Over the summer I’ve enjoyed venturing a little further afield, to places like Lincoln, Nottingham and Dewsbury, not to mention touring around part of Wales. For me, no day trip to a town is complete without hunting out any fabric-selling establishments and market stalls, and consequently I’ve spent a fair a bit of money on fabric and now have a somewhat overflowing stash.

Although earlier today I was trying to find 3 metres of cotton with a view to making my second Mississippi Ave dress, and found my choice was fairly limited, (I have a lot of 2 metre lengths and also a fair bit of jersey now) for the last couple of weeks I have been trying to curb my spending on fabric. I then came up with the idea of a personal mini-pledge – to not purchase any fabric until I have completed 10 items using my stash. The hope is that the results will be fourfold; I will be motivated to sew and keep sewing, I will reduce the size of my fabric pile, I will save some money, and lastly, I will be able to plan what types and amounts of fabric I want to buy, and feel fully justified when I am finally able to buy it. I am not sure on timescale, I would like to think a couple of months? So ideally by the end of October I will have completed my 10 items.

Now for the nitty-gritty, yesterday I completed one WIP (a pair of pyjama bottoms) as well as my first Mississippi Ave dress. Should I include these two makes in my pledge of 10? I haven’t decided yet. My pledge, my rules!