Give yourself a break — slow down and savor the moment!

by Kate

I have always loved to sew, and recall as a child trying to hurry up the process of hand-sewing doll clothes by making the largest possible stitches with a needle and thread. Of course, the clothes fell apart immediately.  In spite of these early setbacks, my love of sewing continues today, nearly 6 decades later.

I’ve owned a combination sewing and embroidery machine for about one year, and naturally have learned many lessons with this wonderful invention.  I’ve gained confidence, perseverance, become more adventuresome and more likely to try something new or difficult.  I’ve also used my seam ripper a few thousand times.  But I think the most valuable and personally rewarding lesson has been to have patience, slow down and give myself a break.

I’ve always craved the immediate gratification of a finished project, so I would usually just jump right into something, many times without a pattern or instructions, and then become extremely frustrated when obstacles appeared.

Although my embroidery machine can speed through a design like magic, there are many other aspects to these projects between the first spark of an idea and the sense of accomplishment from a final product that’s just what I imagined, or more.

Planning, research, testing, adjustments, and a setting realistic time frame – all are necessary components to reaching that magical goal.  Once I come up with an idea, usually from something I’ve seen in a magazine, at a class, or online, I try to do as much research as I can to gather instructions, patterns and general tips.  Then, I think through the project as I’m driving to work, or watching TV, or just doing nothing, walking through it in my mind, planning out the steps and trying to troubleshoot ahead of time.

Gathering the necessary supplies and fabric is not a chore, but it’s a top priority.  We’ve all been in the situation of finally having some peace and quiet and the time and energy to start sewing, but find we’re missing a vital item.  I’ll also do a test stitchout of the embroidery design to eliminate surprises.

OK – the house is empty, cleaning and laundry are done, and supper is in the oven.  You have everything you need, can see a clear picture in your mind of what steps need to be taken, you’ve tested your design, and you’re ready to go!  If this is your lucky day, you may be able to get started and glide through your project with no hitches.  If you’re like most of us, there’s likely to be one or two stumbling blocks along the way that you didn’t anticipate.  In the past, I would push on and on, getting more and more frustrated, and not be happy with the end results – or just give up!  Or, I’d finish the project, and then think “I wish I had done this, or added that.”

The biggest lesson for me is I need to have patience, know when to walk away, force myself to take my time, think things through and come back to the project with a clear head.  During that cooling-off period, I’ve often come up with improvements or embellishments that I otherwise would have missed.  Once I was able to accept that I didn’t have to race against the clock, sewing became even more enjoyable and rewarding.

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