How to Get Your SewJo Back (Based on Your Sewing Personality Type)

The term sewjo is short for “sewing mojo.” It refers to the creative energy that motivates your sewing journey. When you no longer feel the desire to start or plan sewing projects, it usually means you’ve lost your sewjo. In this post I’m going to explore why that might happen and more importantly, how you can get your sewjo back. However, we’ll do this with a little twist.

We’ll look at this topic through the lens of your sewing personality type. A while back, I created a Sewing Personality Quiz that highlights your dominant traits and approach to sewing. There are five sewing personalities. If you haven’t taken the quiz yet, you can do so below and later come back here to learn more about how your dominant personality can rejuvenate their sewing life.

Alright! Let’s get started.

The Creative Explorer

As the Creative Explorer, you sewing style is experimental and you find a lot of fulfillment from novelty and experimentation. When you get into a sewing rut, you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated or underwhelmed and sometimes, all at once.

You’re naturally drawn to experimentation and the novelty promised by a new sewing project. But with so many ideas and directions you could take, your energy can start to feel scattered. You might not even notice you’ve lost your sewjo if you’re still bursting with inspiration. Deep down, however, you may feel ungrounded.

What helps: To get back in the swing of things, try to finish something. Anything. Pick up an old UFO (unfinished object) and complete it without aiming for perfection, You could also choose a simple project that you’ve tried before that you can complete in under 30 minutes. The completion of something can ground your creativity by giving your brain a sense of follow-through. Let me know what you think if you are a Creative Explorer, but I think the instinct to do more is so strong, therefore the remedy is to dial things down a little bit.

Sewing is not the only solution. You might want to to try organising your pattern or fabric stash, cleaning up your sewing station and writing down a list of all the things you want to sew. Check out my free printable sewing brain dump planner to help you out with this. Just add it to your cart and check out for free.

The Master Crafter

Losing your sewjo as a Master Crafter may feel like you’re stuck in an elusive pursuit of perfection. It’s admirable that you have such an immense respect for your craft and give consideration to clean finishes, well-fitted garments and good technique. But this can also turn into frustration when you make mistakes or when the fit of something is slightly off. You might even pause a project halfway because it’s not turning out exactly how you hoped.

What helps: Choose an easy sewing win. Pick something quick, simple, and low-stakes. I suggest you try making something other than a garment so you feel less pressure for a perfect fit or finish. If you know someone who appreciates handmade gifts, sew them a small item like a scrunchie or potholder. You could also make a fun accessory just for yourself. Enjoy the process of choosing fabrics or notions you love. The goal here is just to reconnect sewing with joy rather than aiming for perfection.

You might also find it helpful to share your knowledge with others. This doesn’t have to mean formal teaching. It could be answering a question on Reddit or posting a short tip on social media. Sometimes, reminding yourself how much you’ve learned can help you shift focus away from internal frustration.

The Conceptual Designer

If you identify with the Conceptual Designer you may find that you lose your sewjo when you find yourself consistently stuck in the planning stage.

When it comes to sewing, you often have a grand vision for your sewing thematically or aesthetically. Since your creativity is big-picture, and you want each project to align with that mental map, you may psych yourself out because you don’t want anything less than perfection. Your creative vision feels too precious to mess up.

What helps: Start by externalising your ideas so they don’t keep building up in your head. Do a brain dump of screenshots, sketches or notes into a folder or document (this does not need to be polished). These small acts help you outsource some of the mental load and reduce the pressure to get everything “just right” before you begin. Also, remember that inspiration is just inspiration. It’s not a benchmark for your sewing projects, so just focus on taking the next small step, like pre-washing fabric or cutting a pattern. You’ll likely find your rhythm again once the pressure lifts. The key here when you’ve lost your sewjo is ‘more action and less planning’.

The Introspective Artist

As the Introspective Artist, you sew with intention and everything from your fabric choices to your project goals is deeply personal. You might be focused on the sustainable production of clothes or you just want your clothes to carry a deep personal meaning. This meaningful approach to sewing can also become too rigid when you feel weighed down by your values. For example, you might be holding on to fabric scraps because you want zero waste. You may also strictly use thrifted fabric, but then find that you don’t always come across something you love.

What helps: Remind yourself that you’re already doing an amazing job. Your care, but it’s also okay to give yourself some wiggle room. In my personal opinion, the most destructive practices are coming from big corporations. You choosing to buy the brand new fabric you love is completely acceptable. Make sure your commitment to your values doesn’t stifle your creativity and take it easy on yourself.

Ps: Not every introspective artist is an environmentalist. Your values might be personal, spiritual, cultural or emotional. Whatever they are, give yourself space to honour them without turning them into rules that kill your joy when it comes to sewing.

The Analytical Engineer

If you scored highly for the Analytical Engineer, you’re at your best when you’re learning and solving problems. You fall into a rut when you are bored and nothing is challenging you. Maybe you feel like you are falling into repetition because nothing in your craft is engaging the part of your brain that needs to advance your skills. But it’s not so much repetition as it is the absence of something challenging and engaging.

What helps: To get your sewjo back, disrupt your routine by trying something completely different that requires a new skillset. You might want to try sewing lingerie, quilting, bag-making, or learning pattern drafting. If possible, get a new sewing tool that either improves your efficiency or forces you to learn something new. For example, a rolled hem foot that you learn to use through trial and error.

Final Thoughts

We all lose our motivation to sew from time to time. I think it’s the psyche’s way of signaling that something isn’t working for us. The five sewing personality types are just one model for thinking about how to reconnect with your craft. You might find that a mix of solutions works best, regardless of your type, so listen to yourself and what you need most in the moment.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. What helped you fall back in love with sewing when you got into a rut? Have you taken the quiz? What’s your dominant sewing personality? Let me know in the comments below. ❤️❤️❤️