Pages

▼

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Sewing by the numbers

Katie hiding behind the fabric shelf
I keep a spreadsheet of my sewing projects each year.  It's nothing complicated, just a list, month by month, of the things I've made and how much fabric Iused.  (I've given up counting fabric in, but I still keep track of fabric out.  Go figure.)

When I printed out the spreadsheet for 2011 and put it on the workroom counter with the sheets for 2009 and 2010 (prior to that I had a different system), I compared the 3 years' sewing and noticed something strange - no matter how many pieces I made, how complicated or uncomplicated they were, my total yardage used for each year was nearly identical:

2009:  149.25 yards

2010:  147.50 yards

2011:  148.75 yards

Really?  It's not a contest, but I find it interesting that without trying, without even adding up the numbers until the end of the year, I end up in the same place. 

There are strange and wonderful things going on in the tidy place that is my workroom.  I'll have something to show soon.
at

5 comments:

  1. velosewsJanuary 5, 2012 at 11:57 PM

    That is interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Slapdash SewistJanuary 6, 2012 at 4:22 PM

    That is an impressive output! I don't think I've ever broken 100.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2012 at 10:43 PM

    Maybe I should do that for the coming year.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SherrilJanuary 9, 2012 at 2:02 PM

    I think keeping track is a great idea. Do you have any goals of sewing more than that number for this year? I am going to keep track of both what comes in and what I sew just so I know how much I sew versus how much I buy. Sort of like counting calories when you are on a diet. Maybe I can "lose" some fabric weight this year (as well as real poundage on me).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kathi RankJanuary 10, 2012 at 8:50 PM

    At least your results are consistent! I keep track of what I have on hand, and each year I log what I buy, use, scrap or donate and how much volunteer fabric I pick up. Remember I was a CPA for years - so I tend toward maintaining too much information. I love having my stash in a spreadsheet where I can sort by quantity, filter by color, fabric type, source, age, location etc. Let me know if you want a copy of my spreadsheet to use as a template

    ReplyDelete