Sewing: Expectation vs. Reality

Sewing:  Expectation Vs. Reality

Hi everyone! I’m not sure why I’m writing this, but today I want to tell you about the random, well, stuff, that goes on when I sew.

Now, anybody who likes looking at sewing rooms (like me) or well-organized sewing boxes, mini-bolts of fabrics, and well placed mood boards could be easily caught up in the thinking that sewing is super glamorous and not messy. On Instagram, people post pictures of their sewing projects in neat rooms with bright white carpet, perfect lighting, and a well-assorted collection of sewing objects well-placed around them. When they sew, as deduced by their pictures, it’s something for a movie: their cutting perfect, their fabrics always well-organized, their pins sitting aesthetically atop an eye-pleasing pin cushion. It’s a scene fit for Cruella and the Baroness. Isn’t that what sewing looks like?

Well the answer is a reverberating no. My sewing is pretty documented, depending on how elaborate and time consuming the project is, but while you see what I put on my mannequin (because that’s why the picture is there) you can’t see so much else. Take right now, for example. I’m sitting on the floor in the tiny sewing area of my bedroom on a random bright-colored cushion, with about 1,000 pins at my right wrist and a dress I’m pinning on my left. Far from the image of beauty, it’s a mess and there’s thread, fabric scraps, and pins on the floor.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure some people can sew and maintain the presentability of their space, but I honestly can’t see how they do it, unless they have someone to help them and/or don’t actually free-sew that much. I (and the majority of sewers out there) don’t have this, so I wanted to give you an honest look at my space.

I’ll give you a tour of my space so you can see how I work. I have my mannequin, which is pretty good besides a few threads on it, and it actually has it’s pincushion on top that’s usually missing. In my cubby-drawer-things, I’ve got my sewing box (which I just organized and is still somehow messy), and some fabrics in mini bins and stacked. It’s not neat, but I know where everything is, so that’s good. And I have my counter, which usually is either clean or sporting my newest batch of projects. Today, it’s the latter, and I have the final dress for the Wednesday Addams Collection and most of the pieces for the Valentine’s Day collection on there. The rest are on my sewing cart, which is usually used for scraps, and has a flat space perfect for storing collection fabrics. I can make it look really cute, but usually, I don’t have the ability to do so - I want to sew!

Now, I cut some fabric, it gets scraps everywhere, I pick up the big ones. I pin it, I poke myself, I keep pinning, I poke again. Then I sew it, sew, poke, sew, poke, oh no needle broke and I can’t find part of it, that’s ok, put in a knew needle and keep going, seam ripper, sew more, done with seams. Altering usually goes something like try on mannequin make changes, lose a couple pins, ah well, change it, try it on, ow I poked myself, change those changes, little repeat, yay it’s done, take a picture. Now, somehow in between it gets really messy. I have no idea.

And the above paragraph tells you why I don’t do action shots with me in them. They’re tricky to take (as well as being time-consuming), I usually forget, and my room isn’t really that great. Once I can clean it up, it’s back to a pretty good state though.

And that’s the reality of sewing - messy, crazy, and lots of pokes. But despite all these things, it’s still the best thing ever. And if you sew and can take really nice pictures of yourself that don’t look terrible, that’s super cool! I want your tips!