Creators block

 

I think most people have heard about authors having a writer’s block. Not being able to write anything new. 

I think this happens to all creative people now and then. 

Well at least it happens to me. It has happened before and probably will happen again. Hopefully not anytime soon  

Not being able to do anything creative, is a disaster for me. 

I always have several projects that I’m working on. It’s also helping me through bad days and chronic pain.  Having several projects on the go gives me joy. And this pretty much sums up who I am.  

But this Spring was very busy and much was going on. 

So I stopped posting landscape pictures on Instagram, because it took so much time and energy. 

Then I stopped taking pictures because it wasn’t fun when I couldn’t share. 

Didn’t think much about it at the time as I still was quite busy. And doing creative projects wasn’t my priority. 

I was going  to make garden figures out of wire and beads , something I usually like and enjoy creating very much. But it felt like an impossible task. It felt better to just do some dull cleaning or other things I usually try skip to work with my creative projects.  

So I managed to make 4 but it didn’t give me any joy. Last year I made over 20 garden figures. 

Spring came and went and I found I didn’t want to knit, or crochet or do any mending.  

 

When housework and painting houses etc sound more fun than doing what you loved it’s pretty serious don’t you think?

 

Still I didn’t think too much about it at the time. It has been a very good Summer perfect for outdoors activities. We aren’t really spoiled with this much nice Summer weather. So we hurried to get outdoor chores done, as we were thinking it’s not going to last. 

And we got so much done. But my joy for creativeness was totally gone. 

I had a lot of plans but never bothered to start. I would find things for the next project and then just leave them there. 

I only did very simple things, not really managing to keep my mind focused on anything creative.  

I had plenty of time to do some things but I would rather just play a silly game on my phone. 

Sounds a bit like a depression, right?. But this only infected my creative part of the brain. 

I put off everything thinking I would do it tomorrow, and tomorrow turned into the next tomorrow and so on because it all felt like an unwanted task. 

Even posting and writing on social media was really tricky. But I have obligations to the mending community and I felt really sad not being able to do a better job.  

After all it’s supposed to be the fun part of life.  

Feeling guilty for not being able to make anything productive and not managing to follow up with what I was supposed to do, didn’t really help.  

 

So I was fed up with not being able to create and just tried to force myself to do something. Well, I get all my socks darned and I did a few very easy projects that I wasn’t required to  think too much. But it still wasn’t fun.   

Making blog posts for Mendingmayhem and learning people to mend . Seemed impossible and I felt more and more guilty for not managing to get back on track. I didn’t know how to proceed.  

 

3 weeks ago I found some yarn I thought it might inspire me to knit a simple scarf. So I searched for patterns, but I didn’t find any I liked or had the energy to do. 

So the yarn sat untouched. 

I felt like a balloon with out air – very deflated.  

Not a creative bone left in my body. Except for the twig birds maybe it’s been the only project I actually had a good time with lately.  

I realised creativity can’t be forced. I already knew that, but I still felt I had to try and be creative.  

And everyone was telling me that I’m always creative. When really, my creativeness was as dry as sand from Sahara.  

Last week my sister came and she asked if I could fix her jeans. She has very long legs and rarely ever find jeans that are long enough for her body. 

So I said yes. And I was actually looking forward to it. For the first time in over 6 months I was really looking forward to doing something creative. Once I started working on my sisters jeans I also started working that yarn for the scarf I had left untouched. 

So hopefully my creative block is going away.  

And my creative energy will return along with the joy of creating.  

I’m writing this because I want you to know if it happens to you, you are not the only one.  Katrine. 

You can listen to it over at Seworganisedstylepodcast.com

 

Diy wool insoles

Winter is coming and it's better to be prepared. Some wool insoles for your shoes will keep your feet warm. 

They are very easy to make yourself. 

 I used an old wool blanket.

If you don't have one you can often find them in thrift stores. It doesn't have to be pretty as they will be inside your shoes.

Or if you have a felted sweater it will work fine too.

You don't need a sewing machine, but it's much faster. 

A quick search on Google I saw wool insoles at a price range from 100 - 400 Norwegian kroner [ 12 - 47us$]  So you can easily save a few dollars if you make them yourself.

Cut 4 pieces from the wool blanket. 

I used another pair of insoles to draw a pattern. 

Putting 2 pieces together and sew them together around the edge. I used my serger, but a regular sewing machine work fine. Use Zigzag stitch around the edge. 

You can also hand stitch using blanket stitch. 

Then sew a few seams through both layers and you have a lovely pair of warm insoles for winter. 

If you don't want them to slide around in your shoes you can use an extra layer of non slippery fabric or add a few stripes of hot glue with a glue gun. 

Adding length to jeans part 2

 

This method doesn't need any cutting in the jeans so even easier than the first one. 

You can actually just add a piece of lace or ribbon at the bottom of the jeans. 

Unfortunately all the lace I had that me and my sister thought looked good wasn't wide enough. 

So I cut two pieces of fabric 8cm high and as wide as the jeans legs and a little bit for seam allowance. 

Folding them double, then sewing them together making two pieces of 3.5cm 

You can use only a piece of fabric as well, but I think this looks better. 

Now I'm adding the lace to the bottom of this strip of fabric 

I wasn't thinking about adding anything else, but wasn't happy about how it looked. 

Remembered I had some cool gold Zigzag ribbon and decided to add it over the lace 

Then sewing them together in the side 

Now it's just to sew them to the bottom of the jeans 

I decided to hand stitch to make it invisible on the outside. 

I stitched in the top of the hem making sure it's not visible at the front. 

 

I'm quite happy with this pair as well. 

How to add extra length to a pair of jeans

 

My sister has very long legs and never seems to find well fitting jeans or trousers.

So when she got two pairs of jeans passed on to her, she asked me if I could help.

Of course I could, it even sounds like a lot of fun to me. 

I'll show you how to add length to jeans or trousers here. 

The first pair I added a extra piece of fabric into the leg. 

First I ironed the jeans as it is important that it's a clean cut. Then measured where to cut and how much. Marking it with a dissolveing fabric marker. 

Carefully cut off the bottom of the jeans 

Find some fabric similar to the jeans 

I have used fabric from another pair of jeans that were donated to me. 

If you have some that fit perfectly just cut out the entire piece. Mine didn't so I made 4 pices an sewed to and two together. 

Open up the side seams of the jeans you are adding length to. 

This will make it easier to add the extra fabric. You don't need to open it up all the way, just a little bit, both at the bottom and the top of where you cut the jeans 

Sew the new pieces to the jeans 

Trim off excess fabric so it will fit the legs 

Sew the cut off bottom of the leg to your added piece of fabric 

If you only want a piece of fabric, you can close the side seams and you are done. 

This works well for sweat pants and children's trousers. 

But I don't think it's particularly good for women who don't get long enough jeans. 

You want something that looks good right. 

So my plan was to hide it under some ribbons. 

Making some really fancy jeans for my little sister 

I tried different ribbons and lace until I found something I was satisfied with 

Pinning the first one in place, the rest I just put next to the other. 

Make sure you get the ribbon at the exact same place on the other leg and repeat the process 

When the ribbons are all in place, close the side seams and you are done 

Close up of the finished leg 

I think this one turned out pretty well 

My sister was very happy with them and think this definitely will be next years fashion 🤔 

Jeans are now about 7 cm longer 

And fitted my sister perfectly. 

Check out part 2 for how I altered the second pair 

Too small jeans or trousers

It's so annoying to take out your favorite pair of jeans and discover they have been shrinking in the wardrobe 

Don't worry it can be solved. By adding a little bit of fabric in both sides. 

I'll show you how. 

Start by cutting the side seams open as fare as you need to make your jeans fit. 

Try to avoid pesky nails if you can't you need to take them out using pliers. 

I cut to the front pocket. Unpick a little bit of the lining and the side seam. The one you just cut open. 

Find the fabric you want to use. It's better to use something similar to the one in your trousers. I had some denim in my stash in quite similar colours so I went for it. 

Put your opend seam on top of the fabric to measure the kind of piece you need. 

Use a fabric marker or chak to mark the area 

Cut out your pieces you will need two one for each side of your jeans. 

REMEMBER TO CUT WITH SEEM ALLOWANCE. And access to fold back down at the lining. 

Pin your triangles in place where you cut your seam and sew it in place. 

Remember to sew over the original seam as you don't want it to rip. And to fold out the lining so you can sew all the way to the back side of the lining as well. 

It can be a little bit tricky to sew the triangle by machine, but I prefer to use my machine. You can of course use hand stitching if you like to or don't have a sewing machine. 

Now your pices should look like this.

Repeat on the other side. 

Then top stitch the lining and your triangles and make sure you get all the way to the original seams. 

And you should be able to wear your favorite pair of jeans again. 

 

Mine had a couple of extra needs. 

I discovered holes next to the back pockets. I fixed it using a under patch and just darning it with the machine 

Hope you enjoy wearing your favorite pair of jeans again.