You love sewing, and everything that goes along with it, from choosing patterns, to reorganizing your sewing room, to lovingly tending to your sewing machine. And your dream afternoon would be having 3 or 4 free hours to work on your latest sewing project.
But as much as you love to sew, you probably don’t have as much time for it as you’d like. In fact, you’re life might seem so busy that it seems you barely get to do any sewing at all.
Well, believe it or not, there are ways to find more time to sew. And here are just a few of them.
Evaluate Your Free Time
How much free time do you really have in your day? If your life is pretty hectic, it might feel packed with necessary chores and errands. But the truth is that you probably have more free time in your day than you realize.
Get a calendar (like the one your probably have on your computer) that has a space for every hour of every day. Now fill in what you usually do at certain times every day of the week, like going to work, picking the kids up at school, or walking the dog.
If your weekday mornings are all about getting the kids ready for school, put “Getting Kids Ready” in the 6 am to 7:30 slot for Monday through Friday. If you go grocery shopping every Friday afternoon, and it usually takes you about 2 hours, block in the 2 hours you spend shopping every Friday.
When you’re done filling the calendar with your routine tasks and chores, you might be surprised to see quite a few empty blocks throughout tour days. And these could be ideal times for getting some sewing done.
Make a Regular Sewing Appointment
If you’re like many sewers, you want to be able to sew whenever the mood strikes. Unfortunately, the mood will often strike when you’re too busy to do anything about it.
Instead of hoping free sewing time will just happen all on its own, set a specific time for sewing. For example, maybe you have a free hour after dinner, or after the kids have gone to bed. And there might be a two hour block of free time on Saturdays that you could devote to sewing.
When you make a regular appointment to sew, you’ll find yourself protecting that time. You’ll almost automatically find yourself getting everything else done and out of the way so that your “sewing time” will actually be free. And when your family knows that 6 pm to 7 pm is your sewing time, they’ll have an almost instinctive desire to leave you be during that precious hour.
Take a Closer Look at Your Other Leisure Activities
What other things do you do for fun? Do you watch a certain television program every week? Do you spend most of your weekends gardening? Could you be sewing instead of doing those things?
Now no one is saying you have to give up other things you enjoy for sewing. But you can rearrange things a little.
Maybe you could tape that television show instead of watching it live. Now, not only do you have an hour of free time every week to sew, you also have something to do (watch the recorded program) when you’re bored but don’t feel like sewing.
And you don’t have to completely give up gardening on the weekends. But may you could make Saturday sewing day and Sunday gardening day. Or you could limit the free time you spend in the garden to half an hour a day, and spend the rest of your free time sewing.
Be Prepared
Every once in a while, you’ll find yourself with some free time you weren’t expecting. It’s the perfect time to head to your sewing room and start working on something new. But what if you don’t have the supplies you need to start that project?
Well, you have two choices. You can use some of the time you could’ve spent sewing on running out to get the necessary supplies. Or (and this is what often happens) you can decide it’s too much trouble and let that free time slip by you.
One way to avoid this is to be prepared. Make a list of sewing projects you’d like to take on. (Three or four is a good number.) Make a list of the supplies you’ll need and, when you’re out and about, pick it up when you can. Now, when you have some free time to tackle a new sewing project, everything you’ll need to do so will be right there, ready and waiting.
Finding more time to sew can be a challenge. And the busier your life is, the more challenging it can be. But if sewing is your passion, finding time to do it more often will be well worth the effort.
