 One of the cool things about shopping the remains of another sewist's stash is catching a glimpse into their process. It's usually pretty easy to tell what type of sewist's house I'm at based on the types of fabrics and patterns available and the ways they're stored. A lot of times, I find clips of newspaper articles or magazine pictures tucked inside pattern envelopes: RTW Inspiration. Wedding announcements. Shopping lists. Pattern 'notes to self'.  The ranges of fabrics I find can be diverse and tell their own stories. There's the family outfitter sort of sewist's who has piles of easy to wear/care knit and poly blend fabrics, usually in bulk. There are special ocassion sewist's whose collections are overflowing with trims and formalwear fabrics. There are collectors who have sought and carefully preserved vintage fabrics. The DIY couturier who buys high end fabrics and designer patterns. There are planners who spend time packaging their fabric, patterns and notions into large Ziploc baggies for future project preparedness. There's the resourceful sewist's who keeps every scrap, because they might be able to find a way to use it.  The latter sort, the resourceful one, is the type of sewist's house where I bought the fabric for this dress. It wasn't until I got home and started washing and sorting my treasures from this particular sale that I realized I had purchased a curtain panel. Just one. It was a homemade curtain panel with a channel for a rod and penny sewn into the corner of the hem to assist gravity. I can only imagine that the former owner liked the print as much as I do and was unable to toss them after she was done hanging them in her dining room. There was only one panel tucked into her stash. Maybe she found a use for the other. It's also possible somebody bought the match before I started searching.  The romantic in me likes to think that I have a match somewhere out there, like Fievel. What types(s) of sewist are you? PATTERN: McCall's 7704 
8 Comments
7/1/2015 02:40:50 am
I'm not a sewer but I know what type of knitter I am.....the amount of sock yarn in my stash is rather disgusting, to be honest. I've not gone through my entire stash but I know I've got 700+ skeins of yarn and around 400 are sock yarn. Yeah, my yarn stash is getting a bit out of hand... I loove this dress - this one and the previous denim one are really making me crave a good shift. Good question on the different types of sewers; fabric-wise, I'm the resourceful type who keeps every scrap... pattern-wise, I collect designer patterns but my most used patterns are self-drafted or highly altered/customized and would be of no use to anybody but my sister! I've always wondered if I had a twinsie out there somewhere, too. I've also wondered about the best way to find a fit twin. Wow Michelle you look amazing! I love this shift pattern and the colours in that fabric really suit you. I'd say I'm an everyday sewer in that I have a lot of knit & plain fabrics for sewing basics that I wear loads, and now I do the same for my son. Though I do like to collect nice buttons & trims - who doesn't?!
Jan brandt
7/2/2015 09:31:13 am
you really are lovely! And a lovely story too. You didn't mention the messy sewer with things strewn everywhere! That's me!
I'm the kind of sewer who read about storing future projects neatly in bags, liked the idea, but worried that they might not look as smart on my fabric shelf. This requires more thought as it really would cut down on doubting time between projects. Leave a Reply. |
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