Thursday, July 30, 2009

So it begins

I love to sew. I love the creative aspect of sewing, as well as the opportunities it gives me to puzzle things out, rearrange things and make things uniquely mine-well, maybe not so very unique but at least different from RTW.

I seldom sew. In fact, I haven't sewn a garment for double-digit months. I made nice curtains for my remodeled kitchen as well as the newly decorated living room, I have mended some fabric grocery bags, I have even fixed a hem and re-attached a button, but I have not made a garment in far too long. I could explain it, there are good reasons, it all makes sense, but I have decided to just let it go and try for a new beginning.

Our daughter left the nest a few years ago, but of course her room was still as it had been while she lived at home. She just spent 4 lovely weeks with us before moving to Korea for a year and while she was here she sorted and packed a lot of her things and we moved them all to a storage unit. I am moving my sewing things from the itty-bitty studio I share with my husband (who paints and airbrushes figure kits) to our daughter's old room. The little studio is a lovely space with great light and storage and work surfaces galore, but it has no floor space. No cutting or laying out of fabric and patterns can be done in that room, the sewing dummy can not be used and there is entirely no room for a mirror.

The "new" sewing room is very nice. For now, I am keeping the layout and style as it is, but after I live with it for a while, I expect that I will make a few changes. The room has everything I am looking for right now: a long and sturdy desk that can hold several machines as well as a laptop (to run the embroidery unit), internet access, a long wall of Ikea "Billy" cabinet units, with doors on the bottom and shelves on top and a nice view. There is room for a fold down cutting table and a sewing dummy ("Emmi") and even a little room for sewing related decor (an old hand-cranked table top machine etc). I started moving some of my things into the room on Tuesday, but due to my odd work schedule I will not be able to work on this again until Sunday. With a little effort, I should be able to be "moved in" by, if not before Wednesday, who knows, I may even be able to look through my UFOs.

About those UFOs, it's a good thing I have a fairly classic taste in clothes and do not change size too drastically over time. Some of those UFOs have been with me for some time. None of them has been entirely abandoned and a few of them are mere stitches from being finishes, so one of the goals is to figure out what needs to be done on each and to finish them. This is very sensible and a really good idea, but it is a bit depressing, so I am going to treat myself. I think I am going to take part in the "August Wardrobe in a Week" . This is much less ambitious than a SWAP, the timing is great, I have tons of material, patterns and notions and the split between the prep week and the sewing week seems like an excellent idea. As a matter of fact, I think I will pop over to the site in a little while, introduce myself again (after a too long absense) and "sign up".

If I manage to make this work, I will be posting about my progress right here.

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