Processes & growth
This post is a bit different from normal posts, but I wanted to share it anyway.
As I was sewing a wool coat for a client this morning, I started thinking about processes in sewing.
When I started my sewing at age 16, I had no clue which seam to sew first, when to apply interfacing... It was a huge new world in which I could hardly navigate.
Now that I'm a more experienced sewist, I love how this processes of sewing is becoming easier.
It's like a new city in which you learn which alley takes you to cool places and where the coziest spots are.
Knowing this processes and their flow is important for self esteem, but it's also extremely helpful to help you smooth out your sewing process.
Often, in a beginner pattern, each task gets divided into sections. Sew this, finish the seam, press it... I sewed like this for a long time. However, this is not the most efficient way of sewing.
Each time you need to perform a different task, it slows you down. After I while, you learn how to bring actions of the same nature together: sewing until you reach an intersection of seams, starting with the details, pressing as much as possible at once... this is one part of sewing processes.
It was only this morning I recognised the huge road I've travelled to get here. Years of trial and error, years of slow sewing and hours that would pass until I've figured another thing out...
I wanted to document this feeling of growth and understanding here, since writing here and meeting all other sewists were very encouraging to continue sewing.
When I delivered my work this afternoon, the client was very satisfied. Since she's a professional costume designer and sewist herself, I knew that her praise was real.
So, I wanted to put it here. Because today was a proud moment for me. And I realised myself while driving my bike home: I made a coat in 7 hours. And it was a good one.
I couldn't have done it without all the fails, the wadders, the mistakes and the hours spent with a seam ripper in my hand.
I couldn't have done it without all the studying, reading and figuring out the processes of sewing.
I'm glad I'm figuring it out. Stitch by stitch.
Images: work in progress