Why I love "Slow Fashion October": Focus!

October 2, 2015 thecraftsessions

One of my favourite intentional pieces of clothing. This is Hawser in progress. She gets worn 3 times a week at present.

I want to live a life I can be proud of. One where I can think back over the choices that I've made and know that they enriched my life. One where I didn't get so distracted by the buzz of the connected world that I spent so much time in my virtual life at the expense of my real life. And by virtual life I include time spent in my imagination. I want to be mindful of the life that is right in front of me. I want to make sure that I am prioritising what will make me feel fulfilled in the long term. And not get caught up in the quick fix.

I want to consciously build that life I'm proud of. Construct it. A construction that is a work in progress over the next fifty years. Making sure my values are at the core of it, and they enrich both my life, and the lives of the people around me. Especially my partner and my kids. My local community. And my environment.

I want my kids to understand my values and watch me walk my talk. I have no choice. Smart cookies that they are - they will see through me if I don't.

And all this is why I love Slow Fashion October.

Over the last year I've been writing about my journey in a project I called Stash Less. It's initial aim was to talk about my consumption around craft but it's scope also included ideas around what I was making, how and why. It's changed my making and furthermore it's changed me. I've learnt so much about myself and what I value - and yesterday on October 1st Stash Less was a year old! The very same day that Karen launched Slow Fashion October - such a lovely coincidence!

In a very lovely and supportive way, Karen and I have been on a bit of a parallel journey around our wardrobes over the last year. It's something we both talk about in the Woolful episode we were featured in early this year. Ashley titled the episode "Handmade wardrobes, Intentional making, stashes and talent". And I think her title was perfect!! In it we both talk a bit about our evolving thoughts around concious wardrobe creation. I've found Karen's journey so inspiring! And I'm so glad she came up with the idea to create and host Slow Fashion October. It feels really timely to me.

Late last year, I wrote a Stash Less post called Selling Discontent. In it, I talked about how I felt that even though I was hand making, sometimes my approach towards making was more akin to fast fashion than slow. That my crafting wasn't necessarily connected to my values. And how I was letting the time poverty of early parenting act as an excuse (a good one but an excuse none the less) to make at a frantic pace. Churning things out without putting as much thought as I would like to into whether I was creating a body of work (read: wardrobe) that I would be proud of and that suited my needs.

Me Made May this year showed me clearly that actually it probably isn't as bad as I thought. Over the last few years I've created wardrobe that is versatile and coordinated. There are a million outfit options open to me that mean that I'm not getting bored and I'm able to look like I want. However one thing I did identify in that post was that most of what i had made fell into the category of Simple Sewing 101. This is great, as that is mainly what I wear, simple clothes. However, when I look at my visual diary via Pinterest, I can clearly see there is a disconnect. The pinterest page shows I really, truly, love frocks. And yet my frock making tally consists of two frocks in total, one of which I don't wear.

Frocks are my white whale (terrible analogy but go with it, I'm a little tired). They are the thing I never get to making even though they are the thing I really want to make, and really want to wear. I never get to them due to the hum of distraction and instant gratification. I prioritise all the easy stuff. The kids clothes, the sweaters, the cushion covers as I know I will get the result I want. I am yet to make a frock I love - I avoid the frock making as it is a bit harder. I will have to work on getting them to fit. And they might not work. The perfectionist in me is in full avoidance mode.

And so I live in avoidance land. In anticipatory hum of when I will get to the frock pile of fabrics and patterns. Oh the joy that will be had when I get there. And yet I don't. Get there. Because I prioritise all the easy stuff at the expense of the thing I really want.

My commitment to Slow Fashion October!

I plan on using Slow Fashion October as a way to focus. I think the loose structure that Karen has provided gives a lovely framework within which focus can be found and intention set.

Put simply, my focus is to do the hard stuff and to make the frocks that have been sitting on my wish list forever.

One caveat to my plan is that Slow Fashion October will not be a slow crafting month for me. October is a seasonal transition month in Australia. It is the month where each year I remake the kids wardrobes with the things they need for the summer. And there is a birthday which means special sewing. So as well as making frocks for me I need to make four pairs of small boy shorts, two pairs of small girl shorts and two small girl dresses - one of which is a birthday dress. That said, birthday dresses take time and are all about intention so that fits well.

Lucky for me I love a bit of a deadline and I love me a bit of focused making. Also lucky for me the definition of Slow Fashion October is up to the individual (thanks Karen!) and may or may not include speed making. As long as that making is done with intention.

Cause that's point is really.... to think about what is meaningful!

My commitment to Slow Fashion October is to think about the intention behind the things I make and ensure that my making sits comfortably with my values.

If anyone else feels like joining me in a bit of frock sewing I'm hashtagging it #slowfashionoctoberfrocks. A wordy hashtag to be sure but one I'm chuffed to be participating in.

Felicia x

Stash Less - Let's talk about desire.

September 29, 2015 thecraftsessions

The series where we talk about having a thoughtful stash. You can find all previous Stash Less posts here.

Stash Less is nearly a year old - October 7th will be the year anniversary since I began this challenge! And while I haven't written about it for a little while, I'm still working hard at changing my habits around purchasing, and around using my materials. Change has been a process that I am plugging away at. While progress has been made (which is pleasing of course) it turns out, there's a kicker. Even though I've done nearly a year's work, I haven't really felt like I've cracked it yet.

Recently I think I've come closer to understanding why. It's not pretty. Nor is it necessarily an easy fix.

Why? Why - even though I have enough materials, enough finished objects, a plan of what I want to make and limited time, AND a project called Stash Less on the go - why would I still get struck with desire? Stuck in desire, at the sight of some pretty yarn, sitting on the shelf at a pretty store. And why would it happen over again, straight after I've just purchased some other pretty thing that was sitting on a shelf, at a different pretty store. Why, after all this work to examine my purchasing triggers and change my purchasing habits, would I still be struggling sometimes to not push the purchase button on my internet shopping cart. Why would I even bloody well have things sitting in my internet cart in the first place.

I've talked about desire a bit as I've been writing my Stash Less posts - most notably in Stash Less - Selling Discontent and then Stash Less - I think I may have found the key. But as I'm still battling with it I went looking for some psychology around it to see if I could find some ideas to help me understand it better.

I've found you a couple of useful articles from a US (?) website called Psychology Today. They aren't necessarily the best articles on the topic - they are however two that popped up when I went wandering around the interweb. The first is called How Desire Fools Us: The Benefits and Dangers of The Chase and the another called The Problem of Desire. I would suggest that you go and read them if you're interested, but I'm going to sum up what I've learned from them (and articles like them) because I think that understanding desire may be the most helpful thing I can do to change my habits. You see, it turns out that there are reasons why this thing is so difficult. It turns out evolution is not on my side.

So, we need desire.

We wouldn't do anything without it. It is essential in order for us to get out of bed in the morning and go do anything. It gives you motivation. On the other end of the scale, depression is characterised by an absence of desire.

Anticipatory Joy

Desire gives us many things but one of the most important, when thinking in a Stash Less context, is anticipatory joy.

“Anticipatory joy also helps us complete more complex and challenging goals by providing us with the determination, excitement, and grit needed to complete marathons, college or graduate school degrees, or fluency in a foreign language.””

— How Desire Fools Us by Emma M. Seppala Ph.D.

The anticipatory joy we get from desire gives us the ability to do more in our lives than things that are just immediately gratifying. And the joy itself, feels good. Crafting and all the daydreaming around it means we get to sit in desire, sit in the sparkle of longing. We get to think about what we might make, and how we might make it, and what the possibilities are. There is so much joy to be found in anticipation, especially when we are time poor, and distraction rich.

Getting the thing we desire doesn't cure the itch.

Desiring something, and then getting it, doesn't necessarily make us happy. Go watch this youtube video of Dan Gilbert talking about The Science of Happiness where he talks about the fact that we are terrible at predicting what will make us happy and that we often get it wrong.

You know that feeling when you purchase something you really thought you wanted, you enjoy it on the way home and then you get home and put it next to all that you already have and it becomes just another thing.....

““Moreover, as soon as a desire is fulfilled, people stop taking pleasure in its fulfilment and instead formulate new desires, because, in the course of evolution, contentedness and complacency did not tend to promote survival and reproduction.””

— The Problem of Desire - Neel Burton M.D.

So we move straight on to desiring the next thing. Owning the thing doesn't fill us up.

And then there is greed.

Desire when done to excess is greed. And the feeling of being overwhelmed by visually being shocked by the amount of stuff I had purchased (read: greed) was what started Stash Less in the first place.

I really am not enjoying thinking of myself as greedy but in reality that is what it is/was. It's wanting things and then wanting some more. And some more even, though I have more materials than I need, and more materials that I can reasonably use.

It seems that we haven't evolved enough to get the concept of enough. How cool would that be - that when we had enough, our desires just switched off.

““Another problem of greed is that it is all-consuming, reducing life in all its richness and complexity to nothing but an endless quest for more.””

— The Problem of Desire - Neel Burton M.D.

Not aware of most desires

The Problem of Desire then goes to to say that we are only really conscious of our desires (because we have so many) when they are really strong OR they compete with other desires we might hold.

This is where I am at. I have two competing desires.
1. To buy more/to own the pretty/to not feel like I am denying myself of something I want/to do what I please.
2. To purchase/own/hoard less and to instead to purchase meaningfully and with intention. To have a reasonable amount and to be happy with "enough". To not be in a state of desire. To be conscious.

We trick ourselves and make excuses

The Problem of Desire then went on to say that it gets even trickier as we are very good at using our intellect to disguise, justify or rationalise the desire. Our minds are a one-way desire fulfilling machines without a good feedback mechanism.

Doing Stash Less over the last year has changed me. When I'm slipping up these days, it's when I'm not paying enough attention or I'm when I'm using my intellect to reframe the purchasing into something valid, something reasonable.

I think this is the biggest problem I now face in changing my ways. Maybe you do too?

I/you care about the impact we have on the planet. I/you care about being thoughtful conscious consumers who aren't caught up in a spiral of never-ending desire.

And yet faced with something pretty, I justify with a "well this is really consciously produced, or small batch, or naturally dyed or blah blah..... special." But if I already have enough, if I have something that I could use for what I'm making that is good enough, then really all I am doing is making excuses. I am using my intellect against myself, and against the competing desire I have, which is to be conscious.

I'm worried this post is sounding a little negative. It isn't meant to be - it is meant to be a honest post about understanding some of the harder-to-change behaviours around purchasing. And to me understanding it is the key to not being a slave to the never-ending desire spiral.

Using Desire for Good

The first article I mention goes on to talk about how we can use some of the "negatives" of desire to our advantage. If I translate her ideas for our purpose then you would;

Use the anticipatory joy to get things done - to create rather than purchase.
Keep it real about why you are purchasing and try to find balance
Remember the real circumstances/reasons for why people happy. Yarn is not on the list. Nor are things.

Point 2 has been critical for me. The biggest thing I've done is simply to get really conscious. And I think this will be an ongoing and long term project. I'll talk some more about this soon....

“Remember that happiness researchers agree that the key to happiness—after having adequate food and shelter—lies in personal relationships and social connection..... Most importantly, recent research shows that some of the deepest feelings of fulfillment don’t actually come from buying, purchasing, acquiring or succeeding at all, but that they actually come from giving. ”

— How Desire Fools Us by Emma M. Seppala Ph.D

Love your thoughts on this one.

Felicia x

P.S. Karen's Slow Fashion October is the perfect antidote to the desire spiral. I'm excited to be joining in and will start posting about it later this week.

Previously: Stash Less - Not just for the holidays.

The Craft Sessions 2015 - Part 2.

September 25, 2015 thecraftsessions

My purchase from our mini-market was a handful of Kate's (aka @valley_maker) handspun alpaca. Obsessed would be an understatement when talking about how much I love this yarn.

Geez! That took a while. I have only just finished editing the photos, and while my SIL wisely suggested yesterday that I needed to cull some, I still ended up with over 500! So much beauty and so many good photos. But I got stuck totally reliving the joy - I love the fact that the photos convey the feeling.

You can find the first lot of photos here if you missed them. I'll share one more round of photos next week sometime, mainly so I can show you some of the beautiful work they finished on the Sunday. And everyone's smiling faces in our group photo.

I'll be back next week with normal blogging which I'm really excited about. It feels like it's been a while between drinks. In the mean time without further ado here are some more pictures of the beauty they made....

Felicia x

Part of the mini-market that featured the teacher's goods.

Helene from Stitch 56 who brought her lovely wares to us. — Helene from Stitch 56 who brought her lovely wares to us.

The lovely Jenn who coordinated the mini-market xx

Spinning demonstration with Kate and her mum Judy.

I was a little obsessed with Phillipa's skirt!

Preparations, Supporters and a Winner!

September 22, 2015 thecraftsessions

I'm going to post a whole heap more photos of the retreat tomorrow, but in the mean time I thought I would show you a few photos of Jenn and I preparing the gift bags for the participants, and while I'm at it thank our supporters. We really appreciate their ongoing support as they enable us to share a little more love on the weekend by way of a gorgeous gift bag. We couldn't do it without them.

Each year we hand make a (gorgeous :)) gift for each of the participants, and for this year's gift we owe a big BIG thank you to The Fabric Store. They donated over 30m of fabric so we could make these super pretty linen project bags. We were lucky enough to be allowed to steal the design from the lovely Melissa of Tiny Happy and we love how they turned out. My only sadness is that we didn't quite make enough, so none of us ended up with one. Won't make that mistake again! I've also just realised that I didn't get a proper photo of them.....

A big big thank you to Jenn (who you see in my half-renovated kitchen which was the staging area for the packing) and also to the patient Martine who had to sit in sawdust, and listen to a grinder all day, while we sewed. You two are champs!

We also need to send a big thank you to Skein Yarn for our gorgeous mini-skeins in a jewel box of stunning colours, Sunspun for the super-pretty tapestry needles and Loving Earth for sending boxes and boxes of my favourite raw chocolate - the Creamy Mylk. Yum! We also had Mamashanti (who is a good friend of our yoga teacher Gemma) send us a box of delicious smelling Chai samples, and the generous Ink and Spindle again sent us a super stack of their delicious fabric. I'm using my sample for a pocket on a tote.

On the Saturday night we were lucky enough to get to give away goodness from our friends at Frankie (who gave us a super pretty gift bag with memberships and other goodness), Woolarium who gave us some gorgeous Shibui for a pretty tank, one of the new gorgeous project bags from the ever-lovely Karen at Fringe Supply Co, a full set of gorgeous Assemblage patterns from Kirsten, even more patterns including some of my favourites (like Ruby and Lisa) from Tessuti as well as a mid-week retreat at newish crafting studio Create at Warburton. Just like Christmas. But better.

Finally I also wanted to give a shoutout to Purl Soho who supplied us with their ace Overnighter Bags in hardcopy for the workshop and also to Ellie from Extra Curricular who gave me a gorgeous stack of her mag to give away for the fun of it. Being able to give presents is the best.

Finally I need to announce that the winner of our giveaway was Mackenzie Sasser from the US. Hope you love your gift! and thanks everyone for entering. Reading your comments was so fun.

See you tomorrow with more photos.

Fel x

The Craft Sessions 2015 - Pure Magic!

September 18, 2015 thecraftsessions

What an amazing weekend. So much joy, so much generosity, so much laughter. Truly impossible to put into words. Looking back over the photos I still can't believe it's come and gone. I'm still on a total high.

The weather was divine, the location at the Yarra Valley Estate was just stunning (as always), the food was gorgeous and the classes..... the classes and the teachers this year truly smashed it out of the park. Jules' darning, Ophelie's sock, Anna O'B's smocking, Anna's patchwork, Belinda's dyeing, Melissa's embroidery and Georgies' stitch patterns - produced stunning work and confident, happy crafters. And that was just the first afternoon.

As for the community - I really feel like we hit our stride this year. Some people were new, some back a second or third time but regardless everyone seemed to know what to expect. And weren't just coming for the classes. They were coming for the connection. That made my heart sing!

As always, it is easiest to explain with pictures. I'm going to share more over the next few weeks so today I just have a mix from the Friday and the Saturday morning mainly. All photos in today's post were taken by Claire Fisher (with a couple of exceptions taken by me). The lovely Claire is pictured at the top of the post with the yellow cardy on. She helps me run TCS and is one of my closest friends - I'm very grateful for both of those things. She also takes gorgeous photos!

The happiest of days!

Felicia x