In the sewing community, Sewjo is commonly referred to as the desire to sew, or being inspired to sew and create. So how does one loose their sewjo? I have never lost mine until recently and it was due to a personal loss which threw me for a physical and emotional loop.
Once I started feeling better physically I assumed I would just get back to sewing. Sewing has always been my outlet when I’m stressed or dealing with health issues. But not this time. I had absolutely no desire to even step into my sewing room. It was so bad I even told my husband I wanted to get rid of all my fabric and machines, and just walk away. Drastic, I know, but that was where I was.
Knowing how much I love sewing and how it has been such a life saver for me throughout the years, he wisely told me to take a break and just breathe. So I shut everything off and took a weekend away to focus on our two children and our little family. We spent the time working on DIY projects around our house. I painted my daughters antique headboard and chair, to match the rest of her bedroom set. We painted our master bathroom and cleaned up the renovation mess. Then we started building the drawers we are putting into our closet. It felt good to get “something” done, it was a creative outlet, we got fresh air, and had lots of laughs while we challenged each other to Mario Kart.
Did I magically find my sewjo? Nope. But I felt refreshed mentally and true priorities were once again apparent. Priority number one, spending one on one time with my daughter. So when I asked her if she would like to have a girls date with me, she gave an overwhelming YES!! and promptly asked if I could make us matching shirts for our date. SIGH. Remember me, no sewjo to be found??
I couldn’t tell her no though. Her excitement was obvious and after the sadness it was apparent she needed that time, just as much as I did.
We spent some time going through patterns and all the fabric in my sewing room. After a week of dragging my feet, we finally had things figured out.
We decided on the tank version of the Knoxville from New Horizons Designs, in grey rayon spandex, and some fun vinyl writing. The Knoxville has the twist knot or bottom knot, shirt or tunic lengths, five sleeve options, and three neckline options including a cowl. We chose to do the twist knot, shirt length, and the scoop neck options for our tanks.
It was the first time I have made this pattern and it was hard to muddle through. Not because of the pattern or directions, but because I desperately didn’t want to sew. I did it though, and the end product was smile worthy. If you want to see a time lapse of me sewing them up, you can on my YouTube here.
Something I wanted to mention was that I graded to a larger hip, per my measurements, but I probably could have done a straight size as the shirt has a nice amount of ease in the waist and hip. Fabric choice will also affect the amount of ease and drape of this shirt.
One other thing I noticed was on my front bodice, the side with the knot, was considerably longer than my back bodice on that side. After a quick search in the Facebook group I found that certain fabrics can get stretched out at that part due to it being cut on the crossgrain. The solution was to ease that extra amount in when sewing the bodice together. I did that on mine and it worked well. So keep that in mind when you go to make your own version.
Now we are all ready for our girls date this weekend in our matching Knoxville tanks and I found a little of my sewjo.
Here’s to taking those little steps and finding the joy in sewing again. 💕
P.S. Yes, I chopped 14″ off my hair 😂
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Sew Gr8ful 