5 Strategies to Help You Sew More Often

Podcast Transcript

Welcome back to Seamwork Radio, where we share practical ideas for building a creative process so you can sew with intention and joy. Haley is out on parental leave with her new baby right now, so I'm going to be flying solo, giving you some really practical tips and tricks.

We've also got a whole bunch of interviews lined up with some pretty incredible guests from the world of sewing that you will not want to miss. So stay tuned all summer for that, and we'll welcome Haley back in the fall.

So today, we're talking about five strategies to help you sew more often.

We're going to cover how to create an environment that encourages you to create, and how to build habits that will help you keep sewing.

All right, so let's get into it.

Do you know anyone who does not feel super busy? Because I don't think I do, and that definitely includes myself.

I feel extremely busy all the It's like my state of being. Some of us have demanding jobs, some of us have kids, some of us have other caretaking responsibilities, or even just a home to manage, and it can be just a lot.

I'm always looking for ways to slow down so that, first of all, I can enjoy life more and just be more present, and two, so that I have time to do the things I really love doing, including sewing.

One of my favorite sayings is, manage your energy and not your time. The truth is, I think most of us have more of an energy deficit than we do a time deficit. I think that there are definitely some of us who really have no time. We really do not have the time or resources to spare. If you're in survival mode or if you have a health concern that limits your energy, then really you just have to do what it takes, of course, first and foremost, to take care of yourself. That is the first thing.

But if you're someone who has everyday stress and responsibilities, like a lot of us do, then managing your energy actually means doing more of what you love and not less of what you love. If sewing gives you energy, then doing more of it will actually help you to feel better and feel like you have more time. I think the trick really is just getting started.

It can be really easy to put off even those energy-giving activities because they're not as easy as something passive, like watching TV or maybe scrolling social media. And by the way, no shade there because I think we all need some passive rest time, too. I think that is just a part of our needs as a human being. But the problem comes when it starts to replace the things you love.

You're spending so much time just passively relaxing whether that's watching TV or whatever it is for you, that you don't have time to do things that actually give you energy.

Here are my tricks for motivating yourself to take that first step, get over that effort pump, so you actually sew more and get that energy boost that you need. All right, so let's get into it.

My first tip is to create a dedicated sewing space. Having a dedicated space for sewing can just make it so much easier to start and to continue your projects. So this could mean a full room or it could mean just a corner of a room. It really depends on you and your needs and also how much space you have, obviously.

And we've seen some amazing sewing spaces that are built out of just a corner of a room or just a tiny little area. So if you don't have a lot of room, you can still create a space that's dedicated to your creativity, dedicated to the hobbies that you love. Keep your sewing machine, your tools, your supplies, everything organized and ready to go. This really reduces the setup time. It makes it a lot more convenient to sew whenever you do have that spare moment. If you need a little bit of help with this, I have some resources for you that I think can be really helpful. One is you can download our free sewing spaces guide, which has a lot of tips for spaces of all sizes, including the tiniest spaces. You can get that at seamwork.com/go/sewing-spaces. We also have some past podcast episodes you can listen to that will really help you to set up your space. We have a series coming up in July called Space Camp, which we've I shared before that is all about helping you set up your sewing space. That's all free for you from Seamwork. Then another resource I wanted to share is a book.

I got this book from the library a while back, and I thought it was really cool, so I thought I'd share it with you guys. It's called My Creative Space: How to Design your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation by Donald M. Ratner.

So the title is My Creative Space by Donald M. Ratner. And this book goes through different things you not have thought about that help to encourage creativity in your home. I thought that was a really cool approach. It takes the approach that you are doing creative things from your home rather than from more of an office setting. I highly recommend that book if you can get it at your local library or you can find it online. I'll put links to those in the show notes as well for you guys.

That's the first one, is to create some dedicated space for yourself. Again, it doesn't have to be an an entire room if you don't have an entire room. I'm lucky enough to have.

If you guys watch us on YouTube, you saw my video about my sewing shed and building an entire shed in my backyard just for sewing, which is absolutely such a privilege.

But in the past, I've sewn from my kitchen table in my first house in Portland, which is when I started the company, I just had a tiny portion of my kitchen. It was basically like a little sunroom off the kitchen. Then it only fit really my cutting table and then an IKEA bookshop for my fabric, and that was really all that fit in there. And that was where I did all my sewing. But it's just having that space that's separate from everything else is incredibly helpful, and it really is very motivating for a lot of us.

So the second tip is to schedule your sewing time and to embrace shorter sewing sessions. So the idea here is to treat sewing like any other important activity by scheduling dedicated time for it in your calendar. This could be 15 minutes every evening, or it could be an hour on the weekends. It's really about what works for you. The point is just to have a regular creative time that you can come back to and make it a part of your routine so that it actually happens. You can use these short bursts to tackle small tasks like sewing or pinning a seam.

These little mini sessions can really just add up very quickly and help you to maintain momentum momentum. I think that is something that we sometimes overlook is the importance of maintaining momentum. I know I feel that way with my sewing. I especially feel that way with my knitting. If I put down a knitting project, it is so hard for me to pick it back up again. Whereas if I'm doing a little tiny bit on it every day, it's much easier to remember what I was doing, and there's less of that mental barrier to diving back into it. I know it can feel a little weird to schedule something that you love, but think of It's not like scheduling a date night or scheduling a regular time to hang out with friends. Just because it's on your schedule doesn't mean it's a task that has to be completed or that you need to beat yourself up if you're not able to do it. It just is about giving yourself that time to do the things you love so that everything else doesn't crowd it out of your life. I just think having a set schedule really helps to make sewing a regular part of your routine.

Once you've done that, just stick to your sewing appointments, treat it like you would, any other commitment. Again, don't beat yourself up if you can't do it once in a while, but it's really just about making time for you. My third tip is to keep your sewing projects manageable. I think it can be really intimidating to think you have to sit down and sew an entire dress at once. I know when I first started sewing, especially, I mean, I've done this off and on many times, but when I first started sewing, I think this was a really big thing for me is that I got so excited about what I was making that I really wanted to finish it as soon as I started it. I would stay up all night or stay up late into the night trying to finish things, and I would get tired, now I get cranky, and I'd be making mistakes. That also made it really hard to jump into a project to begin with because it really felt like it was a huge undertaking. But if you can break down larger projects into smaller and more manageable steps, then it becomes just a lot easier to dive in, I think.

It makes it easier to make progress. Even if you only have 15 minutes to sew, even if you're taking that tack of doing 15 minutes a day and you don't feel like you're able to really dedicate hours and hours at one time to a project, breaking it up into these little chunks can be so helpful.

Just as an example, you can spend one session cutting out pattern pieces, you can do assembling parts in another session, and you can spend an entire session just doing seam finishes. There are lots of ways to batch your tasks so that it feels easier and more manageable. Then completing small tasks can just lead to that sense of accomplishment and really keep you moving forward. For me, nowadays, I have a rule. My basic rule is that I don't cut and sew on the same day. If I cut out a project, I don't usually tackle sewing on the same day because then it just becomes a little bit more of an ordeal for me. Maybe ordeal isn't the right word, but it becomes a little bit arduous. I do end up getting into that obsessive mindset where I just want to finish.

Breaking it up just helped me to break that pattern of thinking. That might be something that works for you, or you might find other ways to break up your projects. It's something you could do regularly. You could even set rules for yourself like I did.

Number four is to limit distractions. It can be so hard to stay focused on one thing. I think that's one thing that we really get out of sewing is that we are focusing on something that we're actually creating with our own hands. It feels really rare these days. I think a lot of what we do is so abstract and so digital that doing something with your hands is special. It's really different, and it takes a different mindset as well. But I think the problem is that it's very easy to get sucked back into those other distractions because those other distractions, a lot of them, are really designed to distract you. They're meant to keep you looking at your phone, keep you looking at a screen. It's just so easy to turn to those, especially when things get hard or you start feeling a little bit of friction, to go back to those.

So the more you can do up front to limit distractions, I think the more you can focus on just creating. So some ways you can do that are to turn off notifications on your phone. You can put on some music or a podcast if that helps you to concentrate. I know for me, I have a little record player, a little portable record player in my sewing shed, and I like to just put on a record and listen to side A, and then I take a break when it's time to flip over the record, listen to side B, and that helps me to pace my sewing as well. That's something that helps me concentrate, but you might have something else. Then you might want to let others in your household know that you're in creative mode, you're in sewing mode, and you can even put up a do not disturb sign. I know for me personally, my animals do not obey my do not disturb sign. Unfortunately, I have to do a little bit more to keep them out because they are very distracting. There are a few safety concerns, too, when I'm sewing. That's what I personally need to do.

But sometimes we need to just take some time away from our families or establish that zone of or that zone of concentration in order to be creative. That can really just help you to get in the flow. I think even those little rituals that create that place of focus and that place of creativity can just put you in the right mindset to enjoy your sewing a lot more. It just feels a little bit more sacred, a little bit more of something you're doing for yourself versus another task.

Then Number five, this is my fifth tip that I think can really help, which is to set specific sewing goals. Setting achievable goals can really help you to stay motivated. I know not everybody really feels like this is something that resonates with them. I know sometimes setting goals around your sewing can just feel a little bit like work. It can make it feel a little bit less joyful for some people. If that applies to you, you don't necessarily have to do this. But I personally enjoy setting goals for myself and using my sewing time to work towards something maybe a little bit bigger or to build skills that I haven't built before or to try something new.

For me personally, it helps me to stay motivated as long as I don't take them too seriously. It might be something where there are periods in your life where setting goals for yourself just feels really overwhelming, maybe because you have a lot of other stuff going on or a lot of other goals you're trying to achieve. You might come back to it later. There might be times in your life when setting sewing goals does feel better for you. This can change. This can flow with your life. That's just something to keep in mind because I know it's been true for myself. I personally have had times where I'm like, I just want to sew easy projects. I just want to make things that are pretty and do what I want to do and use my sewing time to relax. Then other times, I feel really enthusiastic about the idea of building up my skills or achieving something new or trying something a little bit more challenging, and that's what motivates me. Again, it cycles in and out. Goals can be project-based or they can be skill-based. So it could be about mastering a new sewing technique, for example.

So it could be a big skill, a really big goal, or it could be something really small. I just think having a clear objective will really help you to have a direction so you aren't just feeling like you're spinning your wheels. And it can also mean that you give yourself a little reward when you finish them. So you could get some new fabric or you get a new sewing tool each time you meet a goal. There's lots of ways to give yourself that little hit of dopamine that you get in addition to the dopamine you get just from completing a goal. That's something that I personally feel is really helpful for me. We even have a feature on our community, actually, for setting and tracking your own goals. You can even link projects you post to those goals, which can be a really fun way to visualize your progress. You could set a goal. For example, let's say, I want to learn how to make a tailored jacket. Then you can set your project. When you post your project, you can link it to your goal so you can actually see, Well, here's the tailored jacket that I made as a result of this goal.

That's really cool. To recap, I'm I'm going to just quickly recap and run through the five tips that I shared to help you sew more often.

Number one is to create a dedicated sewing space, and I gave you a few resources you can use to help you set up your sewing space, even if you don't have a lot of space. Again, I'll link those in the show notes as well.

Number two is to schedule some sewing time and embrace those shorter sewing sessions. Just think of it like scheduling your date night. It's a date night with yourself.

Number three is to keep your sewing projects manageable. So break them up into manageable smaller chunks so that you feel like you're able to dedicate enough time in your day to accomplish something, to accomplish a part of the project.

Number four is to limit distractions. We all have so many distractions in our life. Just doing simple things like turning off notifications on your phone or giving yourself the right auditory environment with music or with a podcast can really help to get that sense of focus and concentration and creativity that you're looking for.

Number five is to set specific sewing goals. If this is something that helps you, if you really enjoy setting goals or in a period of your life where that feels good to you, then that's something you can do. And again, we have that feature in our community to help you with that, if that's something that interests you.

All right. So I think my big takeaway, the thing that I would love for you to remember from this episode is just that you have to make time for what matters to you because nobody is just going to give it to you. And in fact, the world is set up so that a lot of things that maybe are not important to you take up your time in addition to things that are important to you. We all have demands on our time that are really important. Of course, those are usually what comes first for us, our families, taking care of our pets and our home and all the things that all the responsibility abilities that we have. But then there are all of these other things that just encroach upon our time and really come from the outside world. We have to take really active steps to brush some of those aside and make time in our day, in our week, in our calendars for things that truly matter to us and that help to give us energy and make us feel really good.

There are limited ways, I think, not to express ourselves, but I think there's a lot of pressure to do things that don't necessarily enhance our creativity and that take away time from the things that really do give us life. It's just something that I've been thinking about a lot lately, and hopefully these tips will help you to make more time for what matters to you as well.

That does it for us this week.

I'm Sarai, and this is Seamwork Radio.