You know that feeling you get when you've got a cluttered desk - slightly out of control and just generally a bit unsettled? Well that's how I've been feeling about my sewing space, and I was just thinking about what to do about it when I read this post from Lladybird. The theme of her post is getting time to sew, but one point in particular resonated with me: Don't have UFOs!!
Now, I definitely do have UFO's, and they're not working for me... they're dragging me down mentally, cluttering my physical space and robbing me of all those new garments I could be enjoying wearing! Plus, my mental list of summer sewing is growing all the time and I can't, in good conscience, start on new projects with so many old ones hanging around. So... I'm challenging myself to get these all out of the way ASAP and I'm hoping you can help me stay honest by checking in on me ;-)
Here's my, um, quite substantial pile. Apologies if this is boring...
Pattern Sewaholic Thurlow trousers
Fabric Bottle green cotton drill
Stage of completion All cut and ready to go
Time in UFO pile About 3 months
Reason for procrastination Sheer terror at the thought of attempting my first zip fly
Ranking in priority High
Pattern Wiksten Tank top
Fabric Black cotton voile with contrast hand shibori dyed top section
Stage of completion Not yet started (so maybe not technically a UFO? But definitely a UFO in my mind!)
Time in UFO pile About 1 month
Reason for procrastination Concern over getting the shape of the top section right, hence not wrecking my precious shibori dyed fabric
Ranking in priority High
Pattern Simplicity 2226 skirt
Fabric Melody Miller Ruby Star Vinyl cotton/linen blend
Stage of completion Fabric cut
Time in UFO pile About 1 month
Reason for procrastination No so keen on the idea of this anymore - I had a vision for it, complete with a Briar in solid colour to wear with it, but I've gone off it
Ranking in priority Reasonably low
Pattern Wiksten Tank top again
Fabric Melody Miller Ruby Star Vinyl cotton/linen blend again (to use up the rest of the yardage I bought)
Stage of completion Fabric cut
Time in UFO pile About 1 month
Reason for procrastination Too many more 'urgent' UFOs in the pile
Ranking in priority Low
Pattern BurdaStyle Assymetric Jacket 03/2012
Fabric Navy blue mid weight linen
Stage of completion Fabric (almost) cut
Time in UFO pile About 2 months
Reason for procrastination Being totally sick of this pattern after having to add @#$%%^ seam allowance to the pdf pattern. Never again. I love the design of this jacket but am worried about not getting the seam allowances right. Oh, and the instructions are extremely brief... and there are about a million pieces... which I haven't finished cutting as I was sick of it = too hard!! But I love the fabric too. Oh dear.
Ranking in priority High in terms of desire to wear it, low in terms of desire to sew it!!
Pattern Elephants and Elegance bubble shorts (kids)
Fabric Chocolate brown linen
Stage of completion Half cut out
Time in UFO pile About 1 month
Reason for procrastination I hate to admit it but all the selfish sewing UFOs have been getting my attention: this is a present for a friend of my big girl's, which is now running very late.
Ranking in priority High due to guilt
DISCLAIMER:
I'm fully admitting here that the garment below is a no-goer (blogged here). I just can't seem to make it work, and am tired of trying. But I do love the fabric, so it will sit in the stash until an idea strikes...
Do you have UFO's? I'd love to know.
Posts
This is an excellent post! It manages to simultaneously make me feel guilty about my unfinished projects and sort of reassure me that I'm not the only one with lots of things like this sitting around. I'll have to do a post like this - it would help keep me honest
ReplyDeleteThe worst part of it is that when I start trying to enumerate them in my head, I keep coming up with more and more things that are buried deep in my stash because I hit a point where I didn't know what to do and packed them away. Possibly time for a clean out...
Hi Alice, your comment made me laugh as I am POSITIVE I will find more UFOs lurking around the place in time to come... I'm just hoping I will have cleared this pile first!!
DeleteA timely post, Jo. I find it so hard to move on to new, exciting projects with the other ones glaring at me from their pile. It's kinda crippling sometimes and I end up doing neither, making the guilt worse! The trouble is browsing Pinterest and blogs and seeing all the fabulous things others are making and then leaping ahead in my brain to what I *could* do rather than what I already have.
ReplyDeleteYes! I know exactly the feeling Mel - it's so hard to ignore those other lovely 'to do's on the mental list. I'm sure this will be one of my challenges in clearing the UFOs. Thank you for pointing that out :-)
DeleteI can relate Jo! I have a Burda pattern in a similar state - too confused by the instructions, or lack of. It's in my 'Too Hard' basket. I'll be interested to know how the Thurlow trousers turn out - keen to try this pattern.
ReplyDeleteArghh Rennae - I'm not the only one with the Burda problem then? Kinda makes me feel better but sad for you too. Why oh why do they do it I wonder? Hope yours works out.
DeleteI can relate to this post too! I have a not so small pile of things that I am absolutely ready to wear if I can just get them started/finished. I've also got to the point where I don't dare start anything else until at least some of the UFO's have been FO's!
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it but your UFO pile, is bigger than mine, and making me feel much better ;-)
ReplyDeleteMissed you last night, I hope you had a great day x
Ooh, please do the Thurlows! I've been thinking of getting the pattern for ages, but I'm scared of it :/ I must admit I don't have many UFOs. I think I like imposing military style rules on myself such as 'can't start something until the last project is finished'. I have a bucket hat cut out to sew and I'm working on my muslin for my first Tova, but they're both works in progress.
ReplyDeleteHa ha. I read that post too and thought I must finish all those projects I have hanging around... I made a similar list and it has really helped. Now I need to do one for the yarny projects...
ReplyDeleteGreat post jo. You should check out grainlines online tutorial for putt ing in a fly zip. I did my first one on a moss skirt recently and it worked out really well!
ReplyDelete