Cart Before the Horse Costume Design

It works ... worse ...

Buying fabric before you know what you want to make?

That sounds like a bad idea and a big potential waste of money.

But! It is what all of us clothing makers do. We buy the fabric we like before we know what we want to make out of it.

She Who Dies With The Most Fabric …. Wins!

That was posted in my mother’s sewing room. She recently told me that she bought this particularly lovely floral wool when she found out she was pregnant.

Because she thought she wouldn’t be able to buy nice fabric like this once she would be spending all her money on zinc booty cream. That is a fabric-person’s response to a big life shift - stock up on fabric you have no clear intentions of using.

My mom made a lot of beautiful things after she had kids. But this fabric never had its moment. Nor did 2 dozen other pieces of hers that pre-dated her kid years. Those pieces currently live in my kitchen cabinets. I do have a sewing room…it is full, too.