How Sewing Helps with Weight Loss


Last fall I posted a How To on creating a jeans skirt. I was 26 pounds down at the time and trying to find solutions to fix my wardrobe problem.
Pro Tip: If you're going to lose weight, learn how to sew!

I managed to prolong the death of my wardrobe by about 4 months just by knowing how to take items in. Did they fit perfectly? Not always, but they usually looked well enough that I could continue wearing them and it would look like I'd lost 5 pounds, not 25. It was the difference between needing a belt to hold them up and needing a belt to pull in 5 inches of fabric at my waist.
And sometimes I would lose more in one area than another which made some of my favorite dresses hang funnily. They fit across my boobs, but were baggy around the middle. Knowing how to sew made them look just fine again.
The other thing that every crafter will probably already know is that sewing keeps your hands busy. If, like me, you like to snack when your hands are empty, then sewing is a big help in keeping those fingers from finding the cookie jar. Hands-on crafting projects, sewing or otherwise, are totally great for beating those snack attacks. Do you really want the oils from those cookies all over your project? Or the crumbs getting in the stitches? I find it much easier to say no when I have a reason to. 
And want a great way to shock yourself into grinning like a madman? Take measurements of yourself before you start and every couple of weeks. I haven't bothered taking them every week as that's far too much like hassle, but every few months I take them. The moment you put in the new number and you blink twice to realize you've lost HOW MUCH??? off your waist? Awesome feeling.
Those measurements then help immensely when you need a new wardrobe. If you've just lost 20 pounds and you know you need new clothes, but have never worn any size other than a 16, where do you start when you're standing in a department store? Taking in one of every size and heartbreakingly trying each one on? Not fun. Plus you get some funny looks when you have 6 of the exact same thing going into the dressing rooms. No thanks.
BUT if you have been taking measurements, its pretty easy to Google how those numbers correspond roughly to sizes. Some stores even have their own guidelines you can look at so when you walk in you can timidly pick up the size it claims you should be and slink off to the dressing rooms and watch in shock and amazement as the item 4 sizes down slips easily on. Sometimes you'll need to adjust, but that's always the way, especially as some styles/stores have weird fittings. But once you have the basic numbers in mind, its much easier to find what you're looking for.
And if, like me, you are on a tight budget? Well, saving those clothes for a little bit longer is a BIG help. It is difficult to resell the general everyday crap you wear to death. A lot of places won't take it, it looks a little lumpy, and who wants to buy a 2nd hand white tshirt when they can buy a cheap new one for almost the same price? For 6 big black trash bags of clean clothes we got a whopping 32 Euro. They're going to resell some of it and make a mint off us, but I'm happy that they're all out of the house. This way our fat clothes aren't tempting us to fill them back up. 
Of course, in their place we're missing tons. I now have 3 feet of rack space in my closet, 2 empty drawers and I haven't even started on the closet shelves yet.
This is great though! Because of my sewing abilities, we were able to keep a lot of these items in use for months past their sizing prime. Our size is unlikely to drastically change from here on out which means anything we buy will be grand. And who needed extra cardigans for the summer anyway?
There were, naturally, some items I just can't bear to throw away. Those have migrated to a pile that I will sit down and fix once I have the time. Not only will they get fixed, but they'll be tailored to fit me perfectly. Because they have room in the bust, they will not end up looking like I'm trying to tear the fabric to squeeze my cleavage in. Its going to be great.

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