It’s been almost six months since I took the Wardrobe Refashion challenge not to buy any new clothes for two months.
With one exception—two pairs of Gap pants in July—I’ve done it. It was pretty easy, and it made me really look with new eyes at old clothes.
I’ve posted a few photos of my adventures refashioning my own clothes. That was fun, but after a while I started feeling limited by not liking how my clothes looked on me. And that’s another issue altogether.
Still obsessed with Making Good New Stuff out of Old Icky Stuff, in August I found a book that set me on an entirely new creative path. I posted about it: The Sweater Chop Shop, by Crispina ffrench.
It’s largely Crispina’s fault that my blog has languished this fall, because I’ve found her approach to recycled sewing completely inspiring and fantastic. I needed this diversion. At the same time that I found her book, as most of my readers know, my husband was preparing to move to another state for a job—without, for the time being, me and our daughter.*
Since I can get pretty compulsive facing the Fear of the Unknown, I’ve chosen to throw myself headlong into Crispina-inspired sewing during this time, rather than eating or shopping myself out into trouble. Yes, it pretty much replaced blogging, because…well, mes bonnes amis, I wanted to be really, completely selfish and mess around with fabric and colors and thread and shapes and textures and not show it to anyone, not feel a single bit of pressure, not feel like a Bad Girl for not visiting my blog friends…blah, blah, blah.
Anyone relate to this? I know the answer is Yes.
My other favorite book (besides Sweater Chop Shop) is The Twelve Secrets of Highly Creative Women, by Gail McMeekin. This amazing book has a whole section about how we women who want to create must do this: shut the door, turn off the phone, Be Selfish! So..it was hard, but I did that. For the cost of a couple of therapy sessions, I set up own Chop Shop and gave myself time to try it.
Here are some of things I’ve made. Truthfully, I can’t believe how much time I’ve spent. Like anything one loves, it can be all-consuming. I’m thrilled with how much I’ve learned, and how excited I am to get out of bed and do this instead of write grant proposals for the non-profit group that employs me.
If these items look like they’re being photographed for sale, it’s because I’m opening a shop on Etsy at the end of November. This exercise in creative abandon is making me seriously question my current career path. At the very least, to justify playing with wool as much as I want to, I’d like to get some monetary return for my time.
I’ve noticed that other blogger friends have also stepped back from the social obligations of blogging to devote time to other creative pursuits. If any of you are reading, I’d like to hear how that’s going for you—if you want to say.
*he left this morning, and here I sit, at three in the afternoon, in my pajamas, house torn up with my projects, sad/glad the waiting is over, and knowing good things will come of it all.
Love,
sallymandy