A New Year. Classic time for plans, resolutions, reviewing the last year and considering what to change about the coming one. I’m not good at resolutions, not at keeping them anyway, but I can reflect and review with the best of them. Last year I did get quite a bit done, made some changes to the house, taught a sewing workshop (really keen to do more of that), did some sewing, but not enough. What am I going to change about 2016?
Definitely resolved to be more organised. And if possible to waste less time. Although it’s hard sometimes to define what is wasted time. Sitting in the garden with a good book and a cool drink is not necessarily a waste of time. Such moments are all part of a balanced life, and essential to one’s well being.
On the other hand, spending half an hour looking for some black elastic, and only being able to find white, even though I’ve looked in at least a dozen different spots where black elastic might be, is definitely wasted time. What am I going to do about it? Put down black elastic on my shopping list for one thing, and have a dedicated spot to keep it for another. Time wasting problem solved!
Part of my plan to be more organised, is using up some of the stuff I already have, instead of acquiring more. I have boxes and boxes of fabric, much of it scraps left over from past projects. I’ve always kept those scraps with the idea that ‘they’ll come in for something one day’. Well, the next 366 (2016 is a leap year) are the days that at least some of them are going to fulfill that destiny. I’m looking out for small projects that I can use them up in.
One resource I found is a charity called Angels for the Forgotten, one of a few listed on the Australian Sewing Guild’s website. There are a number of things they ask for, most of which can be sewn with only small pieces of fabric, so I will definitely make some of those. I have started with a journal cover, using three of my ‘come in handy’ bits. The girl in the 1950s dress on the front is cut from a slightly larger piece, I’m going to use the rest of it to make a pouch for feminine hygiene items. That should put paid to all of that fabric, and the plain red and some aqua coloured cotton I used for the lining are also left overs.
I got inspiration for the cover from two of the blogs mentioned on the charity’s website, but didn’t follow either of them exactly.
julielivingstone 