Fixing my Sewing Funk by Designing Collections

There’s no way around it. I feel so stuck right now with lack of “sew-jo” since about October. At one time or another, I think we’ve all been here with our respective crafts, where we feel a bit lost, not sure what to do next, or feel a lack of motivation. My lack of sewing mojo has unfortunately had a real domino effect on my creativity in general. Thank goodness I have a lot of other hobbies that I rely on like gardening, because right now, when I’m not doing gardening tasks or planning next year’s garden, I spend a lot of my evenings feeling a bit lost and in a creative funk.

There are a million reasons why it happens, and I’ve probably read just as many discussions about how to tempt creative habits back. Based on the sheer diversity of tactics I’ve read in conversations and the books I’ve read about habit formation over the years, it’s safe to say that there are a lot of ways to address the issue, so this is a post about how I’m tackling my own.

The first thing I know about myself is that my creativity is a habit. For me, creativity is a muscle that I have to work on regularly to make it habitual. Most of the time, I’m in such a great groove: I can usually rely on steady excitement and motivation. The ideas and muse flow freely! But when that’s not the case, or when I’m feeling a lack of inspiration, it’s habit and dedication that see me through the uncertain times.

Creativity is not something that always comes naturally, so when I find myself in these situations, the tactic that I find to be the most helpful is to rely on habit. I dedicate 10-20 minutes each day to the creative pursuit I’m trying to ease back into until it feels more habitual again. 10 minutes feels doable even on the days I don’t know what to do—even if it’s just browsing my fabric, yarn, or patterns stash for inspiration.

While tackling item 1, I simultaneously work to find the source of my current funk or discontent, which is oftentimes an emotional block of some sort. This may or may not (often does not) have any relationship to my crafting whatsoever. Anxiety, sadness, or uncertainty in other areas of my life definitely has subconscious effect on my crafting mojo. It’s up to me to identify and work on those things, and design a strategy for moving forward for longer-term mojo help. :)

So where is my sew-jo and what am I going to do about it?

Last week, when chatting with Andrew over dinner, he helped me identify the missing emotional component, which is half the battle: I’ve spoken about this a few times over the past few months, but I’ve determined that I feel like I’m missing an overall big project or framework to work within. A forever-student at heart, I often use a trip, a person, or a designer as inspiration for my own clothes-making projects. For example, in 2018 and 2019, it was clothing designer Sezane. I designed, recreated, and hacked my way to so many Sezane-inspired pieces. It was so fun. Then in 2020 and and part of 2021, photographer Jamie Beck had a huge impact on my creative making. She was a muse for so many of my projects. I love her feminine, romantic style, and I still wear many of the pieces that I made that were inspired by these influences.

But lately, I feel a bit of a shift in my style. I’m still trying to work out what I want to wear right now—and in turn what I want to make. When I look in my closet, I find it difficult to put together outfits that I like.

Anytime I make something new, I always consider how that new piece will fit into my wardrobe, and how I can style it and wear it with what I already have. But the truth is, I feel kind of uninspired by my most of wardrobe right now. Quality sewing takes time, and adding new pieces is a slow process. I added so few RTW pieces last year due to a lot of (silly) self-pressure that I should not buy anything that I can make, and now I feel like the pieces that I DO love are now looking too worn because I’ve worn them so much. I wear my clothes within an inch of their life. It’s not at all unusual for items in my closet to have been there for 5+ years.

So now what? For starters, I think I need to have a big ole closet clear out. I need to donate anything I haven’t worn in a year to make some space. From there, I would like to have an in-depth read of The Curated Closet: A Simple System for Discovering Your Personal Style and Building Your Dream Wardrobe by Anuschka Rees. Because my style has shifted a bit, I think it’s important for me to understand my style evolution before I jump into designing and sewing new clothes right away.

And then finally, instead of trying to figure out how a singular, new sewing project will fit into my wardrobe, I want to design and sew a seasonal collection for myself. These pieces will be designed to work and be worn together—almost like a capsule wardrobe! I will give myself permission to ignore my current wardrobe of items that feel uninspiring and lean into what I learn about myself via The Curated Closet and style identification exploration.

That’s the plan for right now anyway! I’ll update you as I go. Thank you to one of my bff’s, Emily, who has loaned me her copy of The Curated Closet as I begin this sew-jo restoration expedition! :)