Sew Many Projects, Sew Little Time (Top 5 time savers for sewing with an unrelated 9-5)

Sewing is my crack. Actually, if people really knew how many GB of RAM my brain uses for sewing and related creative activities, they’d wonder why I have such a limited wardrobe. My coworkers can probably guess my outfit for the next day because my business casual dress is even more scarce. Oh she’s wearing the navy pixie pants today; it must be Tuesday. This raises the question, if I think about sewing all day, then why do I have sew few clothes?!

The number one answer is TIME!!  While sewing takes up a lot of my mental space, the  amount of time I have to actually sew is limited mainly by two things: 1). my day job and 2). my mini me.  So between my child plotting to take over the world,  managing a career and having some semblance of self care (which includes sewing) and a social life,  I realized I needed to get more organized. I have found the following steps helpful in getting my ideas out of my head and onto my body (or my mini me).

1. Pick out several patterns at a time. I pick out several projects I want to make in the immediate future and narrow it down to 2-3. This immediate future list is ever changing, so I find that having one at bat, one on deck and one in the hole helps to make my plans more concrete and keeps me focused.
2. Arrange patterns by degree of difficulty (i.e., number or steps/ time to prep/ notions needed, etc.) I work on easier projects during the week. Those that are more involved, I break up into smaller steps (see steps 3 and 4 below) to work on over the weekend, so it’s more manageable to finish during the week.
3. Make pattern adjustments and pretreat fabric (if necessary). I usually do this on weekend in case I need to get extra fabric or notions based on whatever changes I need to make to the patterns that I have lined up. (This also helps me to have a plan when going to the fabric store which I will touch on in the future 😜)
4. Cut and mark fabrics for your chosen patterns. This is also something I try to save for the weekend as this tends to be pretty time consuming (especially when you have to keep the scissors away from the super helpful mini me who is always ready to be of assistance).
5. Sew! Sew! Sew! Once you’re ready to sew, you’re pretty much done!

 

These are just a few of the things that have helped me to make the time I do make to sew more productive. I get my creative juices flowing while raising the vig on the wagers in the office wardrobe pool. What do you do to make your sewing time more productive?

Sources:

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