Sarai is continuing her habit-changing challenge, and I accept the challenge! This month, I promise to myself (and to y'all) that I will put my scissors away after each session.
Methinks this will not be as easy as the thread snipping.
Step #1 is to find a better location for scissor storage! Currently, the 4 pairs in constant use hang from an artsy-craftsy scissor hook thingy. I thought that would be a good idea, and it does work, but the location of the hook is a major issue here. Just getting to the scissor hook in my tiny room involves navigating the narrow area between my cutting table and a bank of fabric storage drawers to the furthest corner of the sewing room, and I'm just flat out way too lazy to walk that far every time I want to put my scissors away. So they get laid on the cutting table & buried under pattern pieces, or they meander into the ironing area & snuffle their way under a bit of fabric, and the paper cutters even manage to find their way out of the sewing room and into other areas of the house (probably because the office scissors got used for pattern cutting when the pattern cutters went for a stroll somewhere, so all of a sudden I can't find a single pair of paper-cutting scissors, and the house contains at least 3 or 5 of these....)
The sharp-eyed among you may notice that there are only 3 pair hanging here - that's because #4 has managed to walk off - probably giggling at me from under a pile of rumpled fabric...somewhere.....I'll find you before the day is out though!
So. I have a day at home today, and part of the day will be devoted to getting my sewing room semi-organized. It's officially a disaster area, given the too-many-projects-at-once aspect of my life lately. By tonight the scissor hook will be moved to a more convenient location.
And then, I hereby solemnly swear that I will make every effort to put. the. darned. things. away. After each use.
I can do this. I did well with the thread-snipping thing, so I can do this.
She tells herself confidently.
UPDATE: I've not cleaned up the sewing room completely, but at least I cleared off the cutting table, and have relocated the scissor hook to the other side of the cutting table. This places them near the door as I enter the room (or exit it), right by the cutting table, close enough to the machines, and since the ironing board is a few feet away in the next room, there could hardly be a more central, accessible spot! I also angled the scissor hook, so that the blades and points are less likely to touch each other.
Now then, all I need to do is use it :)
Are you changing any habits to make your sewing life easier or more efficient? And if you worked on a habit in August, how did you do with it? Join me in this monthly goal - I highly recommend it!
25 comments:
Just make the official "place" for each pair of scissors where you will use them. TIE a ribbon or string (yarn?) to each scissor - and then tie the other end to your sewing machine or ironing board. As long as you can find the string, you can follow it or pull out the scissors.
I suppose the shrinks out there could have a field day with my initial reaction - a strong aversion to being "tied down"....but a part of me wonders if this would make sense, at least for the paper-cutters. Really, the ONLY thing they are used for in the sewing room is, well, cutting paper. And realistically, all of that can happen right on the cutting table - what a concept!
The others do need to be carried around. Unless I want to buy even more scissors. And I do not. ;0
I'm joining your challenge. I've been trying very hard to snip threads. It's not easy for me. Scissors are not a problem. I have two plain an simple peg boards, one by the sewing machines and the other by the cutting table. I wish I had something as cute as your artsy-craftsy scissor hook thingy. From my point of view, if you can learn to snip threads, you can do anything!
hehe - I constantly have to search for scissors! I didn't join in with you last month because from Day 1 my sewing teacher knocked it into me to snip those threads as soon as you're finished sewing them. So I'm an A+ student and snipping threads. But scissors? My golly gosh, a whole different story. They say is takes 21 days to form a habit, so here's to the next 21 days of scissor placement!
21 days - we can do it for 21 days!
And if you can store scissors that easily, you can definitely clip threads! We can do this!
I love your scissors hooky-thingy! Perfect sewing room decor.
You may have guessed, I am a thread snipper too. Even when clothes go through the wash, I clip threads with my laundry room scissors.
Which leads me to scissors. I may have a scissors issue. I hide my scissors - on purpose. To protect them from wandering miscreants who would misuse my fabric shears. So I always know where they are.
I am quite sure I can find another bad habit to work on. Like throwing thread on the floor.
It appears that I may one of the Very Few who does not understand why throwing thread on the floor is considered a no-no.
Isn't that what vacuums are for?
I bought this scissor block thingy years and years ago so my scissors for the sewing machine are stored in it. Convenient. The scissors for the cutting table are stored in the drawer under the table. I highly recommend drawers in your cutting table they are great for storing all the things that you need to use at the table and easy to sweep the things back into the drawers when you're done with them. Good luck with this new challenge. I'm sure that in 21 days you will have developed a new habit.
HI Jilly,
I am very happy my post filled you..it filled me too.
Now my habits - I've let go of good and bad..they just ARE. I have learned I like to work in happy chaos. Yes I do lose the scissors under a pile, but I forgive myself.
As for tidying up the studio - arghhh!!
Hope the scissor nook works - I have a feeling that is you have to shift the large scissors to get at the smaller ones, it may not work.. (sorry)
P.S. Have I thanksed you fornot having word verif on?? Sometimes I spend more time getting those silly letters right than replying to the post.
This table is one of those (relatively) inexpensive JA tables with the folding ends - I tried to figure out how to build drawers into it, but no can do. I'm a huge fan of drawers for storage....and if my dream studio gets built.....
Thank you for writing such consistently filling posts!
What I've learned is that we all have our own styles and methods of work & creativity....and the best thing we can do is respect what works for us...and for others :) I need to be ABLE to create my happy chaos...and then I need to balance it with the ability to clear it all out & create a blank canvas to breathe in :)
Oh, and the layered scissors is a bit of an illusion - the only one that is covering up another is paper over pinkers...and the pinkers are the least used, so it's OK by me. :)
ARGHH on the word verification! I wrote a post on this a bit ago....it may be time to vent and beg again....
My scissors are sometimes like my dollar store glasses....they send themselves out into the foru corners of the world and then every so often decide to come back together. My most usegul change has been to wear small Ginger snips on a lanyard around my neck when sewing which does help me do more consistent thread snipping.
If anyone saw my sewing room that person would wonder how I could even find my sewing machine, but I have no problems finding things--for the most part--and no problem finding scissors. It could be because when I lay down any pair, that particular pair is always put in the same location. I have pairs by the ironing board, on the cutting table, at the sewing machine, and the other one in a drawer by the machine. My paper cutting scissors do move around a bit but I have 4 pairs and they stand out as they are those cheapy ones House of Fabrics gave out years ago.
Everyone has their own methods (as you mentioned, Jilly) and should do what works for them.
Once I made a sewing apron so I could move around and have my needed notions with me in the pockets, but I forget to wear it. Having an apron like this, made out of a cute sewing themed fabric, might be a useful idea for some.
What a great post! I just keep finding cool scissors and I just keep buying them and of course losing them in the sewing dungeon. I honestly don't even know how many pairs I have. I intend to keep scissors and rotary cutters by the sewing machine, cutting table, and ironing board. I say intend because clearly they feel differently about it and migrate.
I have resisted buying really nice one because then I will have to have several pairs of them. I can't justify multiple Kai's or Ginghers.
I am a dedicated thread snipper, I didn't know you were allowed not to cut them, I thought the sewing goddesses would curse you. And threads DO belong on the floor, if they didn't the laws of gravity would leave them alone.
Inspiring post. I have trouble finding things right after I used them. The pencil or ruler will be under the paper pieces I just traced and cut, the scissors... well I can usually find the one for paper, but the one for fabric is often missing when I need it.
One thing I really want to change and I'm working on is to try and clean up after I've sewn a garment. Usually I start something new when there's still a lot of clutter around. And it sews so much easier (find your stuff easier that is) when you've cleaned the mess (there is always a mess when I sew).
You should see my studio right now. It's like a bomb went off as I'm cleaning. Actually, you shouldn't see it!!! I'm trying to adhere to the motto of "everything in it's place." We'll see how long that lasts ;))
HOW do they do that....glasses & scissors...and WHERE do they really go??? It's like the mystery of the missing socks....
There are some things in my life that look like a mess, but I know exactly where everything is.
My sewing room, alas, is not one of those places. :-/
Thank you, my fellow thread-dropping sister! It's good to know that I am not alone :)
That is the craziest thing of all...when you JUST used those scissors - 5 minutes ago - and they've gone for a walk already!
I usually do clean up between projects, but that concept flies out the window when you are in a phase of multiple projects going on. (AKA UFO city.....)
I think that part of the problem of working in a tiny place, with every square inch of fabric storage spaces already filled, and yet more fabric keeps finding its way in.......
Ummmm, yes. That's not just part of my problem, it's 90% of it! The fabric doesn't HAVE its place!
Hub drilled a hole in the hopper for overlocker bits coming off. I attached a split ring keyring thingy to each end of a chain, attached one end to snips and other end to hole in overlocker hopper. This was soooooooooo successful I have done the same with a pair of small sharp scissors, the other ring I loop over the power cable to the sewing machine. No matter how much carp I have on the worktop, I just have to find the chain and pull the scissors to the top.
Machine feet were always going walkabout, so I have a little area of my counter top tidy tray that they live on. I still haven't found my invisible zipper foot that provoked this episode of tidiness!
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