Just when you think you’ve settled in to a nice routine, things change again. It might happen with warning or unexpectedly. Summer is one of those times routines change for a lot of people. It can be easy for your crafting hobby to fall by the wayside whether you have children or grandchildren off school, demands shift at work or you’re planning your own holiday, for example.

If you’d love to keep crafting this summer, even with a change in routine, here are some ways you can support yourself.

Accept it

This might seem like a strange one to start with, but one of the things I’m really keen to do at West Plum Studio is to support people to spend more time crafting whilst also being realistic about the demands on our time.

Sometimes life just happens, unexpectedly, and takes over all the time and energy you have. There is nothing you can do about it. In this instance my recommendation is firstly to be kind to yourself. Consider if there is anything creative you could do that requires minimal effort and energy. My go-to in these scenarios is a colouring book. If you can’t fit anything in, pop a note somewhere to remind yourself to book in some time for yourself, whether at home or out with others, once things calm down again.

If you do have notice things are going to change, like we have with summer, check out my last recommendation below.

Get bite size

Get into the detail of project planning and organising.
Break projects down into the smallest tasks you can
Block out time in your diary to work on it, even if it’s only a short amount of time
Use a progress tracker to tick off every time you’ve done some crafting

All of these should help you feel like you’re still making progress, even if you only have the tiniest bit of time to craft.

Switch it up

Are some crafts better suited to your lifestyle when your routine changes? Do you need smaller, more portable projects? Ones that are easy to break into smaller pieces but still feel like you’re making progress. Perhaps ones that are easy thinkers would be better, while you don’t have the brain space or energy to tackle a new, more complicated project

For me I find things like English Paper Piecing, embroidery or cross stitch are great summer projects. For the last couple of years I’ve also started my autumn/winter crochet project on my summer holidays.

Get out

You may find it harder to craft at home in your usual space. Could you commit to a regular social crafting time or meet up with crafting friends? The accountability of leaving the house for a specific time and place may help.

Plan ahead

Thinking about summer, chances are you know in advance if your routine is going to change. In that case can you carve out some time beforehand to make a plan.

Ask yourself:
what would I like to achieve?
when can I work on it?
do I have everything you need?

I’m shortly going to be launching a free summer project planner to help you with just this. If you would find that useful, head over to my website for more details.

Sophie Roberts

Sophie is passionate about helping people prioritise their wellbeing. Realising they deserve time and space to explore their creativity.

She offers face-to-face and online workshops, events and courses. Looking beyond the individual workshop to the whole person.

Her aim is to help people spend more time crafting.

Sophie runs West Plum Studio, based in York. Her services are available online and face-to-face across Great Britain.

Find out more about West Plum Studio on the website www.westplumstudio.co.uk and on Instagram @westplumstudio