Patterns: Your Crazy is Showing

Somehow I have acquired almost 200 patterns.  When I say acquired I mean I went a little crazy. I admit it. The first step is to admit you have a problem. I do. It’s hard to resist a sale! Joanns and Hobby Lobby run sales so frequently- Butterick, McCalls and Kwik Sew go down to $1.99.  Vogue to $6.99. They are normally $20-$30+. I watch those sales like a hawk. The limit is 10 though, so if you do the calculations, 200 patterns divided by 10 = 20 transactions. I’ve been sewing 6 months which equals 26 weeks. 20 trips to Joanns in 26 weeks..that’s pretty much making a purchase almost every week! Yikes!!

Here’s where I show my neurosis. I have a wishlist spreadsheet that I comb through during those sales. This spreadsheet has the 3 Joanns and 2 Hobby Lobbys within driving distance listed on it. I pre-shop and check it off IN ADVANCE before the sale so I can make a quick trip and the pattern will be in my possession. One day another customer caught me scribbling on my spreadsheet and thought I worked there. You don’t know how many times someone asked me a question cuz  I looked like an employee hard at work doing store inventory, lol. (Which I kinda was). So it amuses me when I think back to June when I saw the woman at the pattern catalog table crossing numbers off her envelope with serious determination. I didn’t get it then but I totally get it now. I probably have the same focused look on my face when I’m flicking through the envelopes in that drawer too, lol.

I feel like anyone with a creative mind has a lot of materials. An artist likely has many paints, a makeup artist has every red shade of lipstick ever made, a cook has all the gadgets and tools to make their tasty masterpieces. As a former scrapbooker/junk journaler I kept all kinds of paper “just in case”. This habit now has turned into keeping that scrap piece of material “just in case  I make a quilt” someday, or “just in case I need stuffing” in that teddy bear. It is no wonder there are so many YT videos on sewing room organization.

But here’s the thing about sewing patterns: It’s like having the dress in your closet without actually owning it. Envelopes take up less space instead of having the physical piece of clothing itself, so in a way you still own the dress!! It just hasn’t been created yet!!  Does that make sense?! Like Pinterest for example. I pin all kinds of things- my dream kitchen, expensive jewelry, designer handbags…I don’t actually OWN them, and likely never will, but having that pin makes me FEEL like I own it, without actually spending the money.

At least that’s my justification for having almost 200 patterns.

Lol. What’s yours?!