The Paradox of Choice

Whenever I finish a project, I always feel a letdown and a little overwhelmed. What to do next? So many choices! Admittedly this is a first world problem. I see them on Pinterest, on blogs, on fabric websites. It's enough to freeze up anyone. Of course I want to make the Perfect Choice. How freeing to realize that there is no perfect choice! The plethora of options used to give me stress and causes paralysis analysis, and I used to end up making nothing because I could make anything. This phenomenon has been amply discussed in social sciences circles. Too many choices make almost everyone unhappy. What to do? What do I make next? I decided to give myself fewer choices.
I made a list of twelve themes for my sewing/artwork. I printed the list on my printer, cut them into strips and drew them, then wrote them down: this is my year, all planned out for me. I don't have to wonder what to do next: I have no choice.

Some Silk for February

January: Sew a scrap quilt - done! (photo forthcoming when the light is better)
February: Make something out of silk
March: Use a  border print
April: Sew a Hawaiian shirt (Mr. Hunting Creek is very happy about this!)
May: Make something formal
June: Make pajamas July: Make T shirts
August: Make a Baby quilt (friends are expecting)
September: Finish something (plenty of unfinished projects to choose from)
October: Use a Vintage pattern
November:Use a new pattern
December: Make a Holiday decoration

Since February is Make Something Out of Silk Month, I did not want to be frozen with choice. I told myself that it doesn't matter what I make, just make something, preferably several somethings, all out of silk. The only rules are SILK and I have to finish.( Mr. Hunting Creek is aware of this and already drawing up a list of milestones and goalposts, heaven help me.) I read in Stumbling on Happiness that artists are happier with their work and they do better work when they do more of it, so I am adopting this policy at Studio Hunting Creek. Happy Work, Better Work, and More of it.
I have picked a couple patterns to start my Great Silk experiment: Vogue 1334 , Butterick 5816...and I'll just go on from there.

What are you making out of Silk this February? You're welcome to join my year of fewer choices. According to science, this will contribute to our Happiness. Who can resist that?

Great Moments in Fabric Literature, Vol XVI

Kazuko paused in the doorway,her small black eyes went directly to the silk on the loom; she bowed. "Maa! Kirei na koto! Nante kirei na iro desho!" beautiful! What a beautiful color!
Dame Colette looked round, saw it was one of the Japanes, then recognized Kazuko and smiled. Kazuko, as though drawn, came a step nearer. Droppers-in were not welcome in the vestment room; the least dust or draft blowin in a smut could ruin a breadth of silk, "also we have to concentrate," but Dame Colette was now a councilor, and all of tbe councilors knew about Kazuko. Dame Colette nodded encouragingly. "Would you like to see?"
"Yes...if you please." But Kazuko still hesitated.
"Come in Come in."
"I...can...incoming?"
"Of course."
Kazuko came and with the small steps all of them used went up to the stand. "You can look," Dame Colette was going to add not touch, but Kazuko had already taken the silk of the chasuble in her hands. Dame Colette almost cried out peremptorily - none but those concerned dared to touch her work - but something in the way Kazuko ran one hand over the silk while the other held it beneath was not only careful but expert. "Silk, pure silk!" Kazuko spoke with strange satisfaction. She looked more closely at the weave, "inspected it." Dame Colette said afterward, paused at a minute uneveness and clicked her tongue disapprovigly, but running over the rest, approved it. "Good...very good."
"You want to see?" Dame Colette rose off the high bench, and Kazulo slid into her place. "It's called a loom. Loom."
"Yes. In Japanese hata." Kazuko said it serenely, She also said something else Dame Colette did not catch; the nextsecond, to Dame Colette's fright and consternation, Kazuko began to work the loom. "Sister!" but Dame Colette's cry was lost in the looms clacking. "Sister! My silk..." but, "Is good." Kazuko almost shouted, and confident, wove on.

Rumer Godden, In This House of Brede, page 528

Fun loom fact: did you know that the loom was one of the precursors to the computer?
Second fun loom fact, did you know that there is an Angelina Jolie movie about a cult of weaver assassins who get their instructions of who to kill next from the secret messages woven in their cloth? No, I'm not making this up, it's a real movie.

Looms are interesting devices; as simple as a potholder loom (I loved making these as a kid) to complex brocade looms that make exquisite designs.
Next time time you use a computer, think about how the ideas in Jacquard's loom brought it about. Cool, yes? (When I taught history, the kids were always amazed by this.)

Great Moments in Fabric Literature, Vol IV

UPON JULIA'S CLOTHES

WHENAS in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then, methinks, how sweetly flows
That liquefaction of her clothes.

Next, when I cast mine eyes and see
That brave vibration each way free ;
O how that glittering taketh me



Robert Herrick
Painting by Huygens

Great Moments in Fabric Literature, Vol II

Sallie had been buying silks, and Meg longed for a new one, just a handsome light one for parties, her black silk was so common, and thin things for evening wear were only proper for girls. Aunt March usually gave the sisters a present of twenty-five dollars apiece at New Year's. That was only a month to wait, and here was a lovely violet silk going at a bargain, and she had the money, if she only dared to take it. John always said what was his was hers, but would he think it right to spend not only the prospective five-and-twenty, but another five-and-twenty out of the household fund? That was the question. Sallie had urged her to do it, had offered to lend the money, and with the best intentions in life had tempted Meg beyond her strength. In an evil moment the shopman held up the lovely, shimmering folds, and said, A bargain, I assure, you, ma'am. She answered, I'll take it, and it was cut off and paid for, and Sallie had exulted, and she had laughed as if it were a thing of no consequence, and driven away, feeling as if she had stolen something, and the police were after her.

When she got home, she tried to assuage the pangs of remorse by spreading forth the lovely silk, but it looked less silvery now, didn't become her, after all, and the words `fifty dollars' seemed stamped like a pattern down each breadth. She put it away, but it haunted her, not delightfully as a new dress should, but dreadfully like the ghost of a folly that was not easily laid. When John got out his books that night, Meg's heart sank, and for the first time in her married life, she was afraid of her husband. The kind, brown eyes looked as if they could be stern, and though he was unusually merry, she fancied he had found her out, but didn't mean to let her know it.

Louisa May Alcott, Little Women