Crafting Body Appreciation

I love to craft and make things, but I also recognize that we only need so much of any one thing in our lives. This is one of the reasons I have shifted to making clothing, I wear more clothes than I can wear knit hats in any given year, for example.

I think this is also where hobbyists can start to feel the pull of making things to sell. The reasoning makes sense: I love making these things, I can’t use them all, why not sell them?  Seems harmless, perhaps even beneficial. And all the love to crafters making the move to sellers, starting a business of any kind is hard work and can range from rewarding to frustrating and everything in between.

I have a business (two, if you count my freelance recipe work) and have no desire to start a third (see hard work mentioned above, my plate is full). That means I am left thinking about how my love of craft is intersecting with my desire to not have too much stuff.

I have mentioned I am mostly a seasonal sewist because my sewing “room” is actually an unheated corner of the basement. This does slow me down for sure. In the colder months I tend to take up knitting or another hand sewing project that can be done from the warmth of my cozy corner on the couch in the living room.

This year my winter knitting project is Drea Renee Knits So Fade Sweater. I am making good progress, the body is almost complete, and arms always seem to go fast in comparison.

I am using the stash of Knit Picks yarn I acquired from my local Buy Nothing Group. Using thrifted and existing materials rather than always buying new ones is part of my using less, even if sometimes it means I have too much stuff. This thrifty style of creating doesn’t work as well when you first pick a project and then pick the materials. In fact, many of my projects start by looking at the materials I have and then finding a pattern or project that works with the materials. That was how this sweater came to be. I had a huge stash of yarn but only 1-3 balls of each color.

This pattern is based on having transitions to different colors, perfect for someone who has a lot of yarn in many different shades. I picked yellows and oranges, because I love yellows and oranges and put them in a light-to-dark ombre order. I love these little stripy sections between each color block.

I have also been working (veeeerrrrry slowly) on an EPP project.  I definitely started it over a year ago without any plan for what I was planning to do with these cute little hexies other than using up some fabric scraps.

A lap blanket or bed-sized quilt felt like a lifetime undertaking so I need to think smaller. Maybe a placemat? Coasters? Then I settled on making a wall hanging for my office. I think the colors and pattern will be a welcome edition to this corner of the office by the door. Though it might take me another year to actually finish it!

Now that the weather is sporadically warmer, I am also turning my thoughts back to sewing garments again. I am starting with making outer wear for the first time. I found a cute little quilted blanket at the thrift store and have seen more than my fair share of video of other sewists upcycling them into coats and I wanted to try it too.

I am not at the stage of self-drafting yet (though that also sounds like a great way to slow down and be more thoughtful about my creative process) so I grabbed the Love Notions Coda Coat which is designed to use with pre-quilted fabrics.

I am currently seam ripping the binding off the edges of the quilt, hoping that I can repurpose it for the coat itself. I am pretty sure this binding was cut on the grain and not the bias, but I think it can’t still work as much of the coat binding is straight lines and gentle curves.

I am still figuring out how I want the jacket to close. I think I would like snaps more than buttons which might necessitate investing in a few new tools and learning a new skill. But that seems like an almost finished garment problem. I’ll keep you posted.