Thoughts on sewing and having less stuff

This isn't a post with a new project in it - it's for me to marshal my thoughts on having too much stuff and how that relates to sewing/crafting/ making (for me at least).

Like a lot of other bloggers (Katie blogged about it here) I read and enjoyed the Marie Kondo book (not an affiliate link so click away!). I was inspired to start clearing out quite a lot of stuff, starting with my wardrobe as she suggests. She says this is a good place to start as you aren't so emotionally attached to your clothes. I'm not sure this is true of people who make most of their clothes but I actually didn't find it hard. 

The pile of clothes that went to charity (and even prior to this I went through stuff fairly regularly - I wouldn't say that this was years worth of clutter that was purged):

A year on, my wardrobe still looks much like it did and my drawers have never been tidier! Its far easier to keep my clothes in order and see what i have.

Since then i have worked my way through books, CDs, fabric and notions, make up and toiletries and paperwork. My husband and daughter are both complete hoarders so i am still working on them although hubby is coming around to it, seeing how much tidier the house is! We have no junk drawers any more and have got rid of a couple of pieces of furniture we just don't need for storage anymore.

Doing this totally hit my sew-jo for a long time though. I don't want to be making 5 new garments a month so I have stuff to blog about and filling my wardrobe back up again.

So i have come up with a plan of how I reconcile my new "less stuff" outlook with the need to still make things.

Unselfish sewing - I have been making more for the small person - costumes, dresses and leggings. I am also planning a jacket for hubby (belated birthday present since he couldn't make his mind up on the colour!).

I am thinking more about what I wear day to day and what I need to fill in wardrobe gaps or to replace things that are wearing out.

I am shopping the stash rather than buying fabric. When I culled a lot of clutter I went through my stash. There wasn't much i got rid of but I love everything left  in there and want to wear it rather than look at it on a shelf!

The same applies to patterns. Rather than jumping at every newly released pattern, I am trying to see if I could adapt something already in the stash to make something similar.

Following on from that, I want to remake more patterns. I have so many that I love and have done all of the tracing adjustments and muslining for but only ever made one version. It's a better use of my limited sewing time to spend less time on the preparation and fitting and more time on the fun sewing bit!

I have never been that keen on making underwear but its.a great way to open up new avenues for sewing, use up scraps and develop new skills!

Instead of rushing through to the end to have a new garment to wear, i will be doing a bit more thoughtful and slower sewing. This will he another way to improve my skills.

I don't normally adhere to the blogging commandment of asking a question at the end of a blog post to encourage comments but I am interested to know what you think! Is minimalism/decluttering just a current first world fad? Have you been inspired by it? Had it changed your outlook on sewing or sewing behaviour?

If you are interested to learn more here are some blogs i have added to my reader as well as the book linked to above:
The Minimalists
Becoming Minimalist
Miss Minimalist
Be More With Less
Zen Habits

It's been a while...

Much longer than I intended but I am back trying to catch up with the huge backlog of things I have to share!

First of all I'm going to share my new season sewing plans.

We are in the process (almost there!) of turning our tiny utility room into a sewing space which is so exciting. Previously I sewed on the dining room table (our kitchen is off the dining room so there's no way to shut the door on any mess) with all my bits and pieces and fabric stuffed in a very full cupboard, so it will be great to be able to have them out. I'm sure it will double my productivity if I don't have to spend 30 minutes digging out a piece of interfacing or the right colour of zip! For this reason I haven't done much sewing for the past couple of months. All my stuff is packed away to keep the dust off it. But I have been planning!

I have had a lot of success in the past couple of years following along with the Fall Essentials Sewalong hosted by Sarah at Rhinestones and Telephones. It works well for me to plan my sewing for the season (actually why don't I do it when there's not a sewalong happening?).  So I am working along with that again.

Here's what I am planning:

Fashionable foundations for frosty weather

I wear my Maria Denmark Paula pleat skirt all the time. It's in regular rotation in my wardrobe and so I am planning another 2. I have navy baby cord and wine coloured twill washed and ready to go.

I also want to make a pair of wide legged trousers so I'll be working on the Pauline Alice Sorell trousers. I hope I can nail the fit as these are pretty much my perfect trouser pattern! I have some grey flannel type stuff in the stash for these.

Chic chemises for cool climates

I have had a breton top planned for ages and bought striped jersey in the Guthrie Ghani sale a while back. This will be massively useful in my wardrobe as my last one died last winter. I'll probably use the Renfrew pattern for this but modified to have more of a boat neck.

I am also planning another Jenna cardie  (I know I haven't shown you the previous versions yet. Stay tuned!). This will be in  teal double knit to replace a RTW one which has developed a huge mystery greasy mark on the sleeve which won't wash out.

Fabulous frocks

My cousin is getting married in October in Scotland.  I want to make a dress for it but haven't chosen a pattern yet. I have a few vintage patterns in mind. I'm looking for a red or burgundy fabric possibly polka dot, but until I find the pattern I won't be shopping for it yet.

Underneath it all

Depending on time and how many knit scraps I find when I clear out the fabric pit... er... cupboard I may make vests or knickers but I don't massively need either so they aren't a huge priority.

Tender tootsies

No socks planned. My carpal tunnel is still playing up so knitting isn't really on the cards just now.

Those cosy nights

Probably the most urgent clothing need - pyjama trousers. I have 2 pairs that are falling into holes.  Planning to use the Maria Denmark Laura lounge pants pattern again but I think I'll extend the waist up to make a drawstring closure similar to my preferred RTW ones.  I've never found ribbing of a quality that I like to make as per the pattern. I need to get fabric for these still.

Baby it's cold outside

I don't need a coat as the one i made last year is still great. But a warmish jacket would be good. I have a lust for a cape but not found fabric or pattern for it as yet.  To be honest this may not be finished by the end of the sewalong and I'm not going to stress myself out over getting it done to a deadline!

That's my plans. 8 items plus the cape, 2 sets of repeats and most from  patterns I have made before and regularly wear so not much fitting required. Other than the potential cape, all are from patterns I already own and most of the fabric is from the stash (to be honest I am getting nervous about sorting out my stash and being able to see how much I actually have - more than I think I am sure!)

Really looking forward to getting into a sewing routine again after a couple of months off. And also getting back to blogging again and showing you all what I have been making. It's good to be back!

In for MeMadeMay

Almost missed signing up this year - April has gone by so fast!

I have struggled with pledging this year as I wear me mades most days anyway and since I wear a lot of dresses it tends to be a whole me made outfit. I do want it to be a challenge so I have decided to tackle my sewing nemesis - trousers!

So here goes:

I, Joanne from Sew Little Time pledge to wear at least one me made item a day for the duration of May. I will also make a well fitted pair of trousers during the month.

I'll be posting outfit pics on Instagram daily (I do this anyway when I am wearing mades, under the #memadeeveryday hashtag). You can find me on IG as @jolittletime. There will be a round up post or two throughout the month but I'll be trying to catch up with the big backlog of items I have waiting to be blogged.

Are you joining in this year? I feel like I haven't seen as many pledges as usual on blogs. Good luck if you are!