Preparing To Sew

I am finally getting some time, motivation, and inspiration to sew again.  I have decided not to pressure myself, just take it as it comes.  Before I began though, I had some tidying up to do.  As you may recall, I had done an enormous organization of my sewing stash (see here and here).  Over the past year however, small things have gotten misplaced or not re-homed.  So I had my Current Projects basket filled to the brim with stuff.  I wanted very much to begin cutting out Past Patterns 108: Four Edwardian Corset Covers, which I had traced in my size, mapped embroidery for, and in general figured out the best way to proceed with this.  But I couldn't stand the bit of chaos in the basket, as well as spools of thread not put away, and other notions, purchased but not put into their boxes.  There was also mending that has been needed to be done for months.

Here's what I did:

1. Unearthed my sewing machine table from under a pile of papers that had ended up on top of it.
2. Gathered all of the corset making supplies lying here and there and put them back in the corset-making box (more on my decision to not make my own corset in an upcoming post).
3. Gathered all patterns lying about (some are new e-Bay finds), determined how many new file folders I would need to get them properly put away, realized I was all out of folders, later went to Office Depot for a new box.
4. Put all spools of thread away.  Then, in a completely disturbing fashion, proceeded to sort the thread into color families AND to put them in order of Roy G. Biv (spectrum of colors: reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, indigos, violets), plus my row of pinks, grays, browns, blacks, and whites.  
5. Put away the notions.  While I did this I got out the notions I would actually need for starting my project (tracing wheels and paper, scissors, tape measure, embroidery supplies).  
6. Mopped the area around my sewing machine.
7. Mended Kristin's pants, a kitchen towel, and then turned two pair of Tyler's school pants (that were hopelessly torn at the knees) into school shorts, just in time for warm weather!

Of course, after all of this there was no time left to actually sew, but I am pleased that all is tidy now.  It seems to clear my head.  While at Office Depot, I also realized that if I bought a bigger box, I could put all of my machine embroidery supplies, including the embroidery arm, in one easy place.  I will need to lay all out to get a good measurement for the perfect sized box.  

I hope to have some corset-cover-making photos soon.