

I shall be back next weekend with more tales of woe - or piccies of a very small victory :)

Oh the shame of it!

OK, I always knew that I would find actually making time to make things difficult. I am a college lecturer, I have a large garden, chickens and a weight loss habit to be gained. But how long is it since I last posted? Unforgiveable!

I had a delivery, 3 of these beauties. Each cube is 35cm in all directions. They are in the shed at the moment, waiting to be built! I have done all I can to get myself organised but it became painfully obvious that I had to do more if I was ever going to have the space to actually use my sewing machine and make something. That something turned out to be storage and organisation. So in a way my making journey gets a re-start here.

I have cleaned and oiled my sewing machine. Sorted out all my tools, replaced rusty bits and the tape measure my haste cut in half. All I have left now is a bedroom that I can't get into properly as I have dug out everything I had tucked away under beds, in corners etc. Who knew doing something that is so much fun could cause such chaos?

Over the next couple of weeks I will continue to explore the darkest recesses of boxes, bags and hidden bits. Some of it has been hanging around since the late 80s. I may find it hard to find the time to make and post as the first few weeks of term are always hectic, but I will make a real effort to get things moving.

I have also started a de-stashing programme. My thoughts journal is bulging, I have matched some materials with projects already and am desperately trying to control the urge to leap into something and wreck the material or my machine. I am not setting any deadlines but I fully intend to use up some of the less interesting fabrics on practice pieces, making pattern pieces etc, and to get rid of a lot of it.

Don't tell him on lawnmower duty, but as you all know, the only reason to de-stash is to make room to re-stash [:)]

I WILL make it..... lots of 'its'!!