I have my sewing machine in a spare room. I can leave everything set up and the project folded and laying next to the machine, so it's easy to get at it again. I just leave and shut the door. Half the trouble of getting back to things is setting everything up before you sew.

I do have a few suggestions though. Put a picture of the completed project where you can see it every day. That might get you motivated to get back to it.

If you can't leave things out then fold things and put all the things you are using for the project in a tote, so you are not scrambling to find things when you get back to it.

Pick a time in your schedule that you can sew and mark it on a calendar. Even if you don't feel like sewing, keep the date. Chances are it won't take 5 minutes and you will be right back into it again.

Yes, I know what you mean. I am also a messy sewer; when I sewed in the dining room of our old house, we just had to ignore my corner. Now that I have a sewing room, I can close the door!

Having a sewing room doesn't help my motivation, though. I am also a moody sewer, so I often don't sew for many months on end, even leaving projects undone sometimes, then other times I sew endlessly, churning out project after project for months. Sometimes, I just realize a project is not worth finishing, so I don't. And I forgive myself for that.

I have a long list of sewing projects to get to - before the kids outgrow the idea I had! - but life always get in the way. I wish I had a secret motivator, but, alas, I don't. Giving myself permission to NOT finish a project helped me. I can start the next project without guilt. When I don't sew for months, oh well....that's life.

Sherry

Watching this to see if anyone comes up with a good trick. Don't think I have any answers. I almost always finish a project once I have started, but the getting started sometimes doesn't happen. When we moved into our new home, I chose the room with the view looking out on the water for my sewing room. Thought this will make me want to sit here and sew all the time. Admit when I sew, love sitting there in front of the windows looking out. Haven't opened my sewing machine since last November. If someone comes up with a secret , please pass it on. There is one little tool that I use. Love to look at J Crew, Ann Taylor and Anthropology, to get ideas of things I like. Few months back I saw a gray blouse in J Crew that was 89.00. Already had a pattern, and I copied it very close and had less than 15.00 invested. My daughter gets all of these magazines and passes them on to me, just in case I see an idea that I could use. So that is one little idea that gets me motivated. Have a 50th college reunion coming up very soon, so I have been looking around thinking about what to wear for the formal event. May end up using something that I already have in my closet. As I have aged, have figured out that I can manage with less clothes. A few good pieces of clothing that can be worn together seems to work best for me. Now that I have rambled all over the place, have not answered your question. Thanks for posting such a great question.

hallngarden, I, too, like to copy things I see ready-made. It's very rewarding to make something for a fraction of the price.

I didn't think of these motivators in my first post, but I have two excellent "clients" who motivate me. One is my 28 yo dtr who has a good eye for design and has been "designing" clothes for me to make for her since she was about 5 years old. Since I don't know the first thing about pattern design, I often put several different patterns together to achieve the look we want.

The other is my six yo granddaughter who also started "designing" things a year or two ago. She sends me drawings she's made in a special notebook and I do my best to do as she visualizes things. Sometimes it's almost impossible to find fabric (she even draws designs on the fabrics that I am supposed to find) for her designs, but we manage.

I guess they're pretty good motivators!

Sherry

Thanks for some excellent ideas!

One thing I have learned is that I won't sew if I have to be back in another part of the house, away from everything and everyone. I don't put things away, just try to scoot them into a corner of the breakfast area (we eat at the kitchen bar).

I love to look at ideas from Anthropologie, one of my niece's favorite stores. I sew for her sometimes and the special little touches on Anthropologie clothing are fun to check out. I'll try that.

This crummy cold, wet weather is a motivator in a way because it is too rotten to do anything in my garden or flowerbeds...

Thanks for the good ideas! Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I'm sure I'm not the only one who needs a motivating boost now and then...

Mind you IÂve only been sewing for a little over a year, but I seemed to lose interest in sewing once the good weather hit last spring, and then I felt more like doing things in the garden. Then when the colder weather came, I seemed to want to sew again.

And my motivation also seems to depend on whether I actually *need* something. For instance, I needed a sewing machine cover, so I enjoyed making one, and was really gung-ho about it. And then I decided to make one for a friend, so doing it for that reason (to make something for someone else) was a very good motivator. And then I needed some oven mitts, pot holders, a purse and an ipod case. So, I made those. Now I donÂt seem to need anything, and I feel my motivation slipping away. I donÂt want to sew Âstuff just for the sake of sewing because I wouldnÂt like the clutter of a bunch of useless things taking up space. Hope that makes sense!

I do want to make another purse though because IÂm not sure I like the first one I made. And I recently got a couple of Amy Butler patterns, but I canÂt seem to get started on that.

I don't sew much any more, because I rarely need anything new. But when I did sew more, I found it difficult to fit sewing into the schedule. My trick was to give myself 15 minutes or three instructions. Wherever I had stopped, I completed the next three steps on the instruction sheet, or 15 minutes, whichever came first. Most often, I kept going after that, unless I was really pressed for time. It was surprising how much I could complete in a short time when I really focused.

I'm not sure this is a motivational trick so much as a time management trick, but it worked for me.

Nancy Ziemann has a book 10 20 30 Minutes to Sew which I just love. She has you break your sewing up into steps that you can finish in 10, 20,30 minutes. I've been sewing like this for years.