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Podcast Transcript

Sarai
I'm Sarai.

Haley
And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio. Welcome back to Seamwork Radio, where we share practical ideas for building a creative process so you can sew with intention and joy.

And today we're talking about how and when to ditch your sewing plans.

So we're going to cover three types of sewing ruts that you might find yourself in and some creative ways to play hooky with your sewing plans once in a while.

Hi, Haley. We're doing something a little bit different today because you and I are actually recording in the same room right now.

Haley
I know. It's crazy to think we've been recording this podcast for, I don't even know how long. A while. And we've never recorded in person together.

Sarai
Really? We never have together. That's amazing.

Haley
I know.

Sarai
I think we started during the pandemic, right? And so we were always doing it remotely, and then I moved kind of far away. I mean, I'm not that far, but I'm a little bit farther away than I used to be, so it made it easier to do it remotely. And our office is, like, the worst for recording. It's terrible.

Haley
Yeah. It has really high ceilings, which are, like, very gorgeous and beautiful, but, like, the worst sound quality imaginable.

Sarai
Yeah, it's pretty awful. Pretty echoey. So we're actually at my house right now recording, which is fun. It's very cozy.

Haley
It is cozy. I like it.

Sarai
Yeah. So we're going to switch off. We're going to go to Haley's house next time where we have smaller rooms and not so much echo. So it's really nice. It's so nice to be together and just be able to chitchat like real human beings face-to-face and not.

Haley
Have, like, an Internet lag, which regular listeners may or may not have noticed before, but we're always fighting with an Internet lag, and now we can have a more easy conversation. And I'm so excited.

Sarai
Yeah, the lag, it just makes things hard because you always feel like, I'm sure everybody relates to this, who has to use Zoom, which is probably all of you. You always feel like you're interrupting the other person or you're about to interrupt the other person.

Haley
You can't win.

Sarai
Yeah. It's an annoying thing of modern life.

Well, today we are going to be talking about when to ditch your sewing plans, so we're going to start with an icebreaker like we always do. So we're going to keep it simple today and talk about what we're making right now. So what are you making right now, Haley?

Haley
I have a couple of things that are cut out in various stages of sewing. Right now, as we record this (it is January as we record this), but I definitely have spring on the brain, and I want to make things that I can wear right now, but also I'm going to get a lot of wear out of as it warms up.

So, I'm making a bunch of tops right now. I have a couple Madhus cut out, and I have a Hansie cut out as well. And I just want some cute little tops to wear. So that's kind of my current sewing endeavor. And they're all fairly easy patterns, so it's been just kind of fun to pick up here and there and sew a little bit and make something cute that I'm excited to wear. What about you? What are you working on?

Sarai
Well, I'm kind of between projects at the moment, but I am about to start a new one. So I have just finished doing all of my plans. We're talking about plans today, and hopefully, I'm not going to ditch these plans, but maybe.

I just finished all my plans for my spring sewing, and I have a bunch of projects that I'm really excited about. But I think the first one I'm going to start with is my Grace dress, and I'm going to be filming the whole thing for YouTube.

So I'm going to do a little sewing vlog about making this dress, which I think if you're interested, I'm going to be doing a little pattern hacking on it and adding some gathers under the bust to make it more of like a sort of vintagey style looking slip dress. So if you want to see that and see how I do that and see the finished thing, definitely follow along on YouTube, because I think it's going to be really fun to start filming these more project-based videos.

The fabric is sitting right over there. It's like a cornflower blue rayon, and it has this kind of hammered texture to it.

It's really pretty, very bright and spring-timey. And I love blue. I like to wear blue. So I think it's going to be really cute, and I'm excited to make it. And I love bias-cut dresses. I really love just throwing those on in the spring and the summer.

Haley
The color is beautiful. And as soon as we're done recording, I'm going to go over, and I'm going to touch it.

Sarai
Yeah, I have a dress in a very similar color. The Benning dress that I made is also in a cornflower blue color. And I just love it. I think it's so pretty. That's what I'm making right now.

All right, so let's turn to our subject for today, which is fresh in my mind because I've been working on my sewing plans. Like I said, this is something that is near and dear to me because I'm pretty goal-oriented, I think generally in life. And if you are really goal oriented, you might tend to really revel in the dreaming stage of sewing like I do. So you might really enjoy making big sewing plans. And I definitely like that process, and that's great.

Until your plans become a roadblock to actually sewing.

And that can happen from time to time. And it could be because your goals are really big and lofty and they start to intimidate you, or maybe you might want to sew some wardrobe staples, but then when it actually comes down to it, you find it kind of boring and you just don't want to even get started. You just can't get motivated to do it.

So there are a lot of reasons why your sewing plans can actually become kind of a hindrance instead of the help that you wanted them to be. So we're going to talk about that a little bit today. And when you hit that point where you're stalling out because of your sewing plans, it might be time to reassess.

We’re also going to share three tips for recognizing when you might need to ditch your sewing plans. And then we're going to share three tips about how you can actually do this. Actually, there might be more than three. I think we have more than three.

Haley
I think we maybe got a little like, overzealous in this part and there's multiple—many tips there.

Sarai
Yeah, and they're all really fun things that you can do. I really think this episode might help you if you're the kind of person, like me, who loves to make plans, and then they sort of tend to crash after a little while.

So let's start by talking about the planning process generally. How strictly do you follow sewing plans that you lay out for yourself, Haley?

How strictly do you follow your sewing plans?

Haley
You know what? If I'm being completely honest with myself, I would say I follow them loosely at best. This is something that I’m—actually, in 2023 am really trying to work on. And I'm not trying to work against my natural tendencies. I'm trying to think of new ways that I can lightly plan my sewing.

So with my sewing projects I have going on right now, I themed my sewing instead of making some big, really involved plan. I was just like, you know what? The next few things, I just want to make some tops. Just going to make some tops. They're going to be cute and they got to go with jeans.

That was the criteria, and that's been really freeing for me creatively. I don't feel stuck turning my gears in the planning stage. I just feel like I can get in there, I can get my hands dirty, and just make some stuff —and it's been really fun.

Sarai
Yeah, I feel like for me, I'm kind of doubling down on planning right now, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm going to be filming some videos for YouTube on the things that I'm making. So I want to make sure they're all planned out and I have everything I need.

So I did go through the whole Design Your Wardrobe process recently, and as always, I found it really fun. I really enjoyed it, and I made a video about that too. So if you're interested in seeing what I'm planning for my spring wardrobe, it'll probably be coming out around this time if it's not already up on the channel. So check out the channel and subscribe if you're not there already.

But I am really enjoying the planning process right now. I'm also really trying to experiment with more of a capsule wardrobe for the spring. So I'm trying to pull out pieces that I already own that I can wear in combinations. I'm trying to keep it to 30-ish pieces altogether. And I just kind of want to play around with that because I want to experiment with how much stuff I really need, you know, and wearing things that I really love and not just like, pulling things out of my closet that I kind of like.

Haley
Yeah.

Sarai
So I think it's going to be really interesting, but that requires some planning, for sure.

I would say typically my problem with sticking to sewing plans is not so much losing steam for the actual projects I have planned. I still am excited about them, but it's hard when you encounter either a new idea or a new fabric that kind of throws a wrench in it. You're like, “oh, but I want to make that.” And sometimes I think that's good. And that's why in the Design Your Wardrobe process, we have this idea of wild cards where, you know, you can throw things in like that that are just fun. I feel like that's the number one thing that stops me from sticking to my sewing plans, just like getting excited about something.

Haley
Yeah, for sure. I suffer from that from time to time. I think we all do. Do you think that you derive more creative joy from your really well planned projects or your projects you sew more on a whim?

Sarai
Oh, that's a really good question. You know, I don't know if one of them stands out above the other. I feel like they're just kind of different.

Haley
Yeah.

Sarai
I feel like with my more planned-out projects, there's a certain satisfaction in, first of all, knowing that I'm going to wear them a lot because I've thought about them more. I do think those projects I tend to wear more as long as they come out the way I expect. So I get a lot of joy from that.

And then for the more immediate gratification project, sometimes that initial excitement just carries you through, and you're more excited about that because it's something that really sparked your interest. So I think it just depends. What about you?

Haley
Yeah, I agree. I think it totally depends. But I'm starting to recognize that I think I do get more joy from the process of sewing when I'm just kind of following my heart and going with the flow of things. I feel like that excitement is really good gas in my tank for getting things done.

And in terms of my satisfaction with the end product, I would say it's a lot more 50/50. Sometimes I have really good wins with my whims, and sometimes things require planning. I'm not saying you shouldn't plan. I actually think that planning is really great, and I think it depends on the season of your life. Like right now, I'm just in a place where I cannot be bothered, and I just want to sew for fun.

Sarai
Yeah. And I think we all go through those phases for sure.

I will say one thing about planning that I do really find to be true is that when I'm planning out my projects more, I tend to want to push myself more and do things that are harder or that will take more time.

For example, one of my projects for the spring is the Aims blouse, and I'm going to make it in a white linen, and I'm going to add some kind of embroidery to the bib of it. And I think if I were doing it on a whim, unless I just came across a really cool embroidery pattern and wanted to do it immediately, I don't think I would do that. I don't think I would plan out all those little details, what kind of buttons I'm going to use, and really think about it in that level of detail. And I don't think I would push myself to try.

I don't do a lot of embroidery, but it's something I've been wanting to do. And I think without putting together a plan and really thinking it through, I wouldn’t have done that.

Haley
Yeah, that's definitely the benefit of having a better plan in place for your sewing. I agree. Have your sewing plans ever halted your sewing?

Have your sewing plans ever halted your sewing?

Sarai
Yeah, I would say so.

Sometimes you plan things out, and you're just not in the mood to do those things, and then you feel guilty, and you should have been doing those things, or you already bought fabric for it or whatever. So I think that can throw a spanner in the works sometimes.

I don't know that that alone ever halts my sewing. It's usually a combination of factors that I think leads to that. Maybe just being really busy or stressed out generally. I feel like motivation has so many different factors in it. But I do feel like at times I need to break out and just reinvigorate my creativity in some other way, either with some of the techniques we're going to talk about today, or maybe even something outside of sewing, but just something to get me creatively kind of jazzed again.

Haley
Yeah, I keep on thinking about what you said about your planned projects tending to be a little bit more complex. And I think at this moment in time where I'm at in my life, that has definitely been the thing that has stopped me from sewing according to my plans. Because when I plan things out, I definitely tend to focus on a lot bigger projects. And the fact of the matter is, between work and all my other hobbies and a young child, I'm just really strapped on time and I find it hard to dedicate the chunks of time that those projects need and deserve. So I think currently that's been my roadblock with my sewing plans and why I've been mixing things up, which we're going to kind of get into with these tips here.

Sarai
Yeah, I think another thing that has come up in previous episodes we've talked about that can be a real barrier when it comes to planning your sewing is that the elapsed time between when you think about it and when you actually do it can cause you to lose excitement.

I think that has definitely happened to me at times where it's like, well, it almost feels like the project is over. You put so much thought into it, you did all this kind of fun stuff, and maybe two months later when it's time to make, you made all the other things that you were planning and you have the fabric and you're just kind of like, I don't know, it was fun to plan. I don't know if I feel like doing this anymore.

Haley
Yeah, that's a really good point.

Sarai
I think that happens sometimes.

When to ditch your sewing plans

Okay, so let's talk about this, both the kind of when to do this playing hooky idea and how to do it. So first, when to ditch your sewing plans. So I think there are a few things to look for, and then Haley's going to talk about some of the how behind it and some ideas for kind of reinvigorating yourself if you're feeling this way. So when to ditch your sewing plans?

If you’re not sewing

I think, first of all, if you're not sewing. If you made a plan and you're just not sewing. This happens to me from time to time for sure. I've been in kind of a sewing rut before. I would say the last few months, I was in kind of a sewing dry spell for a while, and it's not because I wasn't interested in it, but there's a lot of “shoulds” in my mind about what I should be doing and should be sewing, and I think it just kind of got in the way.

So if you find yourself not sewing at all or sewing very little, that's obviously a signal that maybe you need to do something a little bit different.

If sewing feels like an obligation

Similarly, if you are sewing but it doesn't feel rewarding or fun and it feels like something you're doing out of obligation, I think that's another sign that maybe you're over planning or maybe you're just thinking about it too hard.

Maybe you just need to have more fun with it. I like thinking about it. I like thinking about sewing, but there can be too much of a good thing, and I think, well, for me, it's a little bit different. I'm sure it's the same for you, Haley, in that sewing is our livelihood as well. Even if sewing itself isn't what we're doing to make money for our livelihood, it's still a big part of our jobs. And that connection could kind of make it feel like an obligation if we let it. And I think it's really important to maintain that spirit of fun and just that you're doing something for yourself. And even if it's not related to your livelihood at all, you can still have that feeling of obligation. And especially if you spend a lot of time thinking about it and planning it, you can start to kind of start shooting yourself.

And there's also the question of money spent. If you've planned your project, you bought fabric for them, and you're just not super excited about making them. So if you start to feel that it's not feeling fun, you're feeling that sense of obligation, that can be another sign that maybe you need to ditch your sewing plans and do something different for a little while.

If you just want to shake things up

And then lastly, maybe you just want to shake up your sewing practice, because it's your practice and you should be sewing the way you want to sew and not how anybody else tells you to sew.

So you should feel free. You should feel liberated by sewing and feel like it's enhancing your life and enhancing your creativity and making you feel more alive throughout the rest of your life and more self-expressive and more like you're making time for yourself and doing the things that you want to do.
If it's not feeling that way, then maybe you just need a little bit of a shake up. So that's another sign that maybe it's time to take things a little bit less seriously.

So those are some of the ways that you can kind of look at what's happening with you and see if maybe you need to try one of these exercises we're going to talk about.

So Haley is now going to talk about how to do that.

How to ditch your sewing plans

Get a quick win

Haley
Yeah. So we've brainstormed a whole bunch of ways that you can kind of shake up your sewing practice and infuse a little bit more joy and a little bit more play into your sewing.

The first tip is to get a quick win.

Sometimes you can kind of feel like you're just dragging through, especially if you're setting your sights on really intense projects, things that are more complex. Sometimes you just need a quick win to make you excited about sewing clothes, about wearing them again.

This is a time where I really think it's great to reach for a tried and true pattern. That doesn't mean that you can't have fun with it and do something a little bit different. Maybe you could try it in a different, unexpected fabric. You can do a hack. We actually have a really great episode of the podcast. It's called how to make the most out of your patterns. So when we're talking about these tried and true things, it's not just like, make the same old Bo top that you've made three times, but reach for something that you know how the steps go. You know, more or less what the outcome is going to be so that you can have that kind of a win.

Start with a really exciting fabric

Haley
The next tip is to go through your fabric stash and pick out a fabric that's just really exciting to you.

Don't be afraid to reach for that fabric that has been sitting there for ages and you’re afraid to cut into for whatever reason. I think sometimes the thrill of getting to work with that really special fabric can just revive a lot of sewing joy. And I know you have those fabrics in your stash. I have those.

Sarai
I sure do.

Haley
Is there a fabric you have in your stash that you're, like, cannot bring yourself to sew with but you love?

Sarai
Oh, my gosh, so many. There's fabrics in my stash that I have had for probably ten years in there or more. Some vintage fabrics for sure. I have let go of some of them, but other people who I know would use them. But I'd still have some that I really cherish, and I don't know why I haven't used them yet. I really should.

And I also have some fancy fabrics, like things that have metallic threads in them or, like, really cool brocades and things that I just haven't found the perfect use for, or maybe I just don't have a lot of yardage of them.

They're there, and whenever I'm between projects, I take them out. I'm like, what could I make with this? What can I make with this? And then I put it back.

Haley
Yeah, something that I've had to teach myself, and I'm still putting this into practice. Is that—is it more of a disappointing thing to me to have something in my stash that is beautiful that I never use or turn it into something and have that creative joy, even if I don't wear it as much as I would want to, or have the occasion to. Just kind of, like, weighing that in my mind, and usually the latter wins. I think about when I die someday, all of those beautiful fabrics that I'm going to be, like, so sad. Someone just dumped them at the Goodwill.

Sarai
Yeah.

Haley
Not to be morbid, but to be morbid. Imagine that and then go sew with those fabrics.

Sarai
You only have one life to live, people.

Haley
Yeah. So you can't bring it with you, and that includes your stash.

Start with a really exciting pattern

Haley
A kind of related thing is to go through your pattern stash and pick out something that's, like, fun and fresh. I have a lot of vintage patterns. I know you do too.

Sarai
They're all around us right now.

Haley
Yeah, there they are. Utilizing a vintage pattern in one of those moments where you're just feeling really bored can be fun because, one, they're cool, they're funky fresh, and two, a lot of times, vintage patterns just do not have a lot going on in terms of instructions. And that might sound scary, but I think that it makes it more of a puzzle and more fun to figure them out as you go.

Sarai
Yeah. I love sewing with vintage patterns. And vintage doesn't have to be even that old. I have some that are very old, and then I have some that are just from maybe even the 2000s, probably. I don't know if that would be considered vintage, really.

Haley
I think it is.

Sarai
Oh, no.

Haley
I have lots of patterns from the 80s, which is definitely vintage.

Sarai
Yeah, I have a lot of patterns from the 80s, too. Some really cool ones, actually. I do think that it's just a different experience to sew with a vintage pattern. And you can make something that not everybody else is wearing, that's not so trendy, that's really unique.

Haley
Yeah. We've put an emphasis on your more planned projects, maybe being your more complicated projects, and this is a chance to kind of slow down, even if you are sewing on a whim and challenge yourself to do that. So that's a really great time to dig through those vintage patterns and pick a good one.

Sarai
Yeah.

Go fabric shopping

Haley
The next tip, and I really do love to say this, is go fabric shopping. Go put your shoes on right now.

Sarai
Take the podcast with you, though.

Haley
Yeah, that's what Bluetooth is for.

Sarai
Yeah. We'll keep talking to you while you shop.

Haley
Because nothing gets me quite as excited about a new project as a shiny new fabric.

Sarai
Yeah. And it could be vintage fabric, too.

Haley
It could be. Go to the Goodwill, get a cool sheet or curtain. There's lots of creative ways. You can even organize a little fabric swap with your friends. If you're trying to not spend as much on fabric, like I probably should be doing.

Sarai
I just bought the prettiest deadstock fabric. I'm so in love with it. It's sitting right over there. It's like that white silk, and it has, like, rosebuds all over it. I'm going to make a YouTube video about the dress I'm making with it. So tune into YouTube once again if you want to see that. I'm really excited about it, and I bought that on Etsy. So that's another place you can look, especially if you're looking for a vintage fabric. There's a lot of good stuff there.

Haley
Etsy has great fabrics.

Sew something that’s not a garment

Another tip I have is to sew something that's not a garment. If you are just in the deepest of deep sewing ruts, I think that this is the best thing that you can do to get yourself making things again—go make a tote bag. Go make some pot holders. I always love making tote bags. It's like my tried and true. Like, I'm bummed out on sewing. I'm going to go through my remnants box and just, like, make a tote. I can do it in my sleep. It's so gratifying. I can give it as a gift. Nobody's mad at a handmade tote bag.

Sarai
They're so useful.

Haley
Yeah, totally. I know I'm going to use it, or someone else will use it. Do you have a favorite tried and true non-garment project?

Sarai
I like to make pillows or pillow covers, because I like to kind of dress up my house and change things up a little bit, depending on the season. Because, at least here in the Pacific Northwest, our weather, it completely changes in the summer. It looks completely different here in the summer than the rest of the year. And I like the holidays and kind of just dressing up the house.

So I think pillows are something where don't necessarily take a lot of fabric. You can use a lot of different types of fabric. It's all about the texture and the color and the pattern. You don't have to think about fitting or anything like that, so pillows are one.

I want to make some more napkins, because we use cloth napkins, and I wanted to make some more to replace them that we have, and I'm having such a difficult time choosing fabric for them because there are so many different things you could use for napkins. I've had all these fabrics in my cart, and I just can't decide if I want checks or stripes or what. But I think that's one of the downsides of non-clothing is there's less constraints sometimes, but it's so fun and so fast and so easy, and you can use stuff that you already have, which is really, really nice.

I think the pillows are my go to.

Haley
I've actually been making pillowcases for Charley. She has a little pillow on her bed, and it's like a bed pillow, but it's, like, tiny for a tiny head.

Sarai
So cute.

Haley
And I've been using, like, little remnants and things that I have of, like, double gauze and, like, soft cottony type things to make. Her little pillowcases. It takes, like, 20 minutes, but I’m always so delighted afterwards to go change her pillowcase. Look how cute. It's fun and it's tiny, which maybe should have been a tip. Go make something tiny.

Sarai
Make something small. Yeah. Scrunchies. After we did our scrunchie video with that technique for making them so fast, I mean, I have so many. Scrunchies are the best.

Haley
It is so fun. Not to shout out YouTube again, but to shout out YouTube again. You should go watch our super cool scrunchie video, because I bet you've never seen a scrunchie made the way I make a scrunchie.

Sarai
It's so fast and so easy. Plus, you get to see us wearing scrunchies in some hilarious ways.

Join a challenge

Haley
Yeah, it's cute. All right, our next tip is to join some kind of a challenge. There are so many fun sewing challenges that go on in the sewing community throughout the year, just to name a few. There's the Make Nine challenge. Sew Japanese January. And there's also Sew Japanese July. Those two are new to me, but sound really fun. I have a lot of Japanese sewing books that I probably should use more frequently. Or you can jump on the Seamwork Community and make a challenge of your own.

Sarai
Yeah, we were just saying we should post more challenges on the community. I know some people don't like them. They feel like they have enough pressure in their life. But you don't have to join a challenge. But if you are into them, I like them every once in a while. I think it's really fun.

Haley
It's inspiring.

Sarai
Yeah.

Haley
And that actually leads us into our final tip, which is just make your own challenge.

Make your own challenge

Haley
This could be on, like, the Seamwork community or something like that. Or you could just, like, set a dinner date with a pal and you can both sew something, like, really fabulous for it. I might have to text a sewing friend after this to set up a date just like that.

You could try to recreate a ready-to-wear garment that you love, but maybe it's not in your budget. I feel like the possibilities are really endless here, and this is another place where you can really slow down and choose not the path of least resistance when it comes to your sewing. You can do something that's a little bit more challenging, and it can still be on a whim and have that excitement of sewing something new and maybe even slightly frivolous.

Sarai
Yeah. You know what? As we were talking about this, I thought of another thing you could do, kind of related to making things for the home. But since it's the beginning of the year right now, we're recording this in late January or mid January. I feel like since we just had the holidays, this is fresh in my mind, but it would be really nice to make some gifts throughout the year so that you have them at the holidays. So that's another way that you can make things, whether they're garments or not. You could make, like Haley was saying, tote bags or little gifty things, scrunchies whatever you want throughout the year to kind of give yourself that refresh, and then you can have things at the end of the year without having to think about it or work when you're really busy.

Haley
I've been starting to do that a little bit. I have a little shelf in my laundry room, and I've been putting, like, little projects that I just make for fun that I don't plan on using, little zipper pouches and stuff like that. But also, if I go to a farmer's market and I see, like, a cute candle or something, I just buy it and have a little present stash.

Sarai
Yeah. So smart. So organized.

Recap

All right, well, those are our tips for you for breaking out of your sewing rut and ditching your sewing plans when you need to from time to time. So I'm just going to recap some of the things that you could think about.

So if you feel like you're not sewing or you're not sewing with joy or you just want to shake up your sewing practice, there are a bunch of ways that you can break out of your rut:

• You can sew something tried and true and just get a quick win. That's one of the things that you can do.


• You can go to your fabric stash and pick out a fabric that's really exciting to you and work with.


• Or go through your pattern stash and pick out something that's fresh, like a vintage pattern. So either pattern or fabric.


• You can go fabric shopping and get something new that's really exciting to you. Obviously, we don't want to shop all the time, but sometimes that can be just the kick in the pants you need to get going again.


• You can sew something that's not a garment, so I mentioned gifts, but you can also sew things for your house that are not clothing, if that's what's kind of the hang up for you right now.


• Or you could join or start your own challenge. I think challenges can really be a great way of jumpstarting your creativity when you feel like you're kind of getting into that sewing rut place.

So those are our tips for you. I think these are all really great ideas.

What's your big takeaway from this episode, Haley?

Haley
I think that my big takeaway is that if you engage in sewing as a lifelong hobby, the way in which you engage in it is going to change and ebb and flow over time, and having that flexibility with yourself to embrace seasons where you just kind of want to fly by the seat of your pants and then also embracing those seasons where you really want to spend the time to create a really thorough plan and stick to it

Just kind of, like, being really honest with yourself and embracing both sides of that coin. Because I think there's a lot of, like, fun and play and creativity to be found in both.

Sarai
Yeah, I definitely agree with that.

I think for me, my big takeaway is a little bit more tactical, since I've just gone through this whole planning process, and I'm thinking about this, and actually, as I was doing it, I found it really hard to whittle down what I was going to make because I have a lot of cool fabrics that I wanted to use and that even fit into my palette. And I realized I can't really sew all the things that would actually use up these fabrics. So making those choices is really hard, and I have a bunch of them sitting out still next to my mood board.

And this has just made me think that I really just need to leave room for those projects and anticipate that I'm going to get bored or I'm going to need something that's just to pick me up. And kind of not necessarily plan for that because it might take out the joy, but just anticipate that that is going to happen. And that's totally fine. It's not just all about getting things done and doing the thing that I said I was going to do.

I can very easily fall into that mindset, and it's supposed to be something that's just fun and creative. And so I think that's a big takeaway for me is just to remember that.

Haley
That's a great one.

Sarai
I'm Sarai.

Haley
And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.