Making Room for New

I won't deny it - I've been in quite a sewing slump lately. Projects pile up and bury each other, and I can't attempt to finish one without bumping into another one - the guilt and need to do. it. all. now. prevented me from even beginning to work on a lot of things in the first place. There are so many ideas floating around in my head, as well as tons of ideas for my Etsy, but I have a hard time getting started.

I decided a big part of my lack of sewing motivation was my sewing set up - I sew at my dining room table with a large sliding-door armoir right next to it. The armoir stashes all my fabrics, scraps, notions, interfacings, patterns, and the like, as well as shipping supplies, paper crafts, you name it. It was all crammed into those shelves in a very inefficient organization. 

Before:

Do you see all those bags of fabric scraps?!

What a frickin' mess! No wonder I never got anything done. Nothing had a logical place and was jumbled in with everything else.

First I tackled my fabric stash. I weeded out some that I never really loved, but had accepted because they were free - back to Freecycle they go! Knits, minky and felt stacked at the bottom, and then cottons organized by color. I hope by condensing my fabric to fewer shelves, I'll be tricked into thinking I have so much fabric and using what I have instead of buying more!

My scraps were condensed, my Etsy inventory organized, and I also dumped a lot of yarn that I will never get to (sorry, knitting, but you've been replaced!). Do you see that free space? Room...ahhh...to grow!

The other side was a bit more involved - lots of sorting, piling, and things to throw away. I also started a running list of supplies I needed and ideas for better organization involving a trip to a store. Take my thread storage, for instance:

Not the most efficient use of my space! What is even in that box? Once clearing the junk out, I realized how sorely I needed lots and lots of thread, and added that to my list. Another motivation-stealer - not having the right supplies on hand. Earlier this week I broke my last needle and had to run to the store, but of course I put that off for a couple days, at least. While cleaning, I discovered...um, like three packs of needles! Wow.

Whenever I wanted to make a covered button, I never would, because where were all of my pieces? Problem solved, and they are all now jailed in a baby food jar.

And done for now, at least!

A trip to Ikea is definitely in order - have you seen their 'box' department? Awesome! Boxes for interfacing, lace, patterns, paper - boxes! I also definitely need a thread rack in there. Not the most blog-worthy makeover, but my motivation is already kicking back in and it's quite refreshing to actually see what I have to work with. Thanks for peeking!