SURPRISE!!!!

  While I'm new to the blogging scene I've been enjoying sewing for years. I was delighted to find so many people who shared my interests and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you all through your blogs. 

  As I read all the year end posts and goals for 2013 I noticed a trend or theme in a lot of them. Yep! You guessed it! Stashbusting! I too, was feeling the weight a large stash leaves on one's mind and storage space so I plucked up my courage and approached Cindy of Cation Designs with an idea. She responded enthusiastically and together we have dreamed up a superb plan to share with you all!

Wait, what's this all about?

The 2013 Stashbusting Sewalong is a casual sewalong whose goal is to encourage us to reduce the size of our stashes. If you've got more fabric than you know what to do with, join Cindy and me as we  systematically purge our stashes by sewing items to fit a series of themes. We've got a whole schedule that you can follow if you need that kind of structure, or you can just join us in pledging to destash in your own way; it doesn't matter if you want to follow our themes, as long as you use up that stash fabric. Either way, we know we're in it together, and we know that others will be cheering us on as we go. There's nothing like working together to bust a stash!


Here's how you can join us!

• Leave a comment here or on Cindy's blog with your pledge: "I, _______,commit to using ____ pieces of stash fabric in 2013. Additional option: I also commit to not buying any new fabric/patterns/ notions except for _______ until ______." Please include your blog if you have one.
• Post on your blog (if you have one) about your commitment! There's nothing like accountability and public shaming to get us to use up fabric that's been lingering in our stashes. Please share the link back to this post so others can join in if they want.
• Join our Flickr group! Whether you have a blog or not, this is where you can post photos of your stash, your plans, and (hopefully!) your finished projects. We can encourage each other and gush over the reduced piles together at the end of the year. 
• In one of those above options, tell us about what pieces you would like to use up this year: 
• how much there is
• how long it's been in your stash
• what your original intentions were when you bought each piece 
• what you would like to make from it this year. 
• Be reasonable and kind to yourself, though -- as tempting as it would be to list everything, the point of this challenge isn't to make us feel guilty at the end of the year about our failed plans. Choose pieces that you could conceivably sew up this year; don't choose everything. If you've got a gorgeous piece in your stash that doesn't match your current lifestyle or sewing skill level, feel free to leave it in the stash to wait a little longer. Its day will come! It's just not this day, and that is okay. 

So what's this about themes and challenges I hear?

Every month we'll have a theme for our stashbusting, e.g. knits, accessories, scraps, etc. We'll take turns posting on our blogs with our stashbusting projects in case you need the inspiration, and we'll also have Pinterest boards going for ideas that go along with the theme. You can follow along with us if the structure helps you, or just do your own thing...the goal here is to use fabric in any way possible! Here's a list of the first six themes, which covers the first half of the year.

1. January: Itty Bits! Sew up those remnants left over from another project, use up some of those tiny scraps that you've been saving...as long as it's less than a yard of fabric, it counts!
2. February: THE LOVE CHALLENGE. 
3. March: Impending Seasonal Change. Regardless of your hemispherical location, the weather will be changing soon...what will you make? Something fun for the coming spring, or something cozy for fall?
4. April: THE VIBRANT COLOR CHALLENGE. 
5. May: THE KNIT CHALLENGE. 
6. June: Containment! Get ready for those long car trips, summer outings or some good old fashioned cleaning and organizing! We're thinking bags, boxes, totes, purses, pouches, you name it; this month is all about making things to put other things in.

We will be posting the rest of the themes/challenges later in the year, so as not to overwhelm and add some surprise. You'll also notice that some of the months are challenges. This means that if you sew along with our theme, you can enter your finished project in a contest! We'll choose our favorite and you'll get bragging rights. And we promise that the prizes aren't just pieces from our stashes that we want to get rid of ;) We'll give you more detailed information about the rules and how to enter before the February challenge.


Okay, I think I'm in! I made my pledge and joined the Flickr group, now what?

Start sewing up those scraps for January! It's up to you if you want to post every month about your project, but we encourage you to interact with your fellow stashbusters, whether it's through Flickr or blog comments. Besides documenting our own projects, Cindy and I will also post round-ups each month of your makes so you can see all of your fellow stashbusters' projects gathered into one place.

You can get links to all of our posts and follow our progress on this page.
You can also follow our Pinterest StashBusting Headquarters board to see new posts from all involved.

Lastly, if you want to proudly proclaim to the world (or just to the people that you share a living space with!) that you are Finally. Doing. Something. about that stash, you can grab this amazing button for your blog's sidebar: (doesn't it make you feel fierce and ready to tackle the stash!) The button features a Sewasaurus Rex tackling a piece of stash fabric in a rather, uhh...extreme manner. It was done by one of Cindy's former chemistry students; you can check out more of Jen's amazing artwork here.

<a href="http://cationdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/01/announcing-stashbusting-sewalong.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Stashbusting Sewalong" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8323/8366452772_a65d1628f7_o.jpg"/></a>

Thanks for participating with us and here's to a great year of sewing! On Wednesday, I'll be posting my pledge and stash confession pictures. I look forward to sewing and supporting you all as we accomplish our goals and get StashBusting!