Have you ever ruined a sewing project? It happens to the best of us, no matter what skill level you consider yourself to be. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on sewing!
We can all screw up from time to time and that’s okay.
Screwing up a sewing project is no exception.
I made a lot of messes.
Things haven’t turned out the way I wanted them to.
But you know what, that’s normal!
Rushing
There are many reasons why we ruin a project. Most of the time it’s because we rush. I know that if I’m in a hurry I don’t do as good of job.
So give yourself some time, don’t be in a hurry, and it’ll be fine.
Sometimes we put crazy expectations on ourselves that cause us to make mistakes, like sewing a whole quilt in one day.
I’ve done not.
I don’t know why I’ve done that.
It’s silly, but we all get caught in the trap of pushing ourselves because we only have a little bit of time to do our project.
That’s rushing, and rushing causes mistakes.
Don’t do that!!
Laziness
Another reason why we have sewing disasters, is because we’re lazy. We don’t like to admit it, but we are.
I’m lazy.
When I know I’m supposed to measure properly, I sometimes take the easy way out and just wing it. That causes mistakes to happen.
I know I’m not the type of person that always follows patterns. That’s okay. I like to make my own because I’m creative like that, but there is a big difference between being creative and being lazy.
I like to sew without rules, and that makes me a rebellious type. But I don’t care. When it comes to sewing I like to make my own rules. There’s a big difference between wanting to make your own rules and being lazy.
Laziness is when you know what you should do, or what you need to do for the project, but you don’t do it.
I used to work in a sewing factory and spend hours picking out crooked stitches. I hated that! Now, for my own projects, I don’t pick out many stitches.
I probably should, but because of the sewing factory situation, I tend to take the lazy way.
Does that make me a bad sewer?
Not at all.
But it does make me one that screws up a project every now and then. I guess I just have to learn the hard way.
Stupidity
Sometimes stupidity is the only reason why my sewing project didn’t work out.
I remember one of my worst projects. It was my pajamas. My menopause pajamas. I wanted to sew bamboo pajamas because they are very absorbent and good for night sweats.
I spent a lot of money on the bamboo fabric, and I should’ve known better, but I didn’t buy enough material.
And I didn’t have a set pattern.
Because of that, I had to piece my pajamas together and they turned out very ugly. It wasn’t a complete disaster. I still wear the pajamas every night. I love them. But they are the ugliest things I’ve ever sewn.
Lesson learned, buy enough material. To do otherwise is pure stupidity.
Cost
Part of the reason we’re stupid when we sew is because we don’t want to spend the money to buy enough material, or the proper supplies.
I’m a cheapskate like that.
If I don’t have to spend money, I won’t. But because of that, sometimes my projects don’t work out.
As I mentioned above, with my menopause pajamas, things would’ve been a whole lot different if I would have bought enough material instead of being a cheapskate to save money.
Laugh At Yourself
The best thing that you can do when you screw up a sewing project is laugh at yourself. It’s what I do.
Life is too short to be so serious all the time.
If we can have a good laugh at ourselves, it lightens the burden and helps us move on no matter what the difficulty.
So, laugh at yourself when you sew a goofy looking outfit that didn’t look anything like the pattern.
Laugh at yourself when you sew the sleeve on wrong.
Don’t get all caught up in the mistake that you forget to enjoy the sewing.
Sewing isn’t a perfect science.
Even experts make mistakes.
Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself
We have to learn not to be so hard on ourselves.
I know someone who loves sewing quilts. She used to do a lot of quilting in her younger days but now she tells me she can’t handle it.
She says she can’t stand it when she sees crooked stitches on a quilt.
What on earth is that about?
We all need to lighten up. Perfection doesn’t exist in the sewing world especially for quilting. Anyone that tells you this is off their rocker.
The beauty of sewing is imperfections. What makes our creations unique are the fact that a seam is out of place or crooked.
I can tell you this, I find more value in quilts that have some flaw than those that are perfectly constructed.
So relax, don’t be so hard on yourself.
Just sew.
Learn From Your Mistakes
The best thing about making mistakes with your sewing is that you can learn from them.
If I put a zipper in wrong I quickly realize what the right way is. I quickly realize that the method I used doesn’t work as well as I thought it did.
Learning from your sewing mistakes is the best way to gain experience.
Never pass up an opportunity to grow and learn from a disastrous sewing project that you threw in the garbage because it didn’t work out.
Keep On Truckin’
And when you make a mistake, keep on trucking!
Like that old classic movie, ‘Smokey And The Bandit’ you gotta keep on truckin’ even when things are difficult.
Like the song in the movie goes, “You got a long way to go a short time to get there, doing things they say can’t be done.”
I love that song.
It’s become a model for my life.
Sometimes when we fail, we tend to give up and never try again. Just like falling off a horse. But when that happens the best thing we can do for ourselves is to get right back on.
You may make mistake after mistake with your sewing, but that doesn’t make you a bad sewer, that just makes you human.
Don’t give up.
Don’t be afraid to try again.
Keep on truckin’!
Conclusion
In conclusion I just want to say that we’ve all had sewing project disasters, but we’ve learned from our mistakes and moved on.
That’s how you get from beginner to advanced.
Even still, the best seamstresses make mistakes, so don’t be so hard on yourself when you screw up.
It’s part of the process.
If every project we sewed was perfect we would be robots.
So, don’t worry about you mistakes so much. Learn from them, laugh about them, and do the only thing you can do…
KEEP ON SEWING!