Successful travel sewing - How do you get organised for taking your stitching out and about?
Welcome to week 4 of our #SewOrderly challenge!
This is the final week of our February organising push –it’s been a challenge for sure for me, but I’m feeling so thrilled with the progress I’ve made.
It’s a satisfying feeling to know I’ve pushed through the pain to get some results!
Over the course of this month we’ve covered all things sorting and storage about notions, fabric stashes, on going projects.
How have you gone with your organisation?? Don't forget we have weekly prizes for joining in and posting on the hashtag!
This week's prize is a pack of my second Mini Makes Pdf Patterns.
Scroll to the bottom of the post to see our exciting Grand Prize as well!
This week we move on to how we can streamline our sewing on the go.
You know you’re a serious sewist when you just can’t leave it home without a sewing project, or better yet, you plan to get together with others just for that very purpose.
I just love the fact that I can take a little bit of something sewing related with me when I’m out and about and make some progress on it.
Don’t you love the fact that stitching offers so many options for portablilty?
Once your time at the sewing machine is done, you can hand bind on the sofa, baste EPP projects, knit, crochet, cross stitch, and embroider.
But don’t stay on the couch!
All of these projects are so easy to take somewhere else, and you get to choose the place.
Open your mind and find new and exciting places to take your work!
Let’s progress through some options here, because I know the world has changed now, and some of us are limited with travel opportunities.
You can be out and about at home, the couch being the most obvious of course.
There are so many memories are sewn into our projects, so where you stitch a project can give so much more history to that quilt, bag, embroidery or knitted sweater.
How about stitching in bed for a super chilled day where you just need some R&R?
You can take your sewing machine outside – yep!
Set up a station in the back yard in the sun. It’s so refreshing to realise that the machine doesn’t need to be confined to four walls. Combine fresh air with your creativity.
1. Preparing to Travel
Any successful sewing trip involves some level of preparation and organising.
Even if you’re just moving from the sewing machine to the couch.
When the day is over and you just want to chill in front of the TV with your favourite stitching, there’s nothing more annoying than realising you have to get up for your scissors or favourite needle.
Having somewhere purpose built in advance – a sewing station - is the answer for this.
Have a second (or third!) set of everything notion related so you can be pretty sure you won’t be getting up for them at least!
This free sofa organiser is perfect for this…it’s simple and stylish too!
We stitchers like our homemade storage solutions. It’s as much fun making the bag as it is planning what to fill it with!
My sweet Petite Pouch is a my favourite tiny bag for small scissors and a roll of thread.
If you’d like to get travel ready with an array of purpose built sewing travel items, then you’re in luck with so many clever patterns available to choose from.
The Sew Together Bag is a firm favourite with many stitchers, as the divided pockets mean there’s plenty of ways to store multiple pieces and categories.
Aneela Hoey’s range of patterns are designed exactly for easy sewing while travelling.
Another favourite sewing organiser pattern designer is Tatiana Maximenko.
I have a heap of these useful pouches and folders I’d love to make, as my own travel sewing storage systems are still lacking.
I know that it’s going to take some time to build up my own favourite arsenal of products that work well for my needs, but that’s ok!
In the meantime, I’m travelling with baskets, plastic containers and snaplock bags that work just as well.
You don’t need to make your own storage…try re-purposing other items like jewelry caddies and clear stationery envelopes.
Look around your own home and you'll probably already have a wealth of useful options if you go searching. I loved Dana's clever suggestion that she shared.
2. What to Bring
By using some fore thought you can make a trip turn from frustrating to fabulous!
Thinking through each step of what you’d like to do when you’re out will help you avoid hiccup that brings sewing to a standstill.
Whether it’s forgetting important pattern piece or tool, or leaving home an essential piece of fabric, having a pre-packed kit will save a lot of frustration.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve snapped my needle while stitching at my daughter’s music lesson and had no back up! Now I’m much better prepared and always carry at least one extra.
Ask yourself some questions like how much time do I have? Where will I sew? How much room will I have?
Will you be travelling in the car, sitting in a waiting room, going to a sit and sew quilt guild day, or indulging in a whole retreat away for a weekend?
All these options will mean different amounts of packing and preparation. Your location and space available will dictate somewhat whether you can spread out and make a messy project or will have to hand sew something compact.
Car trips and music lessons (where your child plays!) and waiting rooms are great for English paper piecing, or other small hand sewing projects.
Holidays and sew days and retreats are great for working on a larger project where you will need more room.
Here’s a list of a few things you can pack to make your trip go smoothly for stitching on the go:
Every trip bring a prepared project(s) – a no brainer, but seriously you’ll need one and it's easy to forget when you've got a lot of other things to bring.
Take a basic sewing kit including needles, scissors, pins, thread, binding clips.
For longer trips like Sew Days and retreats bring a rotary cutter, cutting mat, travel iron, pressing mat and sewing machine.
I’m not trying to be at all comprehensive here, but showing you how you can view travelling on ‘levels’ of what you’ll need.
I found this awesome list where Kristin has thought of everything you might ever need when you’re packing to go out.
Successful travel sewing is a skill that takes time to perfect, like most things that happen in life.
The key is having a mentality that sees mistakes and derailed plans as the pathway to a better experience next time if you learn from them.
Life is an adventure – an adventure made even better by taking our stitching with us!
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below about some of the most interesting places you’ve taken your projects to sew…
Take a look at our grand prize for joining in this month on #SewOrderly thanks to Utopian Threads.
This scrappy ten piece FQ bundle is so cute!
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