Sew-Jo: what is it and how can we get it back?
What does that term even mean? It’s the driving force behind all our sewing hopes and dreams, right? It’s the thing that makes us buy fabric, even though we have no idea what we’ll end up doing with it. It’s the thing that makes us attempt buttonholes, even when we try to avoid it for months. It’s the thing that makes us by our 15th gathered dress pattern, even though the other 14 we own are kind of similar.
But what happens when it decides to take a vacay, and we are left with all those patterns and fabric piles just staring at us?
I don’t know about you, but my sew-jo is here with a vengeance one day and hiding in the back of my closet the next. When it’s turned on I will have 3 garments cut out and waiting as I work through the one on my machine. I’ll be looking through my Trello page dreaming about what to make next, with fabric choice and pattern hack ideas jumping out of my brain and into organized project ideas. When it’s turned off I will go weeks without even walking into my sewing room; in fact I avoid my sewing room altogether because of the disorganized vibe it seems to give off.
As someone that needs to create like I need to eat or drink, these low times can really bring me down. I know I’m not alone in this roller coaster of a creative phenomenon, so I thought I would share a few things I’ve found that work for me when I can’t get out of the creative gutter.
1. Dig Into your Past Self
Inspiration Project Bags!
When I’ve lost my creative spark, often it’s because of overload. Now I know that doesn’t make a ton of sense on the outset but I’m sure you’ve experienced it too; I’ve cultivated a LOT of beautiful things and project ideas over the years, and they all live together in a really small space. Often I will make a project bag for something I really want to work on (sometimes there’s even notes & swatches!), and then I’ll set it aside for later, assuming I’ll get to it “some day”. Well friends, you know exactly what happens to those projects right? They sit there and probably never get looked at again. To combat this I placed a “to-make” bin filled with these projects right next to my sewing machine, and the first thing I do when I want to kick start my sew-jo is go through that bin. The process of looking through those project bags does a couple of things for me:
First and foremost, it allows me to let some of those past ideas that I thought were so amazing GO - let’s face it, not every creative idea is a great one! That’s not to say that the spark that was ignited in the idea wasn’t valuable, but it’s OK to let the meaning live solely in that moment, without taking it any further than that it brought me joy at one point. When I find a project that doesn’t spark that same joy, I redistribute whatever materials were in the bag and move on to the next. (not only is it a good release emotionally, the process helps keep my “to-make” bin nice and small).
Second, this process helps me bring to fruition ideas that spark the most inspiration. Almost every time I’ve gone looking in there I’ve found a project that I decide to put some work into, and they’re usually ones that have been in there for awhile and made it through a few rounds of “Is it something I actually want to make?” I can’t tell you the joy of finishing a garment that was resurrected from the ashes of my past self’s creative inspiration.
My “to-make” bin
2. Don’t Be Too Specific With Your Ideas
Sometimes we are our own best inspiration
When my sew-jo is so low that even past ideas don’t get my brain creaking to life, I take a deep breath, accept that it’s not possible to be a creative monster 100% of the time (which as a perfectionist is difficult for me!), and creep on Instagram. I’ve curated a fabulous list of indie sewists and friends on my feed, and I can’t even count how many times popping over to see what they’re working on or thinking about gets my creativity going.
Sometimes looking at beautiful things other people are making sparks creativity, and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, I allow myself to just enjoy all the magnificent things being put out into the world. I know I’ll be part of the creative goo that gets dropped into the universe at some point, and it’s totally fine to just soak it up instead of offering it out for now.
And Hint Hint Hint…..creeping on my own insta is the BEST!
Friends, we all have to feed our goo centers and I know we each have our own unique ways of doing it. (That’s not how I ever thought I would be describing the sew-jo, but I’m going with it!) I hope sharing my personal little tidbits has been helpful to you and I’d LOVE to hear about what you do to get your creative motor running! Hope to sew with you soon, and cheers to being creatively productive…..OR NOT!!!