UFO/Stash Busting Month Part 1 - The Amazing Sewing Journal!

Hello there fellow UFO/Stash Busters and welcome to UFO/Stash Busting Month! This month I will be writing a variety of posts all about Stash Busting, how I get motivated and organised etc. I hope you enjoy it!

For my first post I want to share with you one of the best tools I have in my Stash Busting artillery: The Amazing Sewing Journal!

Just a common or garden moleskin notebook, but stuffed with sewing goodness :)

Now I have seen the idea of a sewing journal on quite a few blogs, both Kerry and Tasha keep them, and if you haven't got one you really should! They are so much fun to keep, and although I am a huge fan of keeping track of my projects online (I write a blog after all!) I also love having something to physically hold and write in to get me motivated and inspired :)

However a sewing journal can be so much more than just for record keeping! Let me show you how I use my sewing journal specifically for UFO/Stash Busting purposes...

The Sewing Journal Breakdown!

The page from my Sewing Journal for my recently completed 1950s Novelty Print Book Dress

• The Seasonal Dot - I mark each of my patterns with a different coloured dot depending on which season it would be appropriate to wear the completed garment in (blue = winter project, yellow = summer project, blue+yellow = suitable for all seasons, red = miscellaneous project i.e. lingerie/sleepwear) This means that if I want to find a suitable project from my stash I can just pick one of the appropriate colour. Simple :)
• Pattern Picture - a photocopy of the pattern sleeve
• Fabric Swatch - a yummy swatch of the chosen fabric for this pattern

*** If I have both a pattern picture and a fabric swatch that means that I have both the pattern and the fabric in my stash so this would be a good Stash Busting Project to start, lots of stash busting would be done in completing it! ***

• Completed Dot - When the project is finished it gets one of these smug little green dots. It's a celebratory thing :)
• Pattern and Fabric Details - specific details of the pattern/fabric, where I bought them etc.
• Specific Pattern Details - which variation of the pattern I have decided to do
• Alterations - any alterations done to the pattern for fitting etc.
• Start and Finish Dates - do what they say on the tin! 

The seasonal dot together with the pattern picture and fabric swatch really help me when it comes to planning what project I will be starting next. I like to start projects that I know will make a proper dent in my Stash, so whenever I have both a pattern and some fabric for a project I enter their details in my Sewing Journal. So when it comes to starting a new project I turn to my journal and pick a project that I know is appropriate to wear for the time I am making it (that's where the seasonal dot comes in!) and away I go! It works for me, and it means I keep track of how many planned projects I have on the go at any one time - a great way to stop just buying patterns and fabric at random and hoping for the best!

This means that most of the pages in my Sewing Journal look a bit like this:

So there you have it, The Amazing Sewing Journal! Having this with me has really helped me to get motivated and organised, I hope it helps inspire you all too in your Stash Busting Adventures :)

And just to whet your appetites, here's another page from my sewing journal, a little taste of my newest Stash Busting Project...

Bye for now! 

Katie xxx


P.S. Don't forget to join the UFO/Stash Busting Flickr Group!