Confessions of a Hoarder Part I

I've been sewing nonstop since January 2010. I made a lot of cute things, sold some stuff on Etsy, and everything was peachy.

In July 2010 I moved into a new house with a spare bedroom Which I dedicated to sewing, crafting, and hoarding. Oh yeah, it's a guest room too, but what guest would mind the tick tick tick of a sewing machine in the middle of the night? 

Anyway, when I get really into a project I create a hurricane of fabric, thread, and pins. And I never clean up after that hurricane.

Part of the hoarding habit is not only collecting things, but also not wanting to put those things away because the thought of them being out of sight is scary. 

So this is what my craft room looks like right now.

Don't judge. I have feelings.

Yeah.

It's a problem.

Normally, I just close the door to the room and go on my merry way.

But then I had these really great pillows that I wanted to sew, and I had to carefully maneuver around all this crap in order to get to the sewing machine. There is no way I can live like this. 

So before I run out and get professional help from a hoarding counselor, I'm going to try to take care of this thing on my own.

Step 1: Organize my fabric. 

I keep every single scrap of fabric that touches my hands. It's absurd the tiny pieces that I have kept from God knows when. So I purged the smallest scraps and attempted to organize the rest of them. I had four grocery bags full of scraps. It was a challenge, and the hardest part was figuring out how I was going to do it. By size? By designer? By pattern (flowers, stripes, etc.)? I decided it would be best if I organized them by color because it was the easiest and most general (read: took the least amount of time).

After a few hours I managed to condense my four grocery bags into one magnificent scrap bin.

Look inside!

I used gallon-sized freezer bags to hold the scraps of each color. I still can't believe it all fits in here. 

I've told myself that when I am finished with a project, I will gather up the scraps and put them in the appropriate color bags. And I will not hold onto anything that is too small.

Yikes, I guess it's all about implementation.

We'll see.

Stay tuned for another exciting installment of Confessions of a Hoarder.