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Anyone else ever experience this? (Moderated by Deepika, EleanorSews)
Posted on: 1/15/06 9:45 PM ET
Hi everyone,
I woke up this morning dreaming about designing a cute little jacket for my darling granddaughter (all the way down to how I would cut out and sew the embellishments I have planned). Also, I had already decided (after freezing yesterday at the Seattle Seahawks game) that I needed a lap blanket and one for my mother too. So, today I went and got more fleece to make my blanket, and came home and just can't get started.
I have so many cute patterns - for my grandkids, myself, my daughter - plenty of fabric, and a zillion ideas milling around in my head.
Problem is... I can't get started. I don't know why. Sometimes I think it is a fear of cutting out the fabric and having it look horrible on me. Lately I know some is because of that, and the fact that I really want - and need - to sew for myself, but it's easier to sew for my grandkids. So I get torn between who to sew for.
Now it's too late at night, of course, and I have to go to my "real job" tomorrow.
Does anyone else ever experience this, and if so, how do you get past it?
Thanks for any input,
Claire - stalled in Snohomish, WA
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I woke up this morning dreaming about designing a cute little jacket for my darling granddaughter (all the way down to how I would cut out and sew the embellishments I have planned). Also, I had already decided (after freezing yesterday at the Seattle Seahawks game) that I needed a lap blanket and one for my mother too. So, today I went and got more fleece to make my blanket, and came home and just can't get started.
I have so many cute patterns - for my grandkids, myself, my daughter - plenty of fabric, and a zillion ideas milling around in my head.
Problem is... I can't get started. I don't know why. Sometimes I think it is a fear of cutting out the fabric and having it look horrible on me. Lately I know some is because of that, and the fact that I really want - and need - to sew for myself, but it's easier to sew for my grandkids. So I get torn between who to sew for.
Now it's too late at night, of course, and I have to go to my "real job" tomorrow.
Does anyone else ever experience this, and if so, how do you get past it?
Thanks for any input,
Claire - stalled in Snohomish, WA
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Claire
~~~Sewing is my form of meditation, escape, and entertainment.~~~
~~~ I have no idea how many yards of fabric I've bought this year - I don't want to know. I just want to see my closet fill up with finished clothes I like and can wear. ~~~
~~~Sewing is my form of meditation, escape, and entertainment.~~~
~~~ I have no idea how many yards of fabric I've bought this year - I don't want to know. I just want to see my closet fill up with finished clothes I like and can wear. ~~~
Re: Dreaming of sewing but cant get started (posted on 1/15/06 9:54 PM ET)
Claire, thare have been several threads on fear of cutting, sewing blockages, you name it. We've all had it, I think, at one time or another. I can't remember which thread recently had suggestions on how to get out of a sewing slump, but there were lots of great suggestions. Like - start with something easy, simple, tried and true. Or just do 10-15 minutes a day and by the end of the week you might have accomplished quite a bit more than if you did nothing.
Wanting to sew for yourself instead of others is a biggie. Often, the only time I can rouse myself is when I 'have' to make something for a gift. I don't sew for myself often enough, so I know exactly how you feel. Sort of wishful sewing, instead of wishful thinking.
Wanting to sew for yourself instead of others is a biggie. Often, the only time I can rouse myself is when I 'have' to make something for a gift. I don't sew for myself often enough, so I know exactly how you feel. Sort of wishful sewing, instead of wishful thinking.
Posted on: 1/15/06 10:00 PM ET
Yes, we all get stalled! It seems about every 3 months there is someone posting a topic like yours, which just goes to show you that we've all been there, or are there, or WILL be there! Yesterday I actually was going to do a search on the boards for just that very topic, hoping to refresh myself with others' ideas for getting motivated.
A lot of people have said to sew something easy and quick so that you can see results right away. Others have said just to sew for a few minutes, or cut something new out.
Mostly I just have to walk away from it for awhile. I sometimes get all hung up on thinking I should be sewing with every free minute I have, but that would be a little unrealistic. Eventually I'll get back to it and sew like crazy. I tend to get bored easily if I'm making something for myself. I'm more focused if it's something for someone else.
I like to plan in my head, too, and I love to buy patterns and fabric. Sometimes I actually DO get around to sewing something, but I've not been too active since the holidays. And saying "I think I'll go sew" to my DH means that I putter and putz around my sewing room, organizing and straightening and planning, which is probably what I like best, anyway...ha.
Hang in there....you'll be busy again before you know it.
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A lot of people have said to sew something easy and quick so that you can see results right away. Others have said just to sew for a few minutes, or cut something new out.
Mostly I just have to walk away from it for awhile. I sometimes get all hung up on thinking I should be sewing with every free minute I have, but that would be a little unrealistic. Eventually I'll get back to it and sew like crazy. I tend to get bored easily if I'm making something for myself. I'm more focused if it's something for someone else.
I like to plan in my head, too, and I love to buy patterns and fabric. Sometimes I actually DO get around to sewing something, but I've not been too active since the holidays. And saying "I think I'll go sew" to my DH means that I putter and putz around my sewing room, organizing and straightening and planning, which is probably what I like best, anyway...ha.
Hang in there....you'll be busy again before you know it.
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Bev
Posted on: 1/15/06 10:06 PM ET
Georgene, BjP - thank you. I hadn't thought to search on "slump" - frankly, just putting a name to how I feel has helped. You know? So I searched and read some of the posts and there are some good ideas. In fact, I guess I already was intuitively doing some of them because before I posted, I had taken scrap fabric and made a quick doll blanket for my dgd.
Thanks so much for your kind words.
Claire
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Thanks so much for your kind words.
Claire
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Claire
~~~Sewing is my form of meditation, escape, and entertainment.~~~
~~~ I have no idea how many yards of fabric I've bought this year - I don't want to know. I just want to see my closet fill up with finished clothes I like and can wear. ~~~
~~~Sewing is my form of meditation, escape, and entertainment.~~~
~~~ I have no idea how many yards of fabric I've bought this year - I don't want to know. I just want to see my closet fill up with finished clothes I like and can wear. ~~~
Posted on: 1/15/06 10:23 PM ET
In reply to rosephreak
Claire, I forgot to say that you look way way too young to be a granny!
Enjoy! (I'm so jealous.....I feel like we'll never have g'kids at the rate our kids are NOT going....)
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Enjoy! (I'm so jealous.....I feel like we'll never have g'kids at the rate our kids are NOT going....)------
Bev
Re: Dreaming of sewing but cant get started (posted on 1/15/06 11:29 PM ET)
Heh, I'm having trouble getting started sewing at all, period. Don't know why. Part of it is the addictiveness of this site. Part of it is my inherent laziness. Part of it is I'm afraid I'll be no good at it, and then I'll have wasted a bunch of time and effort on something I wanted to do well. And yes, I do realize that in order to do it well, I'll have to spend a bunch of time and effort on it =)
The good news is, I've finally decided how I want my brand new computer/study/sewing room set up. Now I just need to actually set it up!
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The good news is, I've finally decided how I want my brand new computer/study/sewing room set up. Now I just need to actually set it up!
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... but what do I know?
Posted on: 1/16/06 8:28 AM ET
In reply to BjP
Thanks, BjP... I love hearing that. (My picture was taken this last 4th of July.) I had two daughters (and that was it) before I was 21, now I'm 45. Then, I didn't think anything of it or that I was so young, now I realize how young I really was! So glad that my daughters didn't start quite so young. My oldest (now 26) had her first baby at 25 and has a step-daughter who is 4. My other daughter, who is almost 25, has no children yet.
I loved sewing for my daughters when they were little as did my biological mother. =) Guess I'm following in her footsteps by making stuff for my grandkids. =) Hee hee.
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I loved sewing for my daughters when they were little as did my biological mother. =) Guess I'm following in her footsteps by making stuff for my grandkids. =) Hee hee.
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Claire
~~~Sewing is my form of meditation, escape, and entertainment.~~~
~~~ I have no idea how many yards of fabric I've bought this year - I don't want to know. I just want to see my closet fill up with finished clothes I like and can wear. ~~~
~~~Sewing is my form of meditation, escape, and entertainment.~~~
~~~ I have no idea how many yards of fabric I've bought this year - I don't want to know. I just want to see my closet fill up with finished clothes I like and can wear. ~~~
Re: Dreaming of sewing but cant get started (posted on 1/16/06 9:19 AM ET)
I do lots of sewing in my head and I actually think that it prepares me for 'real' sewing. One of my biggest blocks was cutting into expensive fabric and feeling that I wouldn't do a good job on it. Well, guess what? It's only fabric -- and they are still making more even as I type this! Often our desires exceed our grasp and that's how we learn to stretch ourselves. I was hyperventilating about making a lined jacket when I took Shannon's stitch 'n flip class and now I have a lined jacket! Probably most of us have a compulsion to try for perfection in our work and fear of making a mistake can paralyze you. So I make something simple as has already been suggested, oil the machine, wind bobbins, etc. until the sewing bug bites again. Hang in there -- you have LOTS of company! ;-)
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Patti
R-r-r-ripping my way to fitting success
R-r-r-ripping my way to fitting success
Re: Dreaming of sewing but cant get started (posted on 1/16/06 11:39 AM ET)
thank you, thank you to all who are slumping, share REALLY good things to help, and are encouraging.
(wish I could type this in little bitty letters and not have to have my name show)
not-really Annie
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(wish I could type this in little bitty letters and not have to have my name show)
not-really Annie
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Surviving is important but thriving is elegant.
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou
Re: Dreaming of sewing but cant get started (posted on 1/16/06 9:30 PM ET)
I tend to get all caught up in thinking of special design alterations, embellishments, etc. Or finding the 'perfect pattern" for that special fabric or vice versa. But then it gets so complicated, I can't get started for fear of ruining the project.
Or I think of my imaginary "wardrobe" plan. But I change my mind so much, I don't do much sewing and then my skills get rusty....
One thing I just recently did, which has helped me get started sewing:
I separated my "special" fabric (the stuff I'm saving for a special pattern or idea) from all the rest of my stash. I'm not ready to sew my "special" fabrics right now.
Then I decided to just sew up the rest of the stash, without overthinking it. I picked 3 very easy patterns which, though not "perfect", work with most of my stash fabrics.
Many of the stash fabrics "want" to be something other than those 3 easy patterns. But I decided to ignore that and just start cutting and make something!
-- Edited on 1/16/06 10:39 PM --
Or I think of my imaginary "wardrobe" plan. But I change my mind so much, I don't do much sewing and then my skills get rusty....
One thing I just recently did, which has helped me get started sewing:
I separated my "special" fabric (the stuff I'm saving for a special pattern or idea) from all the rest of my stash. I'm not ready to sew my "special" fabrics right now.
Then I decided to just sew up the rest of the stash, without overthinking it. I picked 3 very easy patterns which, though not "perfect", work with most of my stash fabrics.
Many of the stash fabrics "want" to be something other than those 3 easy patterns. But I decided to ignore that and just start cutting and make something!
-- Edited on 1/16/06 10:39 PM --
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