10 Perfectly Reasonable Excuses for Not Starting Your Next Sewing Project

We sewists are very good at finding things to do before we sew. Useful things. Necessary things. Things that look remarkably like sewing preparation, which makes them very difficult to argue with. 

And somehow, despite having a pattern picked out, fabric waiting and a perfectly good sewing machine, we can spend an entire afternoon getting ready to get ready.

Here are ten perfectly reasonable explanations. If you recognise yourself in any of them, pull up a chair. You’re among friends.

1. The Fabric Isn’t Quite Right

There’s a difference, obviously.

You might have three cupboards full, a few lengths in the laundry and something arriving on Tuesday. But this particular project needs something you don’t currently own. Or something you’re fairly sure you own but can’t find, which amounts to much the same thing.

So you have a quick look online. Forty minutes later, you’ve bought fabric for two completely different projects and forgotten what you were looking for.

Still. A productive afternoon.

2. The Good Fabric Needs a Better Sewist

Very sensible. A test run can tell you all sorts of useful things.

But sometimes the test run turns out beautifully. You wear it, love it, make another one in a different fabric… and the good fabric stays folded on the shelf.

Apparently you’re still not ready.

A friend of a friend has fabric she’s been working towards being good enough for since 2018. At this point, I think the fabric might need to lower its expectations.

3. The Sewing Room Needs Tidying

Fair enough. You need somewhere to cut.

But clearing the cutting table leads to sorting the scraps, which leads to finding an unfinished top, which leads to looking for its missing sleeve.

Then you find a bag of buttons. Naturally, those need sorting too. By the time you’ve finished, there’s no time left to sew and the cutting table is covered in different things.

I’m told this can happen more than once in the same week! Asking for a friend.

4. More Research Is Required

You’re looking for inspiration. Perhaps a fabric idea. Maybe someone has made the exact combination of options you’re considering. One quick search should do it.

Then someone’s version sends you off to a fabric shop. Another reminds you of a pattern you already own. Someone mentions a clever adjustment, so you need to read about that too.

You emerge two hours later with seventeen screenshots and a strong desire to make something entirely different. Your original project remains untouched, but you are now exceptionally well informed.

5. There Isn’t Enough Time

A lovely thought.

No interruptions. No appointments. No one asking what’s for dinner just as you’re trying to work out which side of the fabric is the right side.

Unfortunately, the mythical uninterrupted sewing day can take a while to arrive. Meanwhile, we dismiss twenty minutes because it’s “not enough time”, then spend those twenty minutes looking at sewing on our phones.

I do wonder how much we could get done if we only had to commit to winding the bobbin and seeing what happened next.

6. The Fabric Hasn’t Been Prewashed

This one is particularly good because it’s a legitimate job. The trouble is what happens afterwards.

The fabric gets washed. Then it needs drying. Then it sits in a basket because it needs pressing. Then you move it somewhere sensible because you need the basket.

Three weeks later, you find it and can’t remember whether you prewashed it. Best wash it again to be safe.

7. One Small Purchase Is Necessary

You probably do. Although it’s worth checking whether the thread you bought for this project is still in the little bag from your last visit.

Off you go anyway.

While you’re there, you remember you’re low on needles. And that elastic might come in handy. There’s also a fabric you weren’t looking for, but you can immediately picture it made up.

You come home with enough supplies for four projects. The matching thread is still at the shop. 

8. The Options Need Further Consideration

You started out knowing exactly what you wanted. Then you opened the tutorial.

Now you’re considering a different sleeve, another neckline and whether you might wear the longer version more often. Although the shorter one would work with those pants. Perhaps you should make the pants first?

You hold the fabric up in front of the mirror again. No new information is revealed, but it feels important to check.

9. The Next Project Needs Planning

Because you’re organised. You pull out a few patterns, match them with fabric and start thinking about what would work together. Then you realise you could build a whole little wardrobe around that linen you’ve been saving.

Out comes the notebook. Soon there are lists, fabric samples and a fairly ambitious plan involving seven garments.

The project you were going to start today is now underneath the notebook.

10. It’s Too Late to Start Now

To be fair, you’ve had a busy day.

You researched the pattern, assessed the fabric situation, reorganised some buttons, checked several fabric shops and planned most of your summer wardrobe.

You’re exhausted. Starting now would be ridiculous. Tomorrow, though. Tomorrow you’ll get straight into it. Once you’ve tidied the cutting table.

xo Kate