Sunday Afternoon

So happy to be sewing again.

Facing My Fears

Hi, my name is Holly and I hoard fabric.

I do. I love textiles and oftentimes view fabric the way others view art. I love the textures, the colors, the design. A really beautiful piece of fabric, alone or combined with others, can take my breath away in the same way that an amazing painting can. Does that seem odd? I guess I view textile arts as, well, just that...art. And paying attention to the details of textile art has actually helped me to appreciate other forms of art more. I can't claim to understand it all. I'm not an artist and have never taken an art class in my life (I opted for an art history class to fulfill my Fine Arts requirement in college). But learning about fabric has given me a greater understanding of and appreciation for design elements, color, and detail. Now I can see a perfect joint in a woodworking project that my husband has done, and I am amazed by how beautiful it is.

But back to my fabric hoarding. My fabric stash is disproportionately large in comparison to the amount of sewing that I do. I tend to save things anyway. I'm not sure if that habit goes back to my childhood, when my family didn't have much in the way of material goods. That's all fine and good, but there is a difference. When you don't have much, you really use the things that you do have. We didn't throw much away when I was a kid, but we didn't stash things, either. We used everything. Now I am an adult and there is, thankfully, no struggle to have my material needs met. I'm still in the habit of saving everything. The difference now is that I don't need to do that. Our daily needs are met without a tremendous amount of scrimping. All those things that I save...they just sit there, largely unused and taking up space. My fabric collection is no exception. In fact, it is the reigning queen of the packrat kingdom in my house.

I have fabric that I am afraid to use because then it will be gone. Classic packrat, yes? You would think I'd grown up during the Depression, not the 1980s. Well, I've recognized this bad habit and have decided to change it. So here are some pictures of things I've made entirely from my stash. The top picture is a small tote bag. I had intended it for a young friend's birthday, but I'm not thrilled with some of the details (I used the thread that was in my machine, white, when orange or yellow would have looked so much nicer for the topstitching), so I think it will be my daughter's library bag. The second picture is of some throw pillows made from a vintage tablecloth. I really love embroidery and bought the tablecloth because I just loved the careful details. Naturally, it did not fit my table. It sat on my shelf for months. Then I measured the designs and ironed the cloth in preparation for cutting it. Then it sat on my ironing board for days. I sometimes hesitate to cut into new, mass-produced fabric in my stash. Imagine my hesitation to cut into a vintage, handmade piece! But I finally did. I cut out 12" squares, added borders, and attached soft pink envelope backs. I think that this was a good exercise for me. Now instead of having a beautiful but unused tablecloth, I have two very functional, pretty pillows. I won't be keeping these particular pillows for myself, but that's beside the point.

Another benefit of handmade

I really like nice paper. Stationery, notecards, that kind of thing. I like sending notes and cards to people, and I like having an assortment of blank cards and stationery on hand. I very rarely allow myself to browse the stationery section at stores, because I will almost certainly find something that I really, really want to buy. The truth is, I have enough cards to last for a long, long time.

This morning I opened my stationery box to put away the leftover invitations from Elise's birthday party. Then I realized that I will never use them. I started digging through the box to see what other "leftovers" I had. This is what I found:

• Six "topiary" bridal shower invitations
• Seven "umbrella" bridal shower invitations (the last bridal shower I threw was nearly two years ago)
• Six "Noah's Ark" baby shower invitations (my niece - the baby of honor at that shower - will be five next month)
• Six "clothesline" baby shower invitations
• Seven birth announcements (I guess we could use them when we have another kid!)
• Two "butterfly" party invitations (from Elise's 1st birthday party)
• Four "Curious George" party invitations (from Elise's 2nd birthday party)
• Five general invitations

What do you do with leftovers like those? I don't know. They look nice...I have each bundle tied together with ribbon. But I'll never use them. I suppose I could save them for the next time I throw a shower, and just send out assorted invitations, but to be honest, I'm not that thrifty. I like to pick out invitations that I think the person of honor will like.

I ran into this same dilemma with Christmas cards last year. I had leftover Christmas cards from every year that we've been married - maybe even some from before we were married - and they added up to a lot of cards. I couldn't bring myself to throw them out - they were perfectly good cards! So I swallowed my hesitancy to send a friend the same Christmas card that they received two years ago and I just sent out my 40 leftover cards. My apologies to those of you who have received duplicate cards from me.

This brings me to my point. (I know, you were wondering if I had one.) With handmade cards, this problem of leftovers isn't there. You can just make the exact number of cards that you need. You can personalize each card to the tastes of the recipient. I have only made a handful of cards, and they did take a fair amount of time, but they were fun to make. I'm not committing to anything, but I think I may try to make the next "batch" of cards that I send. And if anyone has any ideas of what to do with these 43 leftover invitations, please let me know!