The Sewing Place

Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly

wrenkins

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #15 on: August 19, 2018, 13:02:37 PM »
I was looking at a beautiful piece of Donegal tweed this very morning. It was bought in Robinson and Cleaver's, (which closed in 1984) and cost the princely sum of £2.99 as a sale remnant.  :) Yes the price tag is still on it.  :|
Harbouring resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die!

Lowena

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #16 on: August 19, 2018, 13:14:00 PM »
But WHY do you people keep such fabrics without using them?  -<
Triumph of hope over experience :D

Lachica

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #17 on: August 19, 2018, 13:59:55 PM »
@Lowena because we're not as disciplined as you! Or possibly don't move house as frequently?
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Tamnymore

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #18 on: August 19, 2018, 14:09:37 PM »
@Lowena I only keep my 1975 patchwork pieces cos I can't find them!! (Or at least I think I've kept them. Who knows what is in that dark far away corner).

Other pieces of  fabric are kept as one hopes to get the chance to use them at some point. But I do have fabric culls from time to time and give things I no longer love to charity shops or the local school.
'One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.' Oscar Wilde

wrenkins

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #19 on: August 19, 2018, 14:34:06 PM »
I didn't sew for donkeys' years and my bits and pieces were in a box in the attic. Once I have developed obtained, found, stolen an adequate skill set, I will make a skirt.
Harbouring resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die!

Efemera

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #20 on: August 19, 2018, 18:33:04 PM »
Because thank goodness we’re all different ...I like to keep nice things.

Fiona M

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #21 on: August 20, 2018, 10:28:04 AM »
Hoarding has now been officially recognised by the WHO as a mental disorder.  This comes as no surprise to me, of course.  And I'm sure it won't to many of you.
I must have hundreds (1000's?) of metres of fabric, neatly stored (for no project in particular) and thread to match them all, and more besides.  Things that 'might' come in handy (they never do).  Bulk purchases of things like zips (I hate putting them in, and actively avoid sewing patterns that need one).  Machines I don't use (and probably never will). 
My mum died earlier this year, and clearing out her flat taught me a thing or two.  Being brought up during the war, mum had a deep seated anxiety about not having things, hence always kept a big stash of everything.  Being hard up, she would always buy big sizes, deeming them to be better value than smaller sizes (which is fine, if you have a big family and loads of room to store these things, but she had neither!).  I had not realised quite how much of this mentality she had instilled in me.
I'm presently engaged in the long, painful job of 'getting rid of stuff', my own stuff, that is, and hopefully it'll all be gone before I shuffle off myself - I'd hate to think I'd left it behind for someone else to deal with.
Interesting read here, from Saturday's Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/18/it-looks-like-youre-a-lazy-idiot-hoarders-welcome-medical-classification

annieg

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #22 on: August 20, 2018, 10:55:13 AM »
@Fiona M
A really genuine thank you from me for posting this link, which has touched a nerve.
I've been listening to some of the sewing blogs which Morgan suggested and they, too, touch a nerve. 
My job is home-based and my office is also my sewing room. 
Both sections of the room are cluttered with stuff, and I find it difficult to concentrate on either work or sewing as all the disorganisation distracts me (and I'm easily distracted!).
Annieg

Gernella

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #23 on: August 20, 2018, 17:02:53 PM »
I think the secret is to move often then you are continually reviewing and considering.  I have never moved but seeing the stuff my mum left (mostly clothes worn once and never worn again), it did make me stop and think. 

I try and only keep if I know I will use it, wrong colour, don't like the feel, no longer fashionable, it  goes, generally to Sally Army if I don't want to hang around. I hope somebody loved the leftover pale blue linen I bought off Ebay that went in holes  on the first wash, or the wool fabric given by a relative that even my mother wouldn't have worn (very tweedy).  There again I have some lovely cream wool that I love so much I want something really special for it.

If it got as far as boxes on the landing etc., I think I would know I had a problem.  I also don't see the point of wasting money buying fabric only to gift it later because you have too much.

Mind you looks like I'm bottom of the food chain with fabric storage. 

Stash extension 2024- 6.1 meters
Left at the end of 2023 - 66 meters now (includes fabric found hidden out of sight)  Lining fabric not included

Lachica

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #24 on: August 20, 2018, 18:17:32 PM »
Reading this makes me think I don't have a problem. Smug ! I can mostly remember what I have, it's neatly stored in boxes in a cupboard but I still think I have too much.
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.

Gernella

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #25 on: August 22, 2018, 10:14:34 AM »
I think that's the secret, @Lachica if it is out of sight everything is alright.  Mine is now all out of sight, now only the floor is untidy  and I can live with that.  It's upstairs as well and nobody goes upstairs who visits other than workmen and if they are anything like DH there would have to be a naked women through the doorway before they noticed anything or a Harley Davidson. :)   Or, a £10 note on the floor!
Stash extension 2024- 6.1 meters
Left at the end of 2023 - 66 meters now (includes fabric found hidden out of sight)  Lining fabric not included

Lizzy777

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #26 on: August 22, 2018, 10:50:29 AM »
I think the secret is to enjoy your stash and keep it fairly tidy and not feel guilty about it? Why should you feel guilty? If it is causing you stress because you don't have the room for it then give
some of it away, if you don't think you will need it anymore ? If you can't do that and it is stressing you out or making you anxious then maybe you need some additional help to cope with that but I think the hoarders who are classed as having mental illnesses are ones who hoard everything and it is affecting their daily lives a lot.

It was quite normal to hoard somethings after the war (from what I have read) . That sounded to me as common sense in view of what people had to live through at the time?

lizzy

Catllar

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #27 on: August 22, 2018, 21:44:19 PM »
So the parcel that arrived today contains 4 lengths of fabric, just because, is totally justified. More loveliness.
If life gives you lemons, add to gin and tonic !

wrenkins

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #28 on: August 22, 2018, 21:48:43 PM »
If you've been glued to my sewing diary the next sentence will come as a bit of a surprise. I've just ordered more fabric (loads more)...and a skirt pattern.  :ninja:
Harbouring resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die!

Lachica

Re: Am I the only one with eyes bigger than my belly
« Reply #29 on: August 22, 2018, 22:04:54 PM »
@Lizzy777 I agree. Why do women feel we should express guilt? So we have a few pieces of nice fabric. As long as we're not blowing the kids' shoe money on it, where's the harm? It seems to me that 'stash guilt' sits alongside 'weight guilt' and is the opposite of male pride in having a shed full of tools. No one criticises my husband for his extensive collection of power tools, they admire his ability to make things and feel free to ask his advice. His 2 boats and 3 outboard motors far outweigh my 3 machines and get far less use but does he feel guilty? No, so I refuse to feel guilty about my sewing room. I'm able to rustle up a sunshade for the boat and a pirate costume for bookweek and I'm proud of it. Rally round, ladies, and celebrate your stash! ....Until it takes over the house and you have to wade through it to get to the loo........
Mary
2020 stash: not gonna count, not gonna feel guilty.