Starting a new blog entry, when the "new-ness" has officially worn off -- shocking that it only took until the second entry, right -- is not easy. I have an abundance of IDEAS, though very little idea of where to start with them.
It's been a rough winter...oh hell, it's been a rough YEAR, creatively for me. I have accomplished very little during the past 9 or 10 months in so far as my "fiber-addiction" is concerned. Life sort of got in the way. It happens. A lot. At this point, I am needing a re-do. We have recently moved, and I basically have a clean slate for my sewing studio. And because of this, it has sat in boxes for almost a month. Having a clean slate can be incredibly over-whelming, to say the least.
I guess I wanted to wait to begin unpacking and setting up until I had the PERFECT concept of what I wanted in there. I am not very good at RE-designing a room once it is in place and has all the furniture set up. Spacial "puzzles" are NOT a strong-suit of mine, at all. I like emptiness first, then I go for it. I believe that is why I enjoy beginning a new garment/project, as opposed to altering one that is already more or less complete. I love the IDEA of altered-couture, but in practice, I can not see passed what is already there. Call it a design-feature, not a flaw. I am working on it.
Last night, my husband and I went to Ikea for possibly the 5,000th time since the move. Why is it that when we get there, we become stupid and forget the entire purpose for going there? It really is an overwhelming place. Plus, the distinct lack of windows through most of it is not reassuring; we both end up grouchy and somewhat claustrophobic within roughly two minutes of leaving the "lobby".
Last night was good, though. I feel like we really accomplished a lot, and not just infuriating each other to the point of divorce, either. We finally -- third time IS a charm -- got our bed frame, and a few other things for the bedroom. And I finally settled on a big portion of what I needed/wanted for my sewing studio. Oddly enough, it was a desk we were considering for his office. Turns out, I was "suggesting" it so much, because I really liked it and why not just get it for my space? So, we did. Well, almost. They were out of the actual "desk" part. Figures. Guess we're going back...again.
So, today is Sunday. It's cloudy, nearly raining -- it's May, right?? -- and I think we're going to be "building" furniture all day. We even managed to purchase a bottle of Guerrilla Glue last night. I'm convinced it isn't enough, but we'll see. I want to get the shelf part of my desk built today because I am going to need help with that -- it's HUGE. Plus, Tuesday my lovely assistant (aka, Joan the Professional Organizer) comes over to help me, and I want to prove to her that I haven't been sitting on my behind for the past three weeks, when in reality, that's exactly what I've been doing! Another design-feature?? We'll see.
Hopefully by the end of this month, I will have a "brand-new" creative space to begin creating in. It's been a long time since I've fondled fabric, and I have PLANS. Ideas, one could say. Now, where do I START??
happy Sunday,
~j.b.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Time and Time Again
Once again, I begin. This time, it is with a purpose in mind. And hopefully much more discipline involved. I have a plan.
I have just moved. As in, last weekend. And during the process of packing, moving, and recovering from said move, I have discovered, I truly have a problem. More like an addiction, really. To be perfectly honest, I have more fabric than I have ANY idea what to do with! It's crazy how much fabric one (one!!!) person can accumulate in a period of two point five years. And this is even AFTER I have used some of said fabric in projects, AND donated a great big bunch of it.
Now, faced with the prospect of RE-organizing this mass of fiber I have some decisions to make. And make them I must. First, I have to figure out WHAT I will be keeping, and what will be discarded -- either donated or given to like-minded friends/family. After that icky, time-consuming task is finished, I must then figure out how I am going to STORE whatever fabric is left. And on that note, I need to completely reorg my entire sewing room, too. Because while it worked for quite a while, with this new place, I plan on teaching, and it was not set up well for personal sewing AND teaching sewing. Which means, I need to scrap my current set up -- hardware-wise -- and attack the room with a fresh set of eyes -- and a Professional Organizer named Joan.
To start, I will be using this here blog-thing as a way of documenting my progress of re-org-ing my sewing studio/teaching space, AND to begin talking about my next major project, which sort of combines a bunch of things I've loved throughout my life. I'll begin by saying this: I am truly a Fiber Nerd. I LOVE fiber. When I go shopping -- whether it be for fabric to make things, or clothing which is already constructed -- I touch EVERYTHING! I can't help but run my hands over garments in a store, just to see what they're made from. If I like them, I continue touching, usually with a smile on my face. If they're icky synthetics, more times than not, I scowl. Or proclaim, embarrassingly loud that the shirt/pants/dress/etc sucks! And then proceed to NOT touch said fabric any longer.
So, not only am I a fiber NERD, I am a self proclaimed fiber SNOB! And I am also quite proud of this. It has taken YEARS of experience and practice to become THIS disgusted by polyester chiffon. If I can't stand to touch the fabric on the bolt for three seconds, there is NO way I am going to spend HOURS of my time and energy TOUCHING the fabric to create a garment, only to them WEAR said garment un-told number of hours a day/week/month/year.
So, in oder to spread my nerdy-ness and more importantly, snoby-ness around the globe -- or at least to my friends -- I plan on creating a data-base of sorts to define fabric content, care, and creations. Think of it as a Wiki, after a fashion. It will be searchable, cross-referenced, and will include plenty of photos of beautiful fabrics as well. Eventually I would love to be able to have users request swatches from me, to have lovely little bits of fabric at THEIR finger-tips while ordering online, or shopping in good 'ol brick-and-mortar shops.
So, this is the plan. One of them, at the very least. It's now been three weeks since the move, and I still have a sewing room that looks as though a class 9 hurricane blew through on some errand of destruction. So, although no visible progress has actually been made, I have quite a few plans in the, er, planning stage. Possibly the next post will even involve pictures! What a concept. We'll see. Later for now,
~j.b. fiber nerd, extaordinaire
I have just moved. As in, last weekend. And during the process of packing, moving, and recovering from said move, I have discovered, I truly have a problem. More like an addiction, really. To be perfectly honest, I have more fabric than I have ANY idea what to do with! It's crazy how much fabric one (one!!!) person can accumulate in a period of two point five years. And this is even AFTER I have used some of said fabric in projects, AND donated a great big bunch of it.
Now, faced with the prospect of RE-organizing this mass of fiber I have some decisions to make. And make them I must. First, I have to figure out WHAT I will be keeping, and what will be discarded -- either donated or given to like-minded friends/family. After that icky, time-consuming task is finished, I must then figure out how I am going to STORE whatever fabric is left. And on that note, I need to completely reorg my entire sewing room, too. Because while it worked for quite a while, with this new place, I plan on teaching, and it was not set up well for personal sewing AND teaching sewing. Which means, I need to scrap my current set up -- hardware-wise -- and attack the room with a fresh set of eyes -- and a Professional Organizer named Joan.
To start, I will be using this here blog-thing as a way of documenting my progress of re-org-ing my sewing studio/teaching space, AND to begin talking about my next major project, which sort of combines a bunch of things I've loved throughout my life. I'll begin by saying this: I am truly a Fiber Nerd. I LOVE fiber. When I go shopping -- whether it be for fabric to make things, or clothing which is already constructed -- I touch EVERYTHING! I can't help but run my hands over garments in a store, just to see what they're made from. If I like them, I continue touching, usually with a smile on my face. If they're icky synthetics, more times than not, I scowl. Or proclaim, embarrassingly loud that the shirt/pants/dress/etc sucks! And then proceed to NOT touch said fabric any longer.
So, not only am I a fiber NERD, I am a self proclaimed fiber SNOB! And I am also quite proud of this. It has taken YEARS of experience and practice to become THIS disgusted by polyester chiffon. If I can't stand to touch the fabric on the bolt for three seconds, there is NO way I am going to spend HOURS of my time and energy TOUCHING the fabric to create a garment, only to them WEAR said garment un-told number of hours a day/week/month/year.
So, in oder to spread my nerdy-ness and more importantly, snoby-ness around the globe -- or at least to my friends -- I plan on creating a data-base of sorts to define fabric content, care, and creations. Think of it as a Wiki, after a fashion. It will be searchable, cross-referenced, and will include plenty of photos of beautiful fabrics as well. Eventually I would love to be able to have users request swatches from me, to have lovely little bits of fabric at THEIR finger-tips while ordering online, or shopping in good 'ol brick-and-mortar shops.
So, this is the plan. One of them, at the very least. It's now been three weeks since the move, and I still have a sewing room that looks as though a class 9 hurricane blew through on some errand of destruction. So, although no visible progress has actually been made, I have quite a few plans in the, er, planning stage. Possibly the next post will even involve pictures! What a concept. We'll see. Later for now,
~j.b. fiber nerd, extaordinaire
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