• Categories

    • Give Me the Simple Life
    • Simple and Wonderous
  • Categories

    • DIY
    • Etc. and Whatever
    • Family
    • Give Me the Simple Life
    • Just Me
    • Lifestyle
    • My Journey
    • Simple and Wonderous
    • Style
    • Taking a Break
    • Teaching
    • Uncategorized
  • My Journey
  • Family
  • Style
  • Teaching
  • DIY
  • Just Me
Facing My Addiction
January 11, 2011

We all have little demons that haunt and tempt us. For some it is Starbucks. For others it is Lost (STILL haven’t seen a single episode.) And still others, it is Twilight, chocolate, Apple technology, photography, cars, vacations or make-up. Everyone has their poison. There is always that one thing that gets them every time.

Although my list of vices is certainly not short, I do have one major addiction that I succumb to more often that I care to admit. I do however, need to admit my weakness in order to overcome it. Right??? Well, if not, then at least I am curbing a small piece of some of your curiosity.

I am completely obsessed with crafts, mainly sewing and crochet. I have a major weakness for all things silk, crepe, tulle, organza and lace. I have boxes upon boxes of calico printed cotton, denim, ultra suede and corduroy. I have a lifetime full of elastic and buttons. I have an entire box dedicated to glue sticks. We won’t even get started on patterns.

Here is the picture that I chose to take today. I was in search of a sparkly, blingy, vintage button today and knew that if I went into the abyss that I call the basement craft room, I would be sure to find one. And indeed I did. It was attached to a 1980 green polyester mother of the bride dress that I bought as part of an Ebay lot 5+ years ago…. and I love it.

But I digress. Over the years I have “collected,” for lack of a better word, fabric. There was a time that the fabric stores sold fabric remnants for fifty cents. They had gorgeous arrays of textiles in every color and texture and I would buy them a bit at a time. Then, one day, they had a remnant consolidation sale where they stuffed plastic grocery bags full of those amazing gems and sold the whole lot for fifty cents. I hang my head in shame when I admit that I bought them out. That is where my addiction began and this is where it has led.

I now have 35+ boxes full of fabrics and discarded ball gowns that I bought in bulk off of Ebay. They are so full of potential with their multicolored linings, layers of tulle, blingy buttons and vintage zippers. I have another 2 boxes of ribbon and trim and several boxes of notions. I was also so lucky to inherit bolts and bolts of upholstery fabric and vintage linens.

I find myself blessed though, because I can honestly say that I now have a fully stocked and ready to go craft room. I had a friend come over the summer to help me organize this room and figure out exactly what I had. She is my friend’s mother, part of my ward and is and organizational GENIUS!!! No. Really. She does it professionally.

I was a bit embarrassed as we sifted through the piles of chiffon. I quickly added that we could certainly start getting rid of a lot of this. She looked at me in amazement. I thought that she was going to chuckle over what a crafty pack rat I am. Instead, she looked at me with awe and said, “You have everything that you will ever need to do a small business from you home. You won’t need to purchase a thing.” And, she wouldn’t let me toss any of it.

Now, I will say that I do use it on almost a daily basis, but not nearly to its potential. As I was rummaging through the boxes today, I was reintroduced of the treasure trove that it is. My mind instantly leaped to the finished products that these fabrics would make. I imagined a brown suede skirt for the Nena and matching argyle ties for the boys. I could see oceans of fabric flowers and an entire closet of American Girl Dolls. However, as it sits now, it is simply a very dirty diamond in the rough.


So, while along with the rest of you, I too am getting really freaked out by the show Hoarders and immediately think of my basement sewing wonderland whenever I see or hear of that show, I know that it has potential. I have some amazing ideas as to what I am going to do with some of this stuff. Now, if only I can find the time to do some of it.

And, as some of you already know, I am more than happy to share! Let me know if you are in need of anything fun. I am more than happy to get someone else going with the crafty bug.

Share

Simple and Wonderous

Darci Aspen

4 Comments


Michele
January 11, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Login to Reply

Living with someone who is a hoarder has helped me overcome any of this. Sure I have an excess of many things BUT I can honestly say there is nothing that I "have to have" or will give into. There are many things I enjoy and will indulge in but when I am willing to wait 3 weeks to see one of my favorite books series come to life on the big screen, I can confidently say I have things under control. Seriously, have a life free of of the hoarding etc (not saying that's what you are. You are a collector.) it makes life nice and simple. It is so much easier to throw things out now that I don't have someone else trying to keep everything.



PrincessKatie
January 12, 2011 at 8:02 am
Login to Reply

You really inspire me to learn to use my sewing machine and sew …. I am scaredc to death but hopefully I can learn to do it!



Melinda
January 12, 2011 at 5:55 pm
Login to Reply

I'm drooling over your fabric.



sallygirl
January 17, 2011 at 10:35 am
Login to Reply

OH Darci… just send it all!



Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.




© Copyright LetsBlog Theme Demo - Theme by ThemeGoods