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There hasn't been a lot to show lately because I have been working away on pants.
I have six pairs on the go, two sort of wearable muslins and four for SWAP and I feel like they just are not ever, ever, going to be finished.
My admiration for anyone who can do it, sew the same thing over and over again, is limitless. To me putting the pieces of the puzzle together is what is exciting, this repetitive stuff is dragging me down and squishing the old Mojo.
In fact all this pants sewing, plus the fact it is January and I am a sunshine kind of girl, has had me get out the Light Box - you know that simulation light to fool your body into thinking it is not in a gloomy place.
It is meant to counteract Seasonal Affective Disorder. Mostly people get down with this, my own dad used to start drinking his coffee alone in the living room in January and wouldn't talk to us until noon or March whatever came first.
I can't say I get down, but I do get slow. So I decided the fact these pants seem to be taking four centuries to finish meant I had to get out the big guns and put myself under the lights until at least I could get the hems done.
Desperate time require desperate measures.
Do you ever do production sewing?
10 comments:
The only way I got through my SWAP was to alternate items. Top, pants, top etc. Otherwise I would have been bored by the repetitiveness like you are now.
Make another top to break up the monotony.
I can only stick to production sewing if I mix up the details - fabrics, trim, embellishment..
The problem is that production sewing is so usefulfor wardrobe refreshment that it sort of sneaks up on you when you are thinking things like "I really need a few new t shirts"
Good luck with the trousers. Wishing you some light soon.
I did Swap in 2009 and I ,too, alternated fun with basic, hard with simple. I enjoyed the experience but never wnted to do it again.
Okay your Dad and I would be best friends because my winter blues have definitely kicked in. Imagine having to leave for work in the dark, go home in the dark and then it's dark by 4:30pm. Yeah, I'm not a happy chick right now!
Good luck with swap. I've tried it and never finished so You're already ahead of the game in my books.
I've done production sewing, mostly with bags and pants. Pants go together so quickly and I find it satisfying to have several pairs done at once. Not a problem here. But SWAP is. The idea of being committed to getting done that many garments is something that gives me the shivers. I am more of a free spirit sewist, stitching up whatever I want. I guess it is just a lack of self discipline.
The light thing? Know it well. I have put full spectrum bulbs in my sewing lamp, sit by the TV lamp, lamps all over the house. It really helps.
This week, I did production sewing of long underwear for my 12 yo (another year, another 3 growth spurts) in preparation for a ski trip.
I just got done with sewing the ties to the scenery muslin for her school play. Her blouse and skirt are done, but I have to figure out how to make little Red Riding Hood's hooded cape. It has to stay put on her shoulders w/o pulling back and choking her. And it has to be easy to pull off and hand over to the baker's wife. (They are doing Into the Woods.)
So that's obligation sewing, and not production sewing. But, it's just not as much fun as following the sewing muse.
Sewing 23 kindergarten choir costumes, that was costuming AND production sewing. I am so glad that I don't do that any more.
I really like the idea of Barbara's useful SWAP. But, I wondered if sewing so much cake in a row might be boring. Perhaps you can take a break in the middle (in the future) to sew frivolous things? Last week (in the middle of Jan) I sewed a floral cotton stretch poplin dress and lined it in a silk floral print--just because. It made the long underwear easier to bear.
I like to gang all the projects that use the same color thread and needle size, so ... I guess that production sewing works for me. They're not usually all the same type of garment, though, since long runs of the same thing makes me weep, so ... I guess that production sewing does not work for me. Still, process is far more important than product, although I do enjoy the finished product. (It may be time to have myself checked for bi-polar disease. Or multiple personality disorder.)
I've tried production sewing--dozens of the same thing, to sell, and it wasn't fun for me.
However, I think you might call what I do with a sewing pattern production sewing. After I make the alterations, I make a muslin, make more alterations, then make a wearable (maybe) muslin, then a trial version out of "good" fabric, then a version with the "really good" fabric.
If I get that far with the pattern, the next step is "I wonder how it would work in these other fabrics?" followed by "What would happen if I changed this feature?"
If I get a pattern altered so that I'm pleased with it, I like to really put it through its paces, and because I'm a bit obsessive, I do this one garment after another.
Currently, I'm trying to get a cardigan just right. I've made seven so far that wearable, but not quite what I was hoping for.
Yes, I have done production sewing in a factory and in college classes to learn how manufacturers price garments by time and materials. Nowadays I do 3 of one thing for clients like dancers or bridesmaids and I wish I was in Palm Springs soaking up winter sunshine instead of in the Pacific Northwest waiting for some crocus to break ground so I know Spring will arrive. Ever try Vitamin D spray under the tongue?
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