HI everyone,
I have been VERY busy today and was hoping I could find a place for everything so my sewing room would be ready for business… but as I took a few minutes to read the comments, I came across Sissy’s, who mentioned she had fabrics in 2 different rooms… uh-oh…I remembered something. I had totally forgotten about the stuff I had laid out on the guest bed and then carried it up to the attic because it would be too messy looking to have in the room when Karn and Rebecca were down at Thanksgiving. It’s been a while and I had completely forgotten about it. So I went upstairs, drug all those boxes and tubs down to my room and started looking at all the “new” stuff I now had to put away…I did find Sissy’s corduroy pieces I bought from her. I hadn’t found them yet in all my mess, but was sure they were in my sewing room somewhere… guess not. But I was glad to find them and they’ll go in the “corduroy container!”
Next I found all my knits… I have a box of lots of sweet baby onesies and sleepers that have the cutest little prints on them… I used to cut them up to make tee’s for under a jumper or some pants and needed something cute. I don’t have TOO many of them, but more than I really should… oh well, I went through them and sorted some out. Here are a few pictures of them…
…all neatly packed in this box…
So be patient a little longer and I’ll have this room under control. I LOVED how I’m not alone in this “fabric” thing… many of you said you have LOTS and LOTS of fabric… and I’ve come to realize it’s just something we do… collect fabric (and ALL the things that go with it) and it’s hard to stop!
My sister, Cindy, sent me this text after reading my post yesterday…
“I had a thought after reading your blog this morning, your fabrics are like antique books on a shelf that you’ve collected, things you’ve loved for years!”
I think she’s right… as I was looking around at the mess in my room right now, part of me wanted to take each row of folded up fabric on my shelf and just pick ONE to get rid of, but as I looked at a couple of rows of fabric, I was having the hardest time… How could I pick any of these, I like them all… then I’d move to the next row, and the same thing would happen. So I just looked at the overall shelf with all the different colors and just said, “Okay… pick ONE from the whole collection.” I did…in fact I picked a few… things I thought I’d probably never reach for. Maybe it just takes seamstresses longer to purge.
Dena posted late yesterday and she sounds just like me… having lots of stuff, not wanting to let it go, knowing she needs to, having a hard time…but her last line sounded SO SO SO familiar…”My goal for 2025 is to use what I have and not buy anything new!”
And I DARE NOT look at the place Elizabeth buys her fabric from… The Fabric Shack! I can’t even look! Sorry, but I just can’t!
Anyway, my hubby says he can see I’m making progress… so I guess there’s hope!
I wanted to share the story I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post… it was about these bright lady bug fabrics…
This post was from May 16, 2016. I again, copied and pasted the whole post here, so you don’t have to click a link.
A long time ago; probably in 2001 or 2002, I was selling little girls dresses on Ebay. I had dresses listed fairly often and did okay at selling them but not making much money though. I think my average was about $25 -$35 dollars for a dress. Well, I had this lady email me and ask me something I found pretty intriguing. She said she had this pretty little 3 year old daughter and she would gladly take pictures of her in one of my dresses and then send me several of the nicest pictures to use in my listing. It would be like she was my personal model. I could take special orders for the dress and she’d get the dress for FREE just for sending me her pictures. I thought about it and thought maybe this was my big break… so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought lots of these coordinating prints… all with (cute) bugs in them. They had names like Bug Trails, Lady Bug Allover, Bug Squares, and Buggy Stripe. I think you can figure out which one goes with which.
She said lots of ladies did this…for “wonderful designers like me who didn’t have a cute model to use…” Well, I did it. I worked like crazy making her little girls dress set perfectly and sent it to her free of charge….and in a little while she did send me back 5 pictures of her little girl playing in the grass wearing the dress. (I’m sorry I don’t have those pictures anymore, so you’ll have to just imagine it…)
I got my listing all figured out using her photos and sat back and waited for the orders to come in… and I waited and waited and waited… and nothing ever happened. I thought the dress was so cute and so bright and colorful…I was sure somebody(s) out there wanted it, but apparently they didn’t. That’s why I have that stack of fabric in my sewing cabinet… a distant reminder of a failure from long ago.
I did make one and sell it… this is the same style as the one I sent the lady…
It has a lady bug appliqued on the front with 2 bumblebees buttons sewn on.
I also made a cute reversible triangle headscarf and Rebecca made a fun bracelet to go with it.
…and I did make one for Katie Effanbee and Molly tried it on too…
So there’s no real moral to this story… except maybe don’t buy your fabric before you have your orders.. I guess!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
I can’t complain… I have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams when I discovered sewing for dolls. They never disappoint and are MUCH easier to photograph.
Thanks everyone,
I will see you Monday… and maybe I’ll be done!!! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne