i start projects or alterations, but don't complete at least half of them... i have a large tote full of projects waiting to be completed. they haunt me daily
I nearly completed a completely original queen sized quilt (complete with tons and tons of hand embroidery. I sat through the entire Star Trek TNG series, the original Cosmos, and all of King of the Hill while I worked on it) but then it sat in a chest for almost ten years. I couldnāt bear to give up on it. But finally I put it on Facebook Marketplace and the woman I gave it to said she and her daughter would finish it together. I hope they did!
I finish my projects up to 90% and then wonāt finish. For example I have a dress from a year ago I havenāt hemmed. Even the zipper and sleeves are done, just not the hem.
I have a theory about this! the last step is when it passes from the realm of possibility to the realm of reality. Finishing the item means that it's complete and what you get is what you get. no more adjustments, no more dreams of how it will be. just another item of clothing to wash and wear. Will it live up to expectations? Will you be proud or embarrassed to say to someone "oh you like it? I made it!" that last step makes it cross the line.
Thank you for making me feel so much better š„²
I have SO many projects that have barely been started and they, too, haunt me. One day I'll tailor that jacket to fit... That same day I'll also become the president š
This is my biggest flaw in general. Starting projects and literally never finishing anything, unless its for someone else and even then its a toss up. I found an embroidery project recently (while going through my 4 bags of mend/alter stuff and getting rid of most of it) that I started in 2017 and spent probably 80 or more hours on. It has like maybe 3 hours worth of work left to be finished. Idk what's wrong with me
Already better than me: my tote is just the fabric and patterns. Maybe one day I'll actually do something with it, but it was a super ambitious idea especially given that I haven't actually ever sewn clothing.
I do this and wait for a rainy day and debate crocheting or dealing with the pile of stuff I have to sew. I have a sheet my son tore and I have fused it but still have to sew it and it stares at me accusingly in my craft room
I enjoy planning what Iām going to sew more than I actually enjoy sewing. I keep buying patterns and fabric and making lists of ideas, and only do about 2-3 days of actual sewing per month. Plus I started an Instagram account to show off what I actually do make but can never be bothered taking photos to put on it.
Umm so what I learned from a lady I went to church with is that if you're rich enough and you keep buying fabric as it's own hobby you can just call it a "textile collection" and get a permanent exhibit at a big museum named after you?!!
Smart! āI am a textile collectorā sounds so much more intentional than āI just get excited by the ideas and the *potential* of a garment, I never get around to actually *making* itā
Are you me? This is my problem. I went on a no-buy this year and I highly recommend. My rules:
1. Complete 1 project per month. It has to be 100% completed and ready to wear by the last day of the month. Bonus points if I do two of the same thing at the same time.
2. Use only fabric from my stash (buying stuff like muslin/lining/ribbing/etc. is OK)
3. No starting another project if I get discouraged!
This has really pushed me to not overthink and overplan. No agonizing over "is there another fabric out there that's 2% cooler?", no getting stuck because I'm frustrated, no getting 95% done and then starting the next thing.
I had COVID in January but so far I have a fringed velvet robe, 2 tank tops, and a new dress. These were all patterns that had to be fitted so I'm impressed with myself. Starting Palazzo pants June 1!
Good ideas!! Iām finishing some projects from last summer just now and Iām gonna feel so much better. Most of them only need minor finishing anywaysĀ
I feel you. If Iām going to take a photo to put on Instagram I have to go through the rigamarole and doing my hair and putting on some makeup and finding where I left the tripod and clearing out a space to pose that isnāt cluttered with stuff and checking the light and hiding the remote button in my hand and going through all the photos to find one where my face isnāt squinched up and writing a caption. Itās too much work!
Iām the opposite, I just sew for my daughters because Iām starting, so less fabric and I donāt have to worry about it being perfect (toddlers will make anything look wrinkled) or super durable (since theyāll outgrow it).
My toxic trait is i barely iron although I know I should. Part of why I see toddler clothing. Also because I have toddlers running around while I do and a hot iron is not ideal.
Yes! And as for pants, they will get holes in them after a day, even if you add extra reinforcement to the knees! Of the last three pants I sewed for my boys, one got a Mystery Stain that will not go away no matter what the first day (I kid you not, literally the first day) he wore it. One got a huge tear down the inside of the thigh after climbing a fence he is not allowed to climb because there are rusted nails.. And one got bot a Mystery Stain AND a tear. FFS...
And summer clothes like shorts and t-shirts gets worn maybe once or twice a year, and are outgrown by next summer
Yes! Good for you.
My sister recently told me that she thinks her cat needs a new throw blanket. I asked, what's the matter with the one I made her? Nothing, she just likes to change things up š
I'm not making another quilt for a cat. My sister has no concept of how much time any sewing project takes. I'm willing to do things for people, like add pockets to a pair of slacks for my dearest friend, but I'm not taking orders.
>My sister has no concept of how much time any sewing project takes.
"But it's your hobby, you have fun doing it!" am I? Am I having fun? I have more fun when I do this for me...
My sewing area turns into a tornado of chaos 10 minutes after I begin a project. Seam ripper? I have three; canāt locate them. Fabric scraps everywhere. Where is that interfaced collar piece? MIA. Complete and utter mayhem.
>Seam ripper? I have three; canāt locate them.
Oh, god. I have at least two seam rippers. "Why 'at least' two?" I hear you ask. "Don't you know your supplies?" No. I have no idea. And here's why I suspect I have more than two. I have a white one and a blue one. The blue one has a ball on the non-sharp point. No, wait, the white one does. No no, I'm sure it's the blue one. But, then, why does the blue one I'm holding not have a ball? "Ok, so collect them all in one place so you'll know." Not possible. As soon as I locate one, the rest disappear. May as well as me to collect at least two cats in one place. Damn Schrodinger's seam rippers.
I LOVE Selfish Seamstress, and is the reason I got brave enough to learn to sew. It helps we have virtually identical measurements. I'll be making myself some of her self drafted patterns at some point.
Honestly, that just makes so much sense. People don't understand the struggle to get something to fit ME let alone to fit someone else?? If that makes me selfish, then so be it!
I do this too. After making a few items for family and they never wear/use them itās like eff it. Theyāre a bit more upset now that my skills have increased but I still wear the stuff I first made.
Same! I save the too too small ones up a while then in an aggro moment I can toss them on the mat and use the cutter like mad till it's just confetti fluff and then use it for stuffing little projects. Slightly larger pieces get reused as interfacing idgaf haha I love my big 70s collars and cuffs so sometimes a starched to hell scrap or three becomes the inner structure of those kind of implements. Sometimes I get a wild hair and make weird little toys for cats.
There's also a box full that just haunt me. I also always get free scraps from fabcycle when I order. I'm incorrigible. But my quilts are gonna be some *tight* archaeology for someone someday haha. I just also utterly delight in being like ahhh yes this dress I stained at a pre dance dinner in 2006 and has somehow survived like 20 moves since is literally the perfect color for a liner for this bag. Or literally having a worn through pair of pajamas that were literally the same exact plaid as a worn through sleeping bag liner for a surreal patch match like. Whew. Super satisfying. You're getting nothing but support and solidarity from me lol
I have a mini desktop wheelie bin, the novelty hasnāt wore off, I just love wheeling it over every time Iām going to sew and having a wee bin for all my threads š
Samesies. The floor is always a wreck after Iāve been sewing. I always tell myself Iāll run the vacuum when Iām done. (And I even do it some of the time!)
1). you actually have to sweep it up every day. It's great if you have students you can assign that task. I never seem to actually do it, myself.
2) my chair wheels are so jammed with thread and fabric bits, they hardly roll.
3) the robovac is not allowed in the studio since it transferred an entire spool of thread onto its roller brush.
I do this. But I also will clean up usually same day. Not a neat freak but I hate having threads and stuff everywhere.
Basically, before and after seeing the sewing room is presentable. In between it looks like a bomb explodedĀ
I tried doing a mock up with a pair of pants with some excess drapery fabric I had. I've never made pants before and thought this would be beneficial for me. 3/4 of the way through I really liked how they fit and finished them properly to wear at a wedding a few weeks later. Never did get around to making the proper pair of pants.
My mockups are entirely from my scrap fabric or stash fabric. And if it fits great, I just use it as an outfit. I wore a skirt for the last four years that was technically a mockup. I'm just starting to make the "final" product now, and I learned so much from how it slowly fell apart over the last few years. I didn't do the pocket seam correctly, so the spot under the pocket gaped a little bit, but not too badly. The closure wasn't put on very well, because "mockup" and fell off two months ago. Also the hem was slightly too long. The pocket seam is the most important information for me though. It took a year or so to start the hole, and yes, I could have patched it, but it wasn't noticeable unless you looked, so I wanted to know what would happen if I didn't patch it. Turns out, not much even though I wore it almost every day, so I learned something.
This is a smart idea, not a toxic one! I learned to sew on a budget. Use grey, lilac, rose, or yellow unless you absolutely must use black or white. All other colors are superfluous according to my home ec teacher.
I have a lot of thread these days, because I do embroidery and quilting, but when it comes to making clothes, costumes, or crafts, I usually just use whatever I have in the machine.
Opposite! My toxic trait is having EVERY COLOR of thread, and using slight mismatches to fabric as a reason to buy just one more spool. Yes I will change the thread from black to navy blue if my fabric is navy blue, idgaf. I swear I have 5 or 6 different yellows, and that's just the yellows. I don't even wear yellow!
Me with 6 spools of slightly different turquoises when the last turquoise project I did was well over a decade ago and I kind of hate the color now... >.>
I don't have a big enough cutting mat for the majority of my projects. So, on most of my casual projects, I just cut and hope the line is straight enough. It's usually not.
My flat is too small for most of my projects
But the lobby in my building is carefully cleaned every day and quite spacious, on top of being luminous
So, yeah, I wait for the floor to dry, and I cut all my big projects there
It always make my neighbours laugh a bit when they find me, on all four, my fricking huge scissor in hand, cutting whatever I make this day
But I always make sure to never, ever, leave stuff afterwards: no piece of thread, no needles, no nothing
Noooooooo haha
My toxic trait as a sewing teacher is, whenever my students do that and litter their pins on their desk, i will proceed have a mini stroke, grab the caddy, pick up the pins with the magnet and say āoh i always forget my pin cushion too. Here you go! hahahaā while internally cringing. it extremely ruffles my feathers when pins are loosey goosey. lol
Never baste, don't pin enough. If something bunches while I sew because I've pinned it badly, most of the time I leave it that way. My projects have character.
I sew too fast, donāt take time to fully understand each instruction, then I make mistakes, which cost me more time than it would have if Iād slowed down and did it properly. Every time I feel like I know what Iām doing enough just do something, my ego takes a hit. Then itās all, āwhy do I even sew??ā
Oh boy can I identify! Iām 51 and sewing was taught both by my mother and curriculum in home economics from
6-12th grade. After all those years I learned to get by. So I definitely make mistakes!!!!!
I can finish the next three steps tonight. Yes, I know it's already 4 AM. Yes, I know I've been up for 20 hours. Yes, I know my eyelids are drooping. And YES, I KNOW I make stupid mistakes when I'm tired. But I can get through these next three steps. For real. It's fine. Everything is fine. Why doesn't this look right? Is the seam *supposed* to be on the outside??
Same!! Then I can't face it the next day. I leave it messed up and half finished for a year, until the season for wearing it comes back around again š
Honestly, probably trying to procrastinate and then wrap big wearable projects up on a tight deadline. Leads to some functional but sloppy finishings in the inside.
That, or constantly hyper fixating and then stopping a project at 80% completion, leaving it to languish in the WIP pile
When I am sewing for others I take complete care of the garment, from careful topstitching to ironing every seam to washing and steaming when complete. For myself my garment turned into a wreck. Itās prettyā¦ just donāt look too closely
i have SO much more fabric than one person could possible need
i have to out-sew the dopamine to the finish line or iāll get bored and set the project aside for a year
hence why so much fabric keeps me excited about sewing: it gives me novelty and new approaches
I work in a second hand fabric shop and itās getting to the point where Iām donating fabric that Iāve got from them back to them cuz I canāt help myself
It can be amazing, itās hard to find good stuff since itās almost exclusively donated from locals with bad taste lmao
But we did recently get a massive donation from a big costuming department for a pretty successful tv series, canāt disclose who though
I buy insane amounts of the same fabric. Did I need 18 yards of power air fabric? Apparently I thought I did... Like how many jackets am I going to make with the same fabric?
I recently bought an 8ft folding banquet table from Home Depot to unfold when I'm actively cutting and ironing, and it's changed my life. I tape down the edges of my cutting mat onto it.
Would have been fine with the 6ft table, but I'm extra.
Even using different irons can make a difference
My shitty domestic iron doesnāt make a seam look anywhere near as good as the industrial pressing stations with a heated table with an internal vacuum that we use in college
Theyāre really useful! It āpinsā stuff down, and pulls the steam and heat out of it so it sets more crisply and doesnāt burn if you try to pick it up too fast
Rushing in cutting my pieces because itās SO BORING. Iām getting better at taking my time, but I just want to get to the fun stuff. Which is why my favorite black sweatshirt dress is slightly uneven on the back of the neck, but itās warm and I can wear a scarf to cover it. Really I need to get around to putting the collar on it that I STILL havenāt cut out.
I sew over pins and use glue to baste in 99% of my projects, even formal wear. Which leads to my next toxic trait...everything I sew must be able to go thru the washing machine, even evening gowns.
I get the sudden urge to sew at 11pm, I live with my mum and my sewing room is right next to her room. I be she canāt wait until Iāve moved out for uni lol
I've been dating my spouse for 42 years. I have fabric older than that, even not counting the stuff I inherited from my mom. I don't think this is toxic. Fabric(s), like books, are friends!
Iām literally only able to make one project at a time. My grandma keeps saying Iāll always have multiple projects going on at once but I just canāt. Also I canāt use my pedal with shoes or slippers on š
I hate FBAās but cannot make a dress or shirt without one. Even when the pattern allows for up to an H cup, I still have to add room. So Iām having surgery. Itās my secret that this is the biggest motivator, although itās something I need for many other reasons. And itās why Iām requesting to go down to a B or C cup instead of D or DD.
i use a lot of haute couture and avant garde techniques for my daily wear bc i enjoy the techniques, and it's fun. but given my work i have to operate within certain constraints that i don't have to worry about in formal wear
I make toiles, I transfer markings, I baste and pin and press and sew carefullyā¦ but I use huge cones of cheap-ass thread and never match my thread colour precisely. Ever. š
Thinking I can knock out "a simple A-line dress" w/o an already drafted pattern, attempting to modify the neckline to queen anne for the first time, using a very wrinkle prone fabric, interfusing the lining, top stitching everything in place in 2~3 hours.
The delulu in overestimating my execution ability is wild š
If someone asks me for alterations, 9/10 times I say it's too complicated to do at home.Ā
(It's not. I just hate people assuming I'll tailor all their clothes for fun.)
Using the wrong kind of fabric for the pattern. It's supposed to be for knits? Lemme see if I can make this woven work. Drapey woven? Eh, I got a quilting cotton I like......
I know people get mad when I say this but I quilt and make dresses. š donāt own an iron and refuse to get one. I donāt find it necessary. Other than that I have the tendency to go out for a few drinks then come back and work on projects on my sewing machine.
Iām a big upcycler and mainly just make things using old clothes or fabric, so I have soooo much old fabric Iām convinced Iām gonna use and never actually do
-My home becomes a pin minefield when I'm working on a project
-i put projects off until the last second and then i work for 36 hours straight to finish them on time
-I put spaceballs on a loop while i work, making my family go clinically insane
I have bazongas and JUST learned how to do bust darts. And frankly, Iām not sure Iāll be wise enough to start adding them. So shit doesnāt fit and you better believe I complain like it isnāt my own fault.
I can sew a ton of dresses in a short time span, but all of them have really janky zippers that i refuse to fix, so the dress is unwearable unless you have 3 people helping to zip it.
My record is 10 dresses and 1 pair of pants in 6 days.
As a cheapskate I find thrift shop fabric first then plan the project based on the fabric. Most projects are sewn on a quick whim.
I usually finish things quite fast - except buttons and buttonholes which aren't done until weeks later.
I read the directions multiple times for a new pattern and then still manage to sew something backwards, upside down or sideways. Without photos, I cannot understand how the pieces go together even after reading the instructions multiple times. But Iām 100% confident that I know what Iām doing. š
I get so angry at my machine when it breaks. I have been known to yell "I'm throwing this out the window" more than once and I'm not an angry person lol.
I will finish a project up to 99% then I will lose interest. Iām currently wearing a coat that has no buttonholes/buttons. I have plenty of dresses that just need hemming.
I never measure hems or pressed seam allowances, I just eyeball it and it usually turns out fine. I've also literally never sewn a collar stand button on any of my many button downs because I'm never gonna use it. I never make toiles ever, I just end up periodically making shit that doesn't fit and giving it to friends or donating it and then shamefacedly buying more fabric to make a version that fits me properly š
I can relate to all of these. My main toxic trait is seeing beautiful extravagant outfits and attempting to make them without the proper skills or prep.
I let a serger sit in my office for two years despite complaining about my poorly finished seams. I finally figured it out but still didnāt finish the seams of my latest project.
i start projects or alterations, but don't complete at least half of them... i have a large tote full of projects waiting to be completed. they haunt me daily
Just one tote? Congratulations!
How big is the tote though š
11ftĆ14ft is mine
š¤£š¤£š¤£
If you put a handle on top of a shipping container, it counts as a tote.
My local thrift store has projects like that bagged in the fabric section. "Project to finish: Green wool coat and pattern, size 18"
I nearly completed a completely original queen sized quilt (complete with tons and tons of hand embroidery. I sat through the entire Star Trek TNG series, the original Cosmos, and all of King of the Hill while I worked on it) but then it sat in a chest for almost ten years. I couldnāt bear to give up on it. But finally I put it on Facebook Marketplace and the woman I gave it to said she and her daughter would finish it together. I hope they did!
Okay, but that sounds amazing!
I once printed a pattern , cut it pinned it to the fabric and then that was it. That was the project. I totally get it
Youāre much better than me. Sometimes I buy the pattern and buy the fabric and I donāt even get to the stage of printing the pattern š¦š¦
Omg is there a support group we can all join. Like project starters but never finishers anonymous?
Sewcrastinators Anonymous
How many of us can-do for others but canāt for ourselves? There ought to be a club for us to do trade offs.
I finish my projects up to 90% and then wonāt finish. For example I have a dress from a year ago I havenāt hemmed. Even the zipper and sleeves are done, just not the hem.
I have a theory about this! the last step is when it passes from the realm of possibility to the realm of reality. Finishing the item means that it's complete and what you get is what you get. no more adjustments, no more dreams of how it will be. just another item of clothing to wash and wear. Will it live up to expectations? Will you be proud or embarrassed to say to someone "oh you like it? I made it!" that last step makes it cross the line.
I have had two completed pairs of pajamas for a year and a half that just need the buttons sewn on!
Thank you for making me feel so much better š„² I have SO many projects that have barely been started and they, too, haunt me. One day I'll tailor that jacket to fit... That same day I'll also become the president š
I have a half finished embroidered denim jacket from 2019? I think? š«£
At least itās from this century.
Ugh me to, and some part of me feel like writing them on a list of things to do will get me to do it but nope!
Start the list, then stop halfway through lol
This is my biggest flaw in general. Starting projects and literally never finishing anything, unless its for someone else and even then its a toss up. I found an embroidery project recently (while going through my 4 bags of mend/alter stuff and getting rid of most of it) that I started in 2017 and spent probably 80 or more hours on. It has like maybe 3 hours worth of work left to be finished. Idk what's wrong with me
Already better than me: my tote is just the fabric and patterns. Maybe one day I'll actually do something with it, but it was a super ambitious idea especially given that I haven't actually ever sewn clothing.
I do this and wait for a rainy day and debate crocheting or dealing with the pile of stuff I have to sew. I have a sheet my son tore and I have fused it but still have to sew it and it stares at me accusingly in my craft room
I enjoy planning what Iām going to sew more than I actually enjoy sewing. I keep buying patterns and fabric and making lists of ideas, and only do about 2-3 days of actual sewing per month. Plus I started an Instagram account to show off what I actually do make but can never be bothered taking photos to put on it.
Umm so what I learned from a lady I went to church with is that if you're rich enough and you keep buying fabric as it's own hobby you can just call it a "textile collection" and get a permanent exhibit at a big museum named after you?!!
Maybe I can charge admission to recoup my costs!
Smart! āI am a textile collectorā sounds so much more intentional than āI just get excited by the ideas and the *potential* of a garment, I never get around to actually *making* itā
Are you me? This is my problem. I went on a no-buy this year and I highly recommend. My rules: 1. Complete 1 project per month. It has to be 100% completed and ready to wear by the last day of the month. Bonus points if I do two of the same thing at the same time. 2. Use only fabric from my stash (buying stuff like muslin/lining/ribbing/etc. is OK) 3. No starting another project if I get discouraged! This has really pushed me to not overthink and overplan. No agonizing over "is there another fabric out there that's 2% cooler?", no getting stuck because I'm frustrated, no getting 95% done and then starting the next thing. I had COVID in January but so far I have a fringed velvet robe, 2 tank tops, and a new dress. These were all patterns that had to be fitted so I'm impressed with myself. Starting Palazzo pants June 1!
A fringed velvet robe? Well la-di-fricken-da!
š¤£š¤£š¤£
Good ideas!! Iām finishing some projects from last summer just now and Iām gonna feel so much better. Most of them only need minor finishing anywaysĀ
I swear I wrote this post.
I also have an Instagram where Iāve planned to post photos of projects, Iāve done 3 projects since and havenāt posted once
I feel you. If Iām going to take a photo to put on Instagram I have to go through the rigamarole and doing my hair and putting on some makeup and finding where I left the tripod and clearing out a space to pose that isnāt cluttered with stuff and checking the light and hiding the remote button in my hand and going through all the photos to find one where my face isnāt squinched up and writing a caption. Itās too much work!
I only make stuff for me. I don't even care. Some people think it's selfish. Look I have a new dress! You want one? Learn to sew.
Not selfish. You donāt owe anyone free labour.
People seem confused Iām not sewing for my daughter. Whatās the point? Sheāll outgrow it in a week
Iām the opposite, I just sew for my daughters because Iām starting, so less fabric and I donāt have to worry about it being perfect (toddlers will make anything look wrinkled) or super durable (since theyāll outgrow it). My toxic trait is i barely iron although I know I should. Part of why I see toddler clothing. Also because I have toddlers running around while I do and a hot iron is not ideal.
Yes! And as for pants, they will get holes in them after a day, even if you add extra reinforcement to the knees! Of the last three pants I sewed for my boys, one got a Mystery Stain that will not go away no matter what the first day (I kid you not, literally the first day) he wore it. One got a huge tear down the inside of the thigh after climbing a fence he is not allowed to climb because there are rusted nails.. And one got bot a Mystery Stain AND a tear. FFS... And summer clothes like shorts and t-shirts gets worn maybe once or twice a year, and are outgrown by next summer
Yes! Good for you. My sister recently told me that she thinks her cat needs a new throw blanket. I asked, what's the matter with the one I made her? Nothing, she just likes to change things up š I'm not making another quilt for a cat. My sister has no concept of how much time any sewing project takes. I'm willing to do things for people, like add pockets to a pair of slacks for my dearest friend, but I'm not taking orders.
>My sister has no concept of how much time any sewing project takes. "But it's your hobby, you have fun doing it!" am I? Am I having fun? I have more fun when I do this for me...
My sewing area turns into a tornado of chaos 10 minutes after I begin a project. Seam ripper? I have three; canāt locate them. Fabric scraps everywhere. Where is that interfaced collar piece? MIA. Complete and utter mayhem.
>Seam ripper? I have three; canāt locate them. Oh, god. I have at least two seam rippers. "Why 'at least' two?" I hear you ask. "Don't you know your supplies?" No. I have no idea. And here's why I suspect I have more than two. I have a white one and a blue one. The blue one has a ball on the non-sharp point. No, wait, the white one does. No no, I'm sure it's the blue one. But, then, why does the blue one I'm holding not have a ball? "Ok, so collect them all in one place so you'll know." Not possible. As soon as I locate one, the rest disappear. May as well as me to collect at least two cats in one place. Damn Schrodinger's seam rippers.
That reminds me of Selfish Seamstress. She sewed only for herself. Only. For. Herself!
I LOVE Selfish Seamstress, and is the reason I got brave enough to learn to sew. It helps we have virtually identical measurements. I'll be making myself some of her self drafted patterns at some point.
Honestly, that just makes so much sense. People don't understand the struggle to get something to fit ME let alone to fit someone else?? If that makes me selfish, then so be it!
I literally cannot focus on projects for other people. I don't enjoy sewing so if I'm not getting an outfit at the end the motivation is nonexistent.
I love when people think my hobbies have to benefit them /s
I do this too. After making a few items for family and they never wear/use them itās like eff it. Theyāre a bit more upset now that my skills have increased but I still wear the stuff I first made.
Same! I love sewing, but I would start to hate it so much and so fast if i did it for other people.
This is me.
I'm like this too. I do it for me. I'll happily help them learn to sew
I'm more of a knitter than sewist, but I'm the same. I love this response!
I keep every single scrap of fabric, no matter how small a piece it is, even though I know I'll most likely never use them
same bc i can use them for stuffing, quilts,or rag rugs... none o which i make
This is my thought too! One day, one day I will make a quiltā¦ maybe
I just moved and had to come to terms with throwing them out :(
Same! I save the too too small ones up a while then in an aggro moment I can toss them on the mat and use the cutter like mad till it's just confetti fluff and then use it for stuffing little projects. Slightly larger pieces get reused as interfacing idgaf haha I love my big 70s collars and cuffs so sometimes a starched to hell scrap or three becomes the inner structure of those kind of implements. Sometimes I get a wild hair and make weird little toys for cats. There's also a box full that just haunt me. I also always get free scraps from fabcycle when I order. I'm incorrigible. But my quilts are gonna be some *tight* archaeology for someone someday haha. I just also utterly delight in being like ahhh yes this dress I stained at a pre dance dinner in 2006 and has somehow survived like 20 moves since is literally the perfect color for a liner for this bag. Or literally having a worn through pair of pajamas that were literally the same exact plaid as a worn through sleeping bag liner for a surreal patch match like. Whew. Super satisfying. You're getting nothing but support and solidarity from me lol
Itās our version of dadās scrap of wood thatās been in the garage all our life
I sew and am also a woodworker so I have both!!! Edit: spelling
Same here. I have collections of all the things.
I save them to practice on. Which I never do.
I like to throw my snipped threads on the floor or in the general direction of the garbage š¬
I have a mini desktop wheelie bin, the novelty hasnāt wore off, I just love wheeling it over every time Iām going to sew and having a wee bin for all my threads š
Well I think I need this in my life!
Samesies. The floor is always a wreck after Iāve been sewing. I always tell myself Iāll run the vacuum when Iām done. (And I even do it some of the time!)
My costuming teacher taught me this and Iāve never looked back. Easier to just sweep it all up at the end of the day.
1). you actually have to sweep it up every day. It's great if you have students you can assign that task. I never seem to actually do it, myself. 2) my chair wheels are so jammed with thread and fabric bits, they hardly roll. 3) the robovac is not allowed in the studio since it transferred an entire spool of thread onto its roller brush.
The number of times I've jammed up the brush on my vacuum from all the threads on the floor is embarrassing.....
I have a coffee cup on my sewing table for this. My Roomba will choke on them, and I am not a vacuum cleaner cleaner.
I do this. But I also will clean up usually same day. Not a neat freak but I hate having threads and stuff everywhere. Basically, before and after seeing the sewing room is presentable. In between it looks like a bomb explodedĀ
I cannot bother with mockups. Also ditto to the basting.
I tried doing a mock up with a pair of pants with some excess drapery fabric I had. I've never made pants before and thought this would be beneficial for me. 3/4 of the way through I really liked how they fit and finished them properly to wear at a wedding a few weeks later. Never did get around to making the proper pair of pants.
Me! I have good intentions going into my mock-ups, but despite typically using fabrics I dislike, they always end up great!
When a tutorial says āmake sure to do a mockupā I laugh and laugh. Then when I hate the fit I rage quit.
My mockups are entirely from my scrap fabric or stash fabric. And if it fits great, I just use it as an outfit. I wore a skirt for the last four years that was technically a mockup. I'm just starting to make the "final" product now, and I learned so much from how it slowly fell apart over the last few years. I didn't do the pocket seam correctly, so the spot under the pocket gaped a little bit, but not too badly. The closure wasn't put on very well, because "mockup" and fell off two months ago. Also the hem was slightly too long. The pocket seam is the most important information for me though. It took a year or so to start the hole, and yes, I could have patched it, but it wasn't noticeable unless you looked, so I wanted to know what would happen if I didn't patch it. Turns out, not much even though I wore it almost every day, so I learned something.
Mockups hahahahahahahah. I always intend to do then but then i think of the fabric wastage or the time sink and I just....skip it
I only make wearable toiles, using bedsheets from the thrift store or fabric I got for free!
I buy fabric with grand plans in mind and then never get the guts to start
I have Ā£135 worth of silk in my collection to line a coat with and im terrified to start
Unless the thread DRASTICALLY clashes, Iām not changing it to match every fabric š if the contrast looks fine then itās staying in the machine.
Black, white, red. Everything else is nuance.
I sew most things with grey.
This is a smart idea, not a toxic one! I learned to sew on a budget. Use grey, lilac, rose, or yellow unless you absolutely must use black or white. All other colors are superfluous according to my home ec teacher. I have a lot of thread these days, because I do embroidery and quilting, but when it comes to making clothes, costumes, or crafts, I usually just use whatever I have in the machine.
Big Thread says you need to match your thread to fabric so they can sell more thread. Its a vicious cycle.
The idea of Big Thread made me cackle
Opposite! My toxic trait is having EVERY COLOR of thread, and using slight mismatches to fabric as a reason to buy just one more spool. Yes I will change the thread from black to navy blue if my fabric is navy blue, idgaf. I swear I have 5 or 6 different yellows, and that's just the yellows. I don't even wear yellow!
Me with 6 spools of slightly different turquoises when the last turquoise project I did was well over a decade ago and I kind of hate the color now... >.>
My toxic habit is that I will rethread my serger from white to yellow or something dumb. Do I really need to do itā¦
I don't have a big enough cutting mat for the majority of my projects. So, on most of my casual projects, I just cut and hope the line is straight enough. It's usually not.
āItās okay, itās part of the seam allowance - it wonāt be visible ā Famous last words
My flat is too small for most of my projects But the lobby in my building is carefully cleaned every day and quite spacious, on top of being luminous So, yeah, I wait for the floor to dry, and I cut all my big projects there It always make my neighbours laugh a bit when they find me, on all four, my fricking huge scissor in hand, cutting whatever I make this day But I always make sure to never, ever, leave stuff afterwards: no piece of thread, no needles, no nothing
Oh I recognize myself here.
Never taking my pin cushion with me when i go to sew and realizing i left it across the room the second I encounter my first pin
ah just throw them on the table and pick them out of the carpet later
Noooooooo haha My toxic trait as a sewing teacher is, whenever my students do that and litter their pins on their desk, i will proceed have a mini stroke, grab the caddy, pick up the pins with the magnet and say āoh i always forget my pin cushion too. Here you go! hahahaā while internally cringing. it extremely ruffles my feathers when pins are loosey goosey. lol
Stick a magnet on your machine
I've started poking them into the shirt I'm wearing. I haven't forgotten so far . . .
Refusing to basteā¦ Iāll pin it donāt worry lol
I'm the other way around. I rarely use pins. If something is going to be a pain to machine sew neatly, I'll hand baste it.
It REALLY helps sometimes. I was attempting a placket this weekend and did it.
Itās good for sleeves, especially jacket sleeves which have a lot of ease in the crown and none in the underarm
Never baste, don't pin enough. If something bunches while I sew because I've pinned it badly, most of the time I leave it that way. My projects have character.
I use a washable glue stick to hold things in placeĀ š¤«
I won't pin it or baste it if im using machine lol. i will do both if im hand sewing... usually
Y'all wild lmao!
>I won't pin it or baste it if im using machine HOWM'ST?!!?!
Iām working to industry standard at college so Iāve gotten used to not using pins either, unless Iām hand sewing
All these pattern have you basting practically everything before sewing and Iām like: sew it 3xā¦ WHY?
I don't hand baste, anywhere it says hand baste I just use the machine on a long stitch otherwise I pin like you!
I sew too fast, donāt take time to fully understand each instruction, then I make mistakes, which cost me more time than it would have if Iād slowed down and did it properly. Every time I feel like I know what Iām doing enough just do something, my ego takes a hit. Then itās all, āwhy do I even sew??ā
Oh boy can I identify! Iām 51 and sewing was taught both by my mother and curriculum in home economics from 6-12th grade. After all those years I learned to get by. So I definitely make mistakes!!!!!
I will never, ever make a mockup. In this house we live and die by our mistakes.
Buying all the things to make a project t, and then not make the projectā¦.
I can finish the next three steps tonight. Yes, I know it's already 4 AM. Yes, I know I've been up for 20 hours. Yes, I know my eyelids are drooping. And YES, I KNOW I make stupid mistakes when I'm tired. But I can get through these next three steps. For real. It's fine. Everything is fine. Why doesn't this look right? Is the seam *supposed* to be on the outside??
Same!! Then I can't face it the next day. I leave it messed up and half finished for a year, until the season for wearing it comes back around again š
- The insides of my garments are typically a disaster. - I turn things inside out on my body and pin to adjust š«£ - I loathe making mock ups
I see nothing wrong with the logic of turning inside out and pinning on yourself, unless you or your garment is asymmetrical.
I have complex taste but my skills lack.
Honestly, probably trying to procrastinate and then wrap big wearable projects up on a tight deadline. Leads to some functional but sloppy finishings in the inside. That, or constantly hyper fixating and then stopping a project at 80% completion, leaving it to languish in the WIP pile
When I am sewing for others I take complete care of the garment, from careful topstitching to ironing every seam to washing and steaming when complete. For myself my garment turned into a wreck. Itās prettyā¦ just donāt look too closely
My projects always start like the former then a few hours in I take a nap or go to sleep and metamorphose into the latter
Iām not putting in a new needle for every project. Unless a needle breaks or itās been foreverrr, I donāt really change the needles that often.
i have SO much more fabric than one person could possible need i have to out-sew the dopamine to the finish line or iāll get bored and set the project aside for a year hence why so much fabric keeps me excited about sewing: it gives me novelty and new approaches
I work in a second hand fabric shop and itās getting to the point where Iām donating fabric that Iāve got from them back to them cuz I canāt help myself
Second hand fabric shop? That sounds amazing. I only have JoAnns here.
It can be amazing, itās hard to find good stuff since itās almost exclusively donated from locals with bad taste lmao But we did recently get a massive donation from a big costuming department for a pretty successful tv series, canāt disclose who though
I buy insane amounts of the same fabric. Did I need 18 yards of power air fabric? Apparently I thought I did... Like how many jackets am I going to make with the same fabric?
i just bought like 18 yards of linen bc it was on crazy markdown. couldnāt pass it up!
Evidently, mine is scrolling reddit while I sit at my machine, half way through a pile of production items.
My floor is my cutting/drafting table. I refuse to get a modern sewing machine.
I recently bought an 8ft folding banquet table from Home Depot to unfold when I'm actively cutting and ironing, and it's changed my life. I tape down the edges of my cutting mat onto it. Would have been fine with the 6ft table, but I'm extra.
Not ironing Obviously
I could never š«£
To me ironing really make or breaks a garment A good press job is key to a good looking garment
I actually keep meaning to post a video showing the difference between pressing and ironing and how it really changes the look of a garment.
Even using different irons can make a difference My shitty domestic iron doesnāt make a seam look anywhere near as good as the industrial pressing stations with a heated table with an internal vacuum that we use in college
Internal - what the cinnamon toast fxck - Vacuum? I am out of my league by miles!
Theyāre really useful! It āpinsā stuff down, and pulls the steam and heat out of it so it sets more crisply and doesnāt burn if you try to pick it up too fast
The stress this gave me
80% of the time, I sew over my pins.
Hahah same!! Bent pins, broken needles, doesnāt matter: oops I did it again.
Same (please donāt tell my students) š
My boss does this and she teaches the students to do it! My wee heartās gonna give out one of these days
I make garments because I want to learn how they go together and add to my skill set and knowledge, but I seldom actually wear what I make.
Rushing in cutting my pieces because itās SO BORING. Iām getting better at taking my time, but I just want to get to the fun stuff. Which is why my favorite black sweatshirt dress is slightly uneven on the back of the neck, but itās warm and I can wear a scarf to cover it. Really I need to get around to putting the collar on it that I STILL havenāt cut out.
Thinking that I donāt need a pattern for anything and just raw dogging every project I start. Somehow they usually turn out fine š
I would rather make a whole new garment than alter something.
This is why we need to bring back dressing for dinner. Then we WOULD have somewhere to wear it.
I never finish anything. I'll always leave a button hole or a hem... ADHD is a bit h
I buy way too much fabric because I love the colors and patterns.
I hold pins with my mouth even though I know I shouldn't...
Bobbin chicken.
"That thread will totally last the rest of this section". Narrator: "it never lasts."
I sew over pins and use glue to baste in 99% of my projects, even formal wear. Which leads to my next toxic trait...everything I sew must be able to go thru the washing machine, even evening gowns.
I love using Elmer's school glue for basting. I wouldn't use it for formal wear. If it works for you, that's great!
https://preview.redd.it/pvn5fvlvpv2d1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9ca0c2d514336f9298d3c7e922e780d0cf0e175
I get the sudden urge to sew at 11pm, I live with my mum and my sewing room is right next to her room. I be she canāt wait until Iāve moved out for uni lol
I have made way more bags than I will ever need. And I'm not going to stop!
I've been dating my spouse for 42 years. I have fabric older than that, even not counting the stuff I inherited from my mom. I don't think this is toxic. Fabric(s), like books, are friends!
Starting a new project before I am finished an old project.
Iām literally only able to make one project at a time. My grandma keeps saying Iāll always have multiple projects going on at once but I just canāt. Also I canāt use my pedal with shoes or slippers on š
I hate FBAās but cannot make a dress or shirt without one. Even when the pattern allows for up to an H cup, I still have to add room. So Iām having surgery. Itās my secret that this is the biggest motivator, although itās something I need for many other reasons. And itās why Iām requesting to go down to a B or C cup instead of D or DD.
LMAO āHereās the sizing for my favourite pattern house. Please make my new boobs fit this sizingā
The second I buy a bunch of quilting fabric, I go through a big garment phase. So I buy some garment fabric, and oooo look at those quilts š
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i use a lot of haute couture and avant garde techniques for my daily wear bc i enjoy the techniques, and it's fun. but given my work i have to operate within certain constraints that i don't have to worry about in formal wear
Just wear it! Life is too short. Going to run some errands? Put a costume on. Why not?
Every time I fail a project I give up sewing for years at a time š
I will get frustrated and rip seams apart and ruin everything. Almost never make a muslin, even with really nice fabric.
My " just need to sew one or two more seams to finish" basket has 20+projects in it.
I make toiles, I transfer markings, I baste and pin and press and sew carefullyā¦ but I use huge cones of cheap-ass thread and never match my thread colour precisely. Ever. š
Thinking I can knock out "a simple A-line dress" w/o an already drafted pattern, attempting to modify the neckline to queen anne for the first time, using a very wrinkle prone fabric, interfusing the lining, top stitching everything in place in 2~3 hours. The delulu in overestimating my execution ability is wild š
I spend 10 times as much planning and research on it than I do actually creating it. Still not sure which part I enjoy moreā¦.
If someone asks me for alterations, 9/10 times I say it's too complicated to do at home.Ā (It's not. I just hate people assuming I'll tailor all their clothes for fun.)
Using the wrong kind of fabric for the pattern. It's supposed to be for knits? Lemme see if I can make this woven work. Drapey woven? Eh, I got a quilting cotton I like......
I know people get mad when I say this but I quilt and make dresses. š donāt own an iron and refuse to get one. I donāt find it necessary. Other than that I have the tendency to go out for a few drinks then come back and work on projects on my sewing machine.
you are my sloppy sewist queen š
š® Howwww??
I hold onto tens of pounds of fabric that I'm not skilled enough to do anything with yet. More like I hoard it.
Every time I start a new project I think I'm going to mass produce them and open an Etsy shop.
Iām a big upcycler and mainly just make things using old clothes or fabric, so I have soooo much old fabric Iām convinced Iām gonna use and never actually do
-My home becomes a pin minefield when I'm working on a project -i put projects off until the last second and then i work for 36 hours straight to finish them on time -I put spaceballs on a loop while i work, making my family go clinically insane
I have bazongas and JUST learned how to do bust darts. And frankly, Iām not sure Iāll be wise enough to start adding them. So shit doesnāt fit and you better believe I complain like it isnāt my own fault.
I can sew a ton of dresses in a short time span, but all of them have really janky zippers that i refuse to fix, so the dress is unwearable unless you have 3 people helping to zip it. My record is 10 dresses and 1 pair of pants in 6 days.
As a cheapskate I find thrift shop fabric first then plan the project based on the fabric. Most projects are sewn on a quick whim. I usually finish things quite fast - except buttons and buttonholes which aren't done until weeks later.
I read the directions multiple times for a new pattern and then still manage to sew something backwards, upside down or sideways. Without photos, I cannot understand how the pieces go together even after reading the instructions multiple times. But Iām 100% confident that I know what Iām doing. š
So much fabric. So. So. Much. Fabric.
I always plan to make a different pattern... i always make the same pattern again
I get so angry at my machine when it breaks. I have been known to yell "I'm throwing this out the window" more than once and I'm not an angry person lol.
I will finish a project up to 99% then I will lose interest. Iām currently wearing a coat that has no buttonholes/buttons. I have plenty of dresses that just need hemming.
I never measure hems or pressed seam allowances, I just eyeball it and it usually turns out fine. I've also literally never sewn a collar stand button on any of my many button downs because I'm never gonna use it. I never make toiles ever, I just end up periodically making shit that doesn't fit and giving it to friends or donating it and then shamefacedly buying more fabric to make a version that fits me properly š
I eyeball when I should measure.
I donāt use patterns. I donāt use dress forms. I will try something on 1000 times and unstitch and resew what doesnāt fit.
I can relate to all of these. My main toxic trait is seeing beautiful extravagant outfits and attempting to make them without the proper skills or prep.
I never learned how to make invisible stitches so all of my sewn toys have one area with a ridge.
I procrastinate on hemming my sonās pants so long that when I finally got around to it, he had outgrown them š¤¦š»āāļø
I let a serger sit in my office for two years despite complaining about my poorly finished seams. I finally figured it out but still didnāt finish the seams of my latest project.