Thread: What do you do while sewing?

So this has been my week of vacation, and since I'm too broke to travel I've been watching the last season of my current favorite shows (Heroes, Lost, and Prison Break...my birthday consisted of a trip to the electronics market in Seoul where I stocked up on pirated dvds), and since I have a ton of hand sewing to do right now I've been mixing the two (and occasionally stabbing myself with my needle).

Anyways, I'm wondering who else does this, or, if you don't watch tv and sew, what DO you do??? (I'm going to run out of shows in another week or so...)

Watch belly dance videos of course! Or listen to my belly dance CD's. The best way to learn music is to listen to as much of it as you can as often as possible. Now when I hear a song I know exactly which CD or video the song is on.

Watch TV/movies, listen to music, talk to people.

OMG. The title of this thread cracked me up.

My first teacher and I used to make martinis and get hammered before sewing, because we both hated doing costume alterations so much. The domestic debauchery would always result in ranting, raving, sailor-like cursing, and all-around scary behavior. (This was when I pioneered my now-famous "Gay Ninja Pose").

Ladylike? Not really. But those were some fun times.

Now, I actually enjoy sewing (and have calmed down significantly since my fresh-out-of-college days!) so I'm very content to listen to music or watch a "no-brainer" like one of Shakira's concert DVD's. With or without a nice glass of pinot noir

Yup, watch TV or listen to music. My husband likes to watch stuff that I'm not that interested in (StarGate, Star Trek, anything with Star in it, lol). So I sew while he watches and at least we are in the same room and can talk during the commercial breaks. (I insist on him using the mute button, almost have him trained now!)

I like to listen to audio books, or sometimes for a big job I put the whole 6-hour Pride and Prejudice miniseries in the DVD player and let it go in the background.

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

OMG. The title of this thread cracked me up.

My first teacher and I used to make martinis and get hammered before sewing, because we both hated doing costume alterations so much. The domestic debauchery would always result in ranting, raving, sailor-like cursing, and all-around scary behavior. (This was when I pioneered my now-famous "Gay Ninja Pose").

Ladylike? Not really. But those were some fun times.

Now, I actually enjoy sewing (and have calmed down significantly since my fresh-out-of-college days!) so I'm very content to listen to music or watch a "no-brainer" like one of Shakira's concert DVD's. With or without a nice glass of pinot noir

I chuckled at your answer! Sounds like a lot of fun...most of the time I don't mind being a good little Mormon girl and never drinking, but I'm sure it livens up a sewing session in a way a glass of Coke just can't!..l;,

Originally Posted by tigerb

I like to listen to audio books, or sometimes for a big job I put the whole 6-hour Pride and Prejudice miniseries in the DVD player and let it go in the background.

Oooh, I LOVE P&P. Just got my DVD set back from the neighbor, who had it entirely too long. Colin Firth... yummy.

I used to listen to audiobooks when I commuted to work, and I miss them. I tried to listen to P&P once a year.

When I sew, I usually listen to my local NPR station, because I can mentally tune it out without any problem. I think my stitching would get erratic if I were listening to certain portions of P&P. ..l;,

Originally Posted by tigerb

I like to listen to audio books, or sometimes for a big job I put the whole 6-hour Pride and Prejudice miniseries in the DVD player and let it go in the background.

Oooh! Audiobooks! Public libraries are one more thing to look forward to when I move back to the states. I normally can't listen to books on tape (or cd or whatever) because I don't have the patience to get over my strong tendency to being visual, but, amazingly enough, having to sew has done a LOT for my attention span, so who knows?

I usually go for CD's or radio...and *lots* of cursing...many sailor would blush at my language while sewing...the hubby runs away...LOL

When I *did* sew for one semester (I took a costume class) I drank absinthe.

I made a silk tailcoat that turned out all right, surprisingly. Since breaking two sewing machines I'm not allowed another one.

Pride and Prejudice - same here! (Hearing the music in my head right now . . .)

Originally Posted by tigerb

I like to listen to audio books, or sometimes for a big job I put the whole 6-hour Pride and Prejudice miniseries in the DVD player and let it go in the background.

A glass of wine (located away from the machine & fabric), good company or a good show/movie goes a long way for me!

Watch DVDs of movies, totally. My Netflix queue never has fewer than 250 items in it, so I always feel compelled to devour as much as I can whenever I can grab a moment.

Originally Posted by bintbeled

Oooh, I LOVE P&P. Just got my DVD set back from the neighbor, who had it entirely too long. Colin Firth... yummy.

Oh, Mister Darcy!

I like to have something on in the background that puts me "in the mood" to sew whatever I'm sewing... so, for belly dance costumes, that typically means belly dance music. (For my Jedi robes, it was Star Wars movies, and for my Regency Gown, it was the A&E P&P series... heh!)

And then I shimmy as I press my seams on the ironing board. :P

Swear, mostly, and shoo away cats.

When I handsew (lots of hours of beading, etc) I watch (or at least listen to) tv. I watched countless of hours of Law And Order. Whatever is on tv I have to like, I take a long time flipping through the channels to select something that I would at least be remotely interested in, or have seen already.
I sometimes talk on the phone with my headpiece but that really slows me down - appearantly I can listen and sew but can't really talk and sew.

What I like about sewing with machine is that it tunes out everything. I don't hear anything but my machine humming and I can't really think about seroius or stressfull stuff, because I have to pay attention. So that is a stress release for me.

..l;,

Originally Posted by Zana

Swear, mostly, and shoo away cats.

Originally Posted by Zana

Swear, mostly, and shoo away cats.

Agreed. My cat thought my bra was his new bed and the skirt his covers.

I like to have an entire DVD series of something going. Not BD videos, I admit. When I made my last really big project (a few years ago now), I watched "Oz". Homosexual angst, really bad undercover coppery, drug abuse and Simon Adebisi's bloody death are stitched permanently into my black and green bedleh.

Originally Posted by Marianna

When I handsew (lots of hours of beading, etc) I watch (or at least listen to) tv. I watched countless of hours of Law And Order. Whatever is on tv I have to like, I take a long time flipping through the channels to select something that I would at least be remotely interested in, or have seen already.
I sometimes talk on the phone with my headpiece but that really slows me down - appearantly I can listen and sew but can't really talk and sew.

What I like about sewing with machine is that it tunes out everything. I don't hear anything but my machine humming and I can't really think about seroius or stressfull stuff, because I have to pay attention. So that is a stress release for me.

I was just watching whatever was on tv before I discovered the serieses at our video shop, and I did the same thing when I was sewing coins on my saidi dress. Law and Order, CSI, and House are really good because they're always on the Korean stations. The hard part is when the show is over and I have to start looking for something new.

I also take stuff to church occasionally and sew during the sermons...strangely enough, I actually listen better when I'm doing something with my hands.

You knowingly buy pirated DVDs?

HISTORY CHANNEL!!! the narrator has the most soothing voice. I recently watched a few hours of "Rome: Engineering an Empire" and "Egypt: Engineering an Empire" while sorting out my sewing box. I also am addicted to CSI, The First 48 and those terrible prison documentaries called Lockup on MSNBC (and I wonder why I get nightmares)

and cat shooing

Listen to podcasts! My favorites are Cast-On (knitting, but not too geeky, and well produced) and Radio Bastet (vintage belly dance music). I recently started listening to some yoga podcasts, and Visions of Cody is really good. I also enjoy Quirky Nomads, about a family that moved from the US to Canada when Bush was reelected. The last two are short, so I load up a lot of them to listen to in a row. If you're a crafter there are lots of craft related podcasts, Craft Sanity is a popular one.

I prefer to listen to something while I sew. I don't watch a lot of TV or movies, so when I sit down with them I want to really pay attention.

Originally Posted by Fionna

You knowingly buy pirated DVDs?

Well, tv shows. And I won't be guilted for it - if I was living in the states, I'd be watching them for free, or able to watch them on the network websites. I can't download them because I don't have a computer, so technically, I'm paying someone else to download them for me. Maybe that's justification but I'm okay with it.

I recently re-watched "Cranford" while sewing. It was on Masterpiece Theater a while back and a friend sent it to me for my b-day. It's what my husband calls an "Amy show", meaning it's a period piece with lots of women who have British accents.

cnn junkie right now...