Show Notes

• The Paradox of Choice Study


• How to Maintain an Effective Pinterest Board


• The Rule of 3 Outfits


• How to Prioritize Your Projects


• 
  Style Workshop (free for Seamwork members)


• Design Your Wardrobe


• Download our FREE sewing planner


• 
  Podcast listeners get half off an unlimited Seamwork membership when you use this link, plus you get to keep that price as long as you’re a member!


• Tell us your idea for the next icebreakers for makers!

Podcast Transcript

Sarai
I'm Sarai.

Haley
And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.

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

Today, we're talking about how to make decisions when you have almost unlimited options. So we're going to cover why more options leads to less action, what causes indecision in sewing, and our system for making choices a lot easier and clearer for yourself.

All right, our icebreaker for today. What's the most random or weirdest thing you've ever made, Haley?

Haley
Oh, man. I've made a lot of random stuff over the years. I think that some of the stuff that stands out to me is when I used to take contract sewing gigs, I got hired a lot for people wanting to make curtains and pillows, which is not that weird, but I would make weird pillows. One time, I made pillows for someone's dungeon-type space. That was weird.

Sarai
What did they look like? Were they, like, velvet?

Haley
They were velvet. They were purple velvet. I'm like, who's this for, Prince? What's happening?

Sarai
Of course they have to be velvet.

Haley
And they were, like, retufted, and all of the buttons were—they were not peachy.

Sarai
I don't know what that means, but it sounds funny.

Haley
I'm just going to let your imagination run wild. The other thing that I made that was—this was a cool thing. I was friends in LA. With an embroidery artist who is friends with Richard Simmons, and she embroidered a portrait of his mother for him, and when he saw it, he was like, oh, my goodness. This needs to be a pillow.

And she's like, well, I don't do that. So she came to me and asked me if I would make a pillow out of it, and he'd picked out this very gaudy trim to go around it. I accidentally used a non-water soluble pencil when I was, like, tracing the shape onto the embroidery. It took me a long time to remove the stain.

Sarai
Oh, no.

Haley
Oh, my God. I was so mortified. And he loved it so much, though, that we ended up making a second pillow for his brother.

Sarai

With the same embroidery?

Haley
Yeah. So she redid the embroidery, another a second version of it, and then I sewed it into a second pillow.

Sarai
That's really sweet.

Haley
Yeah, that's very sweet, but very random. Still very random.

Sarai
Yeah.

Haley
I did not get to meet him, unfortunately.

Sarai
That's too bad. Wasn't he a bit of a recluse?

Haley
He is now. Yeah. This was years ago, before he kind of, like, went into seclusion.

Sarai
Yeah. Wow. I don't know if I can top that. I mean, I've made a lot of weird stuff. Like, when I was a teenager, I made just the weirdest, weirdest stuff because that's why I wanted to sew, was to make weird stuff that I couldn't buy at a thrift store. I made a lot of things.

I did a lot of upcycling of thrift store clothes, things like that. But then I made a lot of weird costumes and stuff. I remember making this. I might have talked about it before, but it was like this weird corsety thing. I might have worn it to like a Renaissance fair or something. It was like a black flocked cheetah print on, like, denim, but no, like black denim. Yeah, really weird. It was like an underbust corset type thing. Very strange. Very strange choices all around. I think the fabric was like a dollar a yard or something, though, so I made it.

But I would cut up old T shirts and make things out of them. I would make skirts and put the weirdest ruffle trim on them. Just weird, weird stuff. I definitely had a purple velvet skirt that I made, though.

Haley
That's a phase that sometimes we don't grow out of.

Sarai
Yeah. I think a pillow is maybe a little bit more, I don't know forgiving than a purple velvet skirt, but I don't know. It was not a good look for me, but I thought it was at the time, which is the important thing.

Haley
Yeah, that's all that matters. Do you wish you had some of those things still?

Sarai
Oh, my gosh, yes. I wish I'd saved everything that I've ever made, really, at least from my early years, because it was so different from things that I make now. It would be just so nostalgic to look back. I don't even really have many pictures of that stuff because obviously it was the days before smartphones and everything was film and I mean, I have some pictures, but not very many from that time.

I do wish I had it. I wish I had all that weird stuff. And I think I don't know, maybe it's a lesson for all of us to hold on to the things that you think you've outgrown.

Haley
Yeah, for keepsakes at the very least. Or just take pictures of it before you get rid of it.

Sarai
Yeah, it's probably a smarter thing than hoarding it all. Well, that's a good icebreaker. If you have one for us for a future episode, Seamwork members can leave it at seamwork.com/go/icebreakers. And that'll take you to a thread on our community where you can post your idea for a future icebreaker, and we will likely use it in an episode in the future.

All right, so today we are talking about the paradox of choice, and the idea behind this is that the more choices you have, the harder it is to make a decision. So this comes from a very well known book called The Paradox of Choice, which is a book by Barry Schwartz. I read this book many years ago, but a lot of the lessons from it have really stuck with me over the years. I think it's a really interesting look at why decisions become harder when you have more choices.

And one of the things he mentions in that book is a really famous jam study if you haven't read it before. Basically in this study, on different days at this grocery store, they'd have a display table. And on some days they'd have six choices of jam on this display table.

And on other days, they'd have 24 choices of jam on the display table. And what they found was that when they provided 24 different choices of jam, it generated a lot more interest from people. So people would stop more often and taste the jams and take a look at the jams. But it also led to paralysis and actually less buying.

So when there were only six choices of jam, people were more likely to take action and buy one of the jams than if there are 24 choices of jam, where people would just kind of get overwhelmed by all the possibilities and not buy anything.

This has applications beyond just your consumer habits, which that's one aspect of it. But I think the broader picture is that too many choices leads to less action. It leads to paralysis and just a feeling of being overwhelmed. And I think that applies to our creative practice and our sewing, because you have so much choice in sewing, you can make so many different decisions yourself. You can make practically anything you want to. You can build the skills to make practically anything you want to. And that can be kind of overwhelming sometimes.

The appearance of all that choice can give you the illusion of liberty. But when you have too many choices, you actually feel more restricted and it can lead to inaction rather than kind of following up with all those possibilities. So, the good news is that you've chosen to sew, and that's really cool. But the bad news is that with that kind of full design control, you have so many options to choose from and it's real easy to get bogged down in all the things you could make. And it could lead to actually not making as much stuff because you feel so overwhelmed by it all. I know I feel that way sometimes.

So, where in sewing do you get stuck the most when you're trying to make a decision, Haley? Is it with the pattern, with the fabric, with the size? Where is it?

Haley
I think that I tend to get most stuck, not really in those things. I feel like when it comes to design decisions and the technical stuff and sewing, I'm fairly decisive. I feel like it's more the prioritizing, like what am I going to make next or what do I want to focus on? That's where I get kind of held up. What about you?

Sarai
I feel the same way. I feel like a lot of times I get stuck in just choosing from among all the many options that I have. I always want to make more stuff than I possibly could or even need to wear. So there's just so many cool ideas out there and I love collecting cool ideas and thinking about how I would customize it and what details I would add and all of that.

And then I also want to sew things from my house or sew a bag. There's a lot of other little projects to work in and that can be really overwhelming to me. I just feel like I'm trying to get as much done as possible and then I lose sight of why I'm sewing to begin with. It's not just to have all this stuff, it's to really enjoy the process of making and customizing things for myself.

So that's where I get most stuck. I think sometimes I get stuck with fabric in terms of choosing fabrics from amongst my stash. Like if I want to use things that I already have versus buying more stuff, that can sometimes be a sticking point for me, because it can be difficult to match up the designs you want to make with the fabric you already have and try to make use of it.

So sometimes I get stuck there as well too, and then I just end up with too much fabric. So I'd say those are the two main things where I feel like decisions become paralyzing for me.

Haley
Do you have a process for working through indecision?

Sarai
I do, yeah. I think we'll get into that a little bit, some of the things that we use for that. But I feel like the main thing is just having a process.

I think no matter what your process is, I think just having something that you can turn to that is sort of a forcing function for making decisions is the most important thing. And what that process is, it's somewhat relevant, but I think it's more the psychological trick of having something to go through that will help you whittle it down than it is having the perfect process. What do you think?

Haley
I totally agree with that and I think that the only thing that I would add is having a process that addresses your main pain point. Like for me, my pain point is prioritizing. So I know that I can give myself a lot of freedom in all of the other areas, but when it comes to prioritizing, that's where I need a little bit more structure to help me.

Sarai
Yeah, that's a good point and at Seamwork, we have processes for scenario number one that we talked about with the prioritization of projects—Design Your Wardrobe and all that, which we'll talk about in a second.

But I think the second scenario that I mentioned about fabric, that's something I've been thinking about maybe putting together more of a process around. I'd be curious if you guys are interested in something like that, because I think having a quick and easy process to follow for using fabric that's already in my stash and figuring out what it would be good for where I could apply it, what patterns would go with it, depending on how much I have, what sort of fabric it is would be really helpful for me in making those kinds of decisions and using what I already have.

So if that's something that interests you guys, let us know. Let us know in the community. We would love to hear from you because I think that would be a really fun project.

Haley
Yeah, that would be fun. Do you feel like you've become more or less decisive because of sewing? And why do you think that is?

Sarai
Oh, I think I've become way more decisive about clothing specifically. I don't know about other things, but definitely about clothing. I mean, I'm pretty decisive person generally, but I think with clothing, it's helped me because it sort of puts limits on—especially if you're I don't like to buy a ton of ready to wear. So in the old days, when I wasn't doing as much sewing, periods of my life wasn't doing as much sewing, and I was doing more shopping. I don't know, there's just so much out there, and I feel like I was more influenced by trends and what was in the shops.

And I think when I'm doing more sewing, I definitely feel like I need to make those decisions because I have limited amount of time, and it forces me to, not have less clothing because I do have a lot of clothing, but to not acquire as much stuff. And that forces me to make more decisions about what I really want to wear, what's really important to me, what I really like, what my style is, all those things that I find really helpful.

Haley
Yeah.

Sarai
What about you?

Haley
I think, like you, I've always been a very decisive person. But I think that through sewing, I've become so much more reflective of what I actually like versus what I'm seeing everywhere and what becomes normal to our eyes. And then we want to wear it because it looks and feels normal to us just the way that trends influence us. I just feel, like, so much more in tuned with what I actually like. And then it's fun, because when a trend comes along that really speaks to me personally, then I can hop on it. I feel like I can opt in and out of things. I just like, know.

I feel like Meg, who we work with, we go thrifting together sometimes, and we'll go thrifting, and she's like, man, you're, like, so decisive. She's like, we pull things for each other. I'm always like, no, no no.

Haley
Because I just know myself so well now. And I think that's a gift that I've gotten from sewing for sure.

Sarai
Yeah. The other thing that I like is that when I do go shopping, if I go to a store, I'm less likely to buy something, because I'll look at a garment and think, oh, I like this aspect of it. I want to incorporate that into a project in the future, rather than, oh, I like this, I'll just buy it, which I think is kind of nice, and that's a decision-making process in itself. It kind of helps you to see things in a totally different way, which I really like.

All right, well, we have some tips for you today and some processes that you can follow and also some resources. So I'm excited to share these things with you because they've helped me an awful lot in the last ten years or so, so I hope that they will be helpful for you as well. So we have kind of a five-part process for this, and I'll go through each of them, and we're going to talk about each of them.

So number one is to investigate your personal style, and this is really, really going to help you with making decisions if you really have a deep understanding of what your personal style is.

And when I say your personal style, that doesn't mean it's something that's static, doesn't mean it's like, this is your style for all time. This is who you are. It means, what is your personal style at this moment in time? What is appealing to you right now in your life based on who you are at this moment? So we have a couple of resources that can help you with this. The first one I want to mention is the Style Workshop, which is a downloadable PDF that has ten different exercises to help you uncover your style. We'll put a link to that in the show notes if you want to check that out.

I'm also thinking about doing sort of a workshop. We don't know what we're going to call yet the Style Workshop Workshop is the internal name that makes us all laugh, but some kind of online workshop that we can do to kind of walk through these exercises with you. So if that's something you're interested in, keep an ear out for that. We might be talking about that pretty soon. But that really is helpful for getting you thinking about your own style and how you might define it and how it fits into your life as well, which I think is a really important aspect of it.

And once you have that defined, it just becomes a lot easier to make decisions for yourself and to weed out things that really aren't you or that don't fit your life.

And then the other thing you can do when it comes to investigating your personal style that we've mentioned before is creating some kind of a gathering place for your core style, for inspiration around whatever your core style is.

So Haley and I both use a Pinterest board for this that is just an encapsulation of each of our own personal styles in that moment. I update mine about once a year. I start creating a new board so that I can kind of refresh things because my style does change a little bit over time.

If you're interested in learning a little bit more about this and about how we use Pinterest, we have an article about that, how to maintain an effective Pinterest board. I think there's a video that goes with it. We made a video about that. We did, right?

Haley
Yeah.

Sarai
That will be in that article as well. So you can find that at Seamwork.com. Oh, boy, this has a long URL. We'll just put a link in the description below or in the show notes so you can check that out if you want. Or if you go to our site and you search for effective Pinterest board, you'll find it as well, but we'll put a link to it.

I really like using my core style board and coming back to that every once in a while when I'm doing some wardrobe planning. How do you use yours, Haley? When do you use it the most?

Haley
First of all, I add to it over the course of the year. Anytime I see something that I feel like really speaks to me on a very deep level. And not just like, this is a cute sleeve. I add it to my core style board, and it doesn't just need to be fashion related. It could be like a painting that really inspires me. It could be a color palette that I just feel really drawn to. It's definitely like a long-term, I don't know, tactic to use, but I add to it constantly.

Once or twice a year I go through and I kind of weed it, get rid of things that aren't speaking to me as much. And then when I'm making I mean, really, when I'm making any of my sewing plans, sometimes plan something with something big, like Design Your Wardrobe. Sometimes I do smaller scale planning. I always refer back to it just to make sure that I'm not getting too caught up by a pretty fabric or a trend or something. It's like a North Star to refer back to constantly.

Sarai
Yeah, it's the same for me. I also add to it over time. I try not to let it get too out of control, too huge, and just have a dumping ground for everything that appeals to me, but really be thoughtful about what I put in there so I can just glance at it when I'm planning out some projects, just as a reminder to myself. I also have a physical mood board in my sewing space that I use kind of for the same purpose, and it has a lot of the images that are on that core style board. It's just a little bit more edited down since it's a physical one and there's limited amount of physical space. And that's one that I update every once in a while as well.

So that's another thing you can do is you can make a physical mood board out of it if you're more of an analog kind of person or you want a reminder of it in your space.

Haley
Yeah, I like to keep my core style on the Internet, on Pinterest, and then I usually will pull from that. I like making physical mood boards for smaller scale plans. Well, there's one behind me right now. We're sitting in my sewing space.

Sarai
Yeah. And you can mix it up. You can try one, see how it goes for you. Try totally different. But I think the important point here is just to think about what your actual style is and what feels really true to who you are and how you might define it. Personally, I feel like having that visual reminder and then maybe having a few words that describe it is really helpful to me when I'm thinking about these things. That’s number one is investigating your personal style.

Number two is to adopt a method for wardrobe planning because this is going to help you to consider the big picture and make choices a lot easier. So if you want to have kind of a full-blown process for planning out your wardrobe, definitely recommend Design Your Wardrobe. It's the process that we've created and that we use, and it's really fun. I really enjoy going through it, because you really start to think more like a designer about what you're making rather than just kind of willy-nilly picking things that appeal to you, which is fun also. And there's definitely room for that as well. But it really helps me to whittle down all the many, many choices and all the inspiration that I gather over time and have hoarded and have thought about and make some decisions.

And it actually helps me to do more ambitious projects as well and to kind of pace myself, mix up ambitious projects and easier projects, make sure I'm using fabric that I already have. It really helps make those decisions a lot easier. So that's one we would definitely recommend you check out if you haven't already. Design Your Wardrobe is something—we run it twice a year as a program with a group of people, so you can join in for that. We have one in the spring as we're recording this, we’re doing it right now, and then we have one in late summer, early fall for the fall season. But if you want to do it in-between, it's also a self guided program and it's totally free for Seamwork members. So if you're interested in that, you can check it out on our website.

It's super popular. We always have thousands of people sign up with each cohort every year. And it's really, really fun because you get to do it with other people. We have live Zoom events where you get to share with other people and share on the community. It's just a blast.

So that's one thing that you can do if you want something a little bit lighter weight, we also have the Rule of Three Outfits, which is kind of a smaller scale way to plan. We have a whole episode about that, how to use the Rule of Three Outfits. That's episode 35, so we can link that in the show notes as well. That's another really fun, easy, lightweight system you can use to design.

In some ways, it has some similarity, some overlap with Design Your Wardrobe and that it's very based on creating outfits, but it's a little bit simpler and easier to do. Or maybe not easier to do, but faster to do, I would say. So those are some options for you.

Haley, personally, do you always do like a full-blown wardrobe planning process, or do you kind of oscillate between?

Haley
I go back and forth. I like to do some form of planning. Not that I never saw wild cards, I do, but most of the time I do some kind of planning just because my creative brain needs systems to make progress on things.

In this particular season of my life, I haven't been doing design your Wardrobe or the Rule of Three. My recent method has been picking a theme and sewing with a theme. So I was feeling really bored by a lot of my tops. And so I was like, for the next couple of months, I'm just going to make tops. And that kind of helped weed out some of the noise and allow me to focus on a more defined area, making it easier for me to make some decisions, which has been nice.

Sarai
Yeah. And I think that could be incorporated into Design Your Wardrobe too. I've been thinking about the summer, and I'm really drawn to white dresses in the summer. I love to wear white or cream in the summer, so I'd like to add more of that.

So I was thinking, what if I did a Design Your Wardrobe for the summer? That was mostly just that I know I'd wear them all. It would be a great addition to my wardrobe. So I've been thinking about doing that too, which really, I mean, that would really scale down the decision-making quite a bit, which is nice.

Haley
I mean, I think Design Your Wardrobe, picking themes, rule of three outfits, they all are things that can work really well together. You can mix and match.

Sarai
And like I was saying earlier, I don't think there's any one perfect system. I think there are some of them that work really well for people and others work really well for other people. And the important thing, I think, is more just having a process that helps you to make decisions and makes you feel good about the things that you've decided to make. So that's the second one is having some kind of a method for wardrobe planning.

The next one, number three, is to create a project journal so you can track what you make and see what you want to make next. So, I like keeping a project journal in some kind of form. Sometimes it's a paper journal. I've tried doing paper journals, taking pictures and printing them out and putting them in there, or just sketches, whatever, or taking my wardrobe plans and then writing up what I learned from the project or how it went. That's one thing you can do.

More recently. I use the Seamwork community for this, so I post my project there with how I'm feeling about it, what I learned, what I do differently, those sorts of things.

I think that's a really great way to use the community because you can post your projects and you have kind of like a little portfolio of all the things that you've made right there. And what you share can also help other people, too.

So I think those are some really great methods for helping you, and I think that's helpful for making decisions because it helps you to kind of create in your mind some idea of what works for you and what doesn't work for you and why, and that can be a really great guiding mechanism, I think.

Do you keep track of the stuff that you make, Haley?

Haley
I feel like this is something I have always told my students that they should do this, but I'm really inconsistent about doing it. I try to, at the very least, take pictures of my makes, and then I'll just save it to an album on my phone. But I'm really bad about taking the notes on it.

Luckily. I have a very freaky memory when it comes to things like that. We have enormous closets at the office, and I could tell you the size of every single sample in them. But no, I don't have a good formal way that I've been really consistent with over the years.

Sarai
I've been struggling with it since I've started doing project diaries on YouTube because it's hard for me to remember when those go up so that I can share my project at the same time, because by the time the video goes up, it's been a few weeks and I have forgotten, and I'm onto the next thing. The timing has been a little bit of an issue for me, but even making the YouTube videos is sort of a way of doing this because I'm documenting the entire process and then I'm sharing tips along the way. Here's what I learned, here's what I would do differently, those kinds of things. So hopefully it helps other people, but it also kind of cements in my mind what's working and what's not. So I feel like that in itself is sort of like a journal to me, too.

The next thing, number four, is to develop a list of criteria. So this kind of follows from the one before. I think a journal can really help you to develop that list of criteria. So when I say a list of criteria, it's the things that are really important for you and that can help you to make choices when you're choosing your projects.

It's something that we emphasized in the Design Your Wardrobe process early on. It's best to do this when you aren't in the active planning phase, and that way you can really stay objective about what you need.

So the way we do this in Design Your Wardrobe is you come up with lists of criteria that fit your life and the context in which you're going to wear those garments. So some examples of criteria might be, for me, comfort is really important. It's really important that my clothing is comfortable because I know I won't wear something if it's not comfortable 100%, I won't wear it. For other people, that's not that much of a problem. Some people love wearing high heels and they love wearing things that might feel to me constricting. And that is totally up to the individual, right? So for me, that's what I know about myself.

And so coming up with your own personalized list of criteria can really help you to whittle down those decisions and make them a lot easier if you've written them down beforehand, don't you think?

Haley
Oh, yeah, totally. I know something for me is like, comfort, of course, but also like mobility. I have a three-year-old that I'm always having to sit down on the ground and, I don't know, do things that I normally didn't have to do four years ago. So keeping my mobility in mind, like something that I can fully bend over and pop, like a very deep squat in, that kind of stuff is big for me.

And also I like my garments to work across seasons as much as possible. Not everything, but like 80%. And so for me, that's a criteria. And I think having those things in mind, even when you're not using a more formal project planning system, is so helpful to just know these truths about yourself.

Sarai
Yeah, what you're saying about mobility made me think of something I read just this morning, actually, that I don't remember exactly the wording, but it was about dressing to make decisions easier for yourself, like the right decisions easier for yourself.

So, for example, if you want to spend more time outside getting dressed in such a way that makes that easier. It’s something that people talk about when they talk about working out and laying out your workout clothes ahead of time or putting them on first thing in the morning or whatever. But this is more like if you want to be the kind of person who splashes through the mud and goes for a walk every morning, then you should have clothing on that accommodates that. That's another thing that for me, not just comfort, but also the ability to go outside. I live in the country and most of the year, it's very muddy and wet, so making sure that I can wear things that are going to go with that.

Haley
That brings up an interesting point, too, about your criteria being something that is not just for the life you live currently, but also for the life that you want to live. I mean, I think that, of course, it should be firmly pretty rooted in reality, but I think a touch of aspiration in there is also powerful and could be maybe the push you need to, I don't know, go hang out with your friends more often. If you have outfits you feel really cute in or whatever.

Sarai
Yeah, it's sort of like a trigger for the behavior that you want to change or the behavior you want to create. I think that's really something that a lot of people overlook is how clothing can actually influence the way you act, not just like the way you feel. I think people talk about it in terms of confidence and things like that, which I think is important, but also the things that you're able to do and the things that you feel ready to do. So I think that's a really important point too, especially when we're talking about the weather for me.

Number five is that you might just need to prioritize. If you have a lot of ideas and you don't know where to start. We have an episode called How to Prioritize Your Projects. It's episode 34, I think, is that right? So we'll put a link to that in the show notes as well.

I really think that prioritization is a big part of the wardrobe-planning process for me and one of the key things that I take away from it.

So there are three questions that you might want to ask yourself when you're trying to prioritize that could be helpful if you just have a list of projects and you're like, which one of these should I make? I have so many things I want to make. Which one?

So the three questions are: “which one of these is the most seasonally appropriate?” Number two is “which one addresses the biggest need in my wardrobe?" And number three is “which one do I have the materials to make?”

And if you can come up with a way to figure out which of the projects you have in mind, meet the majority of those criteria that might give you your answer and help you to prioritize. I find those questions to be very helpful. If I just want to make a quick decision. It it’s like an afternoon and I have few hours and I want to make something, what should I start on? Questions like this can be really helpful. Or even if you have a plan, like maybe you've gone through the whole Design Your Wardrobe process, and you have maybe five or six different projects you're planning to sew in the next few months. Even prioritizing amongst those can be a little bit tricky and can make you feel, like, a little bit paralyzed. So these questions can kind of help you get unstuck.

All right, well, those are our tips. Those are our five tips for helping you to make decisions with your sewing.

Haley
Those were awesome. I'm just going to run through a really quick recap.

So tip number one is to make sure that you're investing time and investigating your personal style, because this will really be your North Star when it comes to decision-making.

Tip number two is to adopt a method for wardrobe planning. This can be something larger scale, like Design Your Wardrobe, or it could be something a little bit more low-key, like the rule of three outfits. Or I had also suggested choosing a theme and running with it.

Tip number three is creating a project journal so you can keep track of what you make to see what you want to make next. It can be a really great prioritizing tool.

Number four is to develop a list of criteria so that you can be choosing things that really fit those criteria for you.

And number five is to, if you just need to prioritize, maybe create a list of questions that can help you do that. Our three favorites are which one of these is most seasonally appropriate, which one addresses the biggest need in my wardrobe? And which one do I have the material to make?

I would also like to add a fourth question, which is “which one are you most excited to make?" Because then I vote always for that thing. Even if there's a more practical option, just make the exciting one.

Sarai
Motivation is really important.

Haley
Yes, totally. Sarai, what is your big takeaway?

Sarai
I think my big takeaway from this whole conversation is just how important it is to think strategically and intentionally about what works for you personally in your life and use that as a way to filter, because it's so easy to get overwhelmed by everything other people are telling you that you should want or you shouldn't need or that is cool right now or whatever.

And it's so easy to have that become just completely overwhelming, and you lose a sense of self and what is important to you and what matters to you, what your values are, what your life is, what your style is. So having that to come back to and using that to filter out all the noise and get to the core of who you are, I think is really important. And it doesn't necessarily have to be any one particular method. It could be whatever works for you, but just having that, I think, is really important.

Haley
Yeah, that's beautifully said. I think for me, my big takeaway is focus on finding a solution for the place that is your biggest pain point. So if your biggest pain point is choosing fabric or something like that, then maybe something like Design Your Wardrobe is going to be a wonderful tool for you. If it's just prioritizing, then coming up with a prioritizing tool that really works for you.

I love a good system, do not get me wrong, but I think it can also be overwhelming. So expending your energy on the place where you need it the most so you can really maximize your creative time and make more things that you feel really good about.

Sarai
Yeah, absolutely.

Haley

Speaking of wonderful resources, we have to also mention Design Your Wardrobe. If this is a system that you are not familiar with. Design Your Wardrobe is a program that you get for free when you are a Seamwork member. And it is a super popular course we run. It walks you through the process of designing a collection of projects for a season.

Haley
It's available as a self-guided program, but also we run it twice a year as a group course, which is just like loads and loads of fun to do with a bunch of people. But if you happen to miss the spring session that's running right now, definitely a valuable tool to just do on your own as well.

You can find it at Seamwork.com/go/DYW. That is Seamwork.com/go/DYW. And if you want to get a taste of what is included and you are not a Seamwork member yet, first of all, what are you doing? Go be a Seamwork member. It's really cool.

But you can get our free sewing planner at seamwork.com/go/free-planner. And we will also link that in our Show notes. And if you like this episode, we would just love if you left us a review. Today we have a review from Sew Not Sew Good, “I love this podcast. It's last thing of the day, chill me out time.” Right on. I love that for you.

Sarai
I hope you're chilling out right now.

Haley
Yeah, I hope you got your beverage and you're having a really chill moment. Yeah. High five. I should also mention that if you're super busy, which I get it you're super busy you can just leave us some stars. We would love that. By leaving us a review, it helps other people to find this podcast, and it lets us know that we're doing stuff that you like, which is cool.

Sarai
That does it for us this week. I'm Sarai.

Haley
And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.