I’ve not been able to sew much lately and my sewing list keeps getting longer and longer. I have many things I want to sew, but only so much time in which to sew. In fact because of my disability I am even more limited in the time I feel up to sewing. Due to these two restraints I have come up with a way to make the most use of the time I have. The first thing I do is make a list of all the projects that I want to sew, then I divide them up into groups of urgent needs, necessary, helpful, just for fun, and those I could do without making. This may sound like it is just extra work. If you have a lot of projects and they are constantly being added to by new needs and new ideas you’ve come across, then doing this may very well stop all of the confusion running through your mind. Writing them out on paper, may help you make the best use of your valuable time.
Now that I have an organized list, I need to figure out how to tackle it. I like to include my daughter in learning how to do things that are appropriate for her age, but when I have urgent needs this may take up more time than I can spend to get a particular sewing project done. An urgent need would be something like sewing a gown for my daughter, because she out grew all the ones she had for last fall and it is getting too chilly at night for her to continue wearing her summer gowns. When I have urgent needed projects to do I explain to her that it has to get done as soon as possible and why this is; she will need to know this as a future homemaker too. When my husband has rested from work I will sit down and explain to him that I have some urgent needed sewing to do and need to make time for it. This way he may be able to help me weed out other things I am spending my time on that I could put aside or drop altogether. He can also help me by spending some time with our daughter when I am working on these sewing urgencies.
After I’ve finished all my urgent sewing I can set aside a particular amount of time once a week or more to work on things that would be helpful in our home. One of the things on this list for me is another dress for church, since I don’t have very many. I could’ve put this on my urgent list, but I do already have some I can wear, sure I go through the same dresses every few weeks, but I am not there to please others, but to please God. My young daughter can help me to accomplish this by doing things she is capable of doing with my supervision and that she won’t get hurt doing. I start by explaining to her what we are doing and why, then ask her to help me. Here again she is learning future homemaking skills.
On my list of just for fun are usually lots of little things I can make with my daughter and/or my whole family. One of the things on there at this time of year is a handmade ornament for our Christmas tree. Usually I will get out enough supplies for everyone, read over the directions then get started. Many of the ideas for ornaments come from online sites. We like to make our own, because they are more memorable to us; not only because we made them, but also the time we spent as a family. It is nice doing things as a family; it helps us to grow closer to one another.
And last of all is the list for things I could do without making. When one is surfing the blog you may jump from one website to the next adding more and more ideas to things you’d like to make. That’s fine, but when you make out your sewing list you need to go through them and be realistic as to what you need and what you could do without. I keep this list to refer to when the same ideas pop back up again. For us sewers it is like being in a candy store when we see beautiful handmade things that we can make also. Be realistic, God has blessed us with the money and/or supplies to create things for our family, but we need to be good stewards of these blessings and our time. Our family will appreciate the time this frees up for them to spend with us.
If you have other ideas for how to accomplish your sewing projects please leave a comment with your ideas and I will add them to a future blog and give credit to you, or leave a blog address for me to post. Your ideas may help others in our situation. Thank you if you contribute and thank you all for reading.
