I’ve never thought of myself a patient person. I don’t think anyone has. I’m the kind of person who takes her cell phone with her to the bathroom because sitting there for a few minutes without anything to do is torture. I have road rage like WOAH and don’t even think about asking me to go golfing.
But in the past few years, I have noticed myself developing more patience. A lot of this is due to motherhood (although I won’t deny the help from Adderall!). Babies and toddlers are incredibly frustrating little beasts that require attention all the time and need you to take a deep breath, sit back, and go at their slower pace. The more you fight that, the harder it is to deal with them. So I started letting go and calming down. This was a revelation: patience is not an innate quality but a learned ability! Yes, it’s incredibly obvious, but well, that’s just how life goes.
I figure if patience is something one can master, then I better start practicing! So I picked up sewing.
Oh my god. Is there anything in the world more aggravating than sewing? (Probably golf.) Here’s how it went when I first started:
1. I find a tutorial for something I want to make. Yay sewing!
2. I pick out fabric. Ugh, wash and iron first? Whatever, I don’t have time for that. I’m not sure where my ruler is, so I just “guesstimate” the sizes. Then, frustrated with my inability to cut straight lines and make perfect shapes, I say “eh, it’ll work out.”
3. Pin fabric together. Stab finger with pin. Curse.
4. I’m ready to sew! Yay sewing! Then I realize that I don’t have the thread ready. Curse. How do I do that again? Spend five minutes locating sewing machine manual, thread bobbin, start pedal. String gets caught. Curse. Restring bobbin, wind it, thread machine.
5. Should I test it? Nah, I’m sure I did it right. Put fabric under foot and begin sewing. I didn’t thread machine properly, fabric snags. Curse.
6. Rethread machine, begin sewing. Finally, sewing! When I’m done with the side, I pull it off and look at it. Not a straight line, not even close. I consider ripping out the stiches, but don’t. Just want to get damn thing done.
7. I sew up other side. The thing that was supposed to be a square is all janked because the pieces were cut wrong in the beginning. I could unrip it all and start it again, but instead I attempt to fix with scissors. This does not work. The piiece is completely destroyed.
8. I turn off sewing machine, stare at the mangled clump of fabric in hands, and walk away angry. Screw sewing, man.
Not very fun. However, the next time I went back, I spent 10 minutes carefully measuring a piece of paper to make myself a pattern, and then pinned the fabric to that, so I had the correct shapes. Of course, somewhere around step 4 I got angry and rushed it again, but it’s progress.
Over the past few months, I have sewn a few things: a needle roll for a friend, some tarot bags, a pouch, a laptop case. I’ve also turned a thrifted romper into a dress and summerized Atti’s winter clothes. None of these things are very well made, but the point is that I keep doing them and hopefully someday down the line, I will be able to get through the WHOLE process without raging out.Then I can work more on improving my actual skills.
The most important things I have learned from sewing are actually things I should have learned as a Television major: 1) don’t skimp in preproduction and 2) take the time to do the thing right the first time. Again, they are things that are “obvious”, but difficult to do…unless you practice.
Congrats for deciding to learn how to be patient and congrats for learning how to sew!
I’m also not the most patient person on the planet, and I also sew. I believe the only reason why I do things like pre-wash fabric, carefully measure things, think twice before I cut, iron before I baste, and baste before I sew (because sometimes pinning alone just doesn’t cut it) is because it still takes less time than undoing a seam that’s wrong (because let’s face it: most fabrics can’t actually be ripped but need to be meticulously un-stitched), refitting something after sewing (especially clothing, but I’ve also had to do it with tarot bags), or doing the whole thing over because washing it mysteriously made it a size too small. The good news is, the more you do it, the faster it goes. You will also eventually learn where you can afford to cut corners without risking major failure.
Enjoy the process!
” I believe the only reason why I do things like pre-wash fabric, carefully measure things, think twice before I cut, iron before I baste, and baste before I sew (because sometimes pinning alone just doesn’t cut it) is because it still takes less time than undoing a seam that’s wrong”
That totally is patience! You’re aware that you need to do things a certain way and then you act on it instead of impulsively forging ahead. And I’ll get there someday. ;) Approaching sewing when I’m in a rested, mindful mood helps a lot. And taking lots of deep breaths whenever I mess up.
“That totally is patience!”
Is it? *looking genuinely surprised* I think you totally have a point here…
Hmm… Now that makes me think that I’m maybe not as universally impatient as I often perceive myself to be. And maybe I need to remind myself more often that other situations can be like sewing: if I take my time to do them right, they still won’t take longer than doing them impatiently and not-right. Deep breaths indeed…
Thanks for the lightbulb opportunity!
I like this post because I have the beautiful evidence of it sitting on my coffee table. XD
I like to think of a lot of self-improvement missions as being the same as working out your body. Because it pretty much is, right? You’re literally creating new neural pathways in your brain and it is REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE in the same way doing cardio is. But you do see improvements over time. :D