Letting go is what you can live with.
That treshold is different for every seamstress. Mine is pretty high. I like a good finish inside and out. I take great care of finishing every seam, binding everywhere, matching motifs, stripes, plaids, attaching linings. I find that the garment last longer, is more washable and I love to bias bind hems, it's pretty when you sit down.
I am thinking about this because I read Very Purple Person 's blog post this morning about her recent green dress which she calls a fail. The dress is not a fail, I think it's totally wearable, nobody will ever notice the mistake and people are more likely to say, where did you find those green shoes! But I do understand her, I fuss over my sewing so much.
Case in point, this Ellen Tracy Butterick pattern I made in 2001. Now being wiser, I would notice it doesn't fit the model and stay away from it! Look at those gaping neckline and arms! (And No! I will never ever make plaid pants cut on the bias, this is such a receipe for disaster!)
Of course, I ended up with the same problems, you can see the gaping neckline still, I didn't know how to fix this one back then but I couldn't live with the armholes so I fixed them thus, which is not the way to do it, I know, but the dress was finished, I didn't have a dress form, I still don't have a full length mirror blah blah blah! It works, I could live with that.
But catasrophy, I totally ruined that dress when trimming the waist seam. One should never ever trim anything when tired : I cut a hole in my dress! Could I live with this?
Well, I did. I glued a tiny bit of fusible interfacing under it, it's partly hidden by the belt and since I made it 9 years ago, only one person remarked the 'hummongous' gash. The general comments are "pretty dress, where did you buy it?". I can live with that.
I love it! So simple and so elegant!
RĂ©pondreSupprimerGina
macadentada.blogspot.com
I think Very Purple Person should wear her dress, too.
RĂ©pondreSupprimerI love your dress, and it is still very wearable. I try to do the best job I can when sewing, but quite often make mistakes. When I do, I try really hard to fix them and wear them anyway.
Wonderful post! As someone who's new to sewing apparel I often wonder what that "acceptable failure" point is for others. I'm not one of those people who will doggedly do something until it's right (my stubbornness usually gives way to exhaustion), but now I'm forcing myself to ask: is this mishap going to frustrate me every time I wear it? I figure what's the point in putting all this effort into something that makes me self-conscious. I'm trying to have a higher threshold like yours! :)
RĂ©pondreSupprimerThanks for your perspective! And love the plaid.
It's a great dress! And it's good to know that you can live with it, that is what I need to learn. If it was me, I would just lose my temper and miss the whole opportunity of wearing such a great dress!
RĂ©pondreSupprimerthis is a beautiful dress. And the pattern is lined up perfectly, well done!
RĂ©pondreSupprimerThanks for your compliments, @verypurpleperson, I did cry over it, out of rage for being so clumsy, but in the end, it would have made me sadder not to wear it.
RĂ©pondreSupprimer