Have you ever gotten into a funk where you’re just not feeling it with your usual creative outlets? This weekend I was suffering from writer’s block, fed up with blogging, and just couldn’t seem to get anything in gear. For whatever reason, when I feel burned out in one creative direction, turning to a totally different medium snaps me out of it.
Since my posies from The Pleated Poppy had just arrived, I dug through my fabric collection and trucked the kids off to the fabric store to get supplies. Lindsey makes fabulous Bloom Bags by embellishing simple Target purses. The Target purse was a little more money than I wanted to spend, and not quite the right color to match my posies, so I decided to make my own bag. I had solid colored scraps left over from other projects (this is why I always save fabric scraps) for the ruffles and lining and plenty of thread on hand, so I only had to buy cotton duck for the bag and find some handles. Since I had two coupons, I spent just over $7 total for the green fabric and the fun handles.
After the kids went to bed I washed and ironed the fabric and made my pattern. Basically the pattern looked like this:
I cut out the pattern on a fold of the fabric so the bottom of the above outline was a fold. Then I sewed up the sides, followed by the bottom edges. I did the same for the lining, then added pockets, made tabs to hold the handles on, and sewed in the lining. In hindsight I should have reinforced the lining with interfacing to make it stiffer, but oh well. Finally I made the ruffles (I had to seam the edges because my attempt at zig zag didn’t look as good as Lindsey’s) and attached them with the glue gun, made a covered cardboard insert to stabilize the bottom of the bag, and pinned on the posies. The whole thing took under four hours, including ironing time and the twenty minutes I spent hunting for interfacing to reinforce the pockets.
Voila! My new spring purse. I wouldn’t say my creative burnout was completely cleared up since it was after 11pm when I finished sewing, but at least I got something accomplished and didn’t end the day feeling frustrated!
What do you do when you’re feeling burnt out and unproductive?
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Hi, I'm Catherine Gillespie and A Spirited Mind is where I post about reading, writing, and parenting and the lessons I'm learning as a result. Thanks for stopping by!
I was right where you are last week. I’ve been needing to make invitations for Jesse’s Birthday party and could not think of a single thing to do.
I went to the library and grabbed a ton of scrapbooking books off the shelf. I brought a few home and after looking through them for a few minutes I felt totally inspired.
I have done the same thing for sewing projects too. The library is a great cure for creative funk!
I agree with the above Alyssa. I glean ideas from magazines and books. I also take a mini vacation from the project if I am really uninspired.
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