Making Mistakes
Bernie at Needle and Foot is doing a blog-along this week, in which we talk about our imperfections. It is intended as a counterpoint to the polished images of apparent perfection that are all over IG and Pinterest. Thanks to Wendy's Pieceful Thoughts blog for telling me about this.
First up, I know my sewing is a long way from perfect and I generally do mention mistakes and difficulties. But I still edit, downplay problems and leave things out. I take at least half a dozen photos of everything and usually only one or two are even usable, due to poor focus or shadows of the phone. Most of them look like this.
Admittedly my camera focus has improved since I got new glasses a couple of weeks ago.
So, sewing mistakes. My general policy is to unpick as little as possible. Make it a feature, quilt it so it doesn't show, accept that the finished item will be less than perfect. But that's not always possible. Let's look at the mistakes I was making/fixing on Monday night.
I am working on my April Tula Palooza block (Read here for more about what I am doing with this sewalong). I cut it out about a week ago. I am resizing to make the pattern work as a single 9-patch block. I am good at maths. I am a Maths Professor's Daughter and I am proud of my maths ability. Geometry and arithmetic are a big part of what I love about quilting. But wow, my arithmetic was out. First up, I was 7 short on my background squares. I don't even know how that's possible with counting based on 3s and 9s.
Next, HSTs (half square triangles). I needed an odd number of some combos, so I used two different methods to make them. They have come out two different sizes.
Fortunately the bigger ones are the wrong ones, so this can be fixed by trimming.
And lastly, fussy cutting. I realised that the larger pieces were a nice shape for fussy cutting these seahorses.
I totally failed to take into account that they would have a background triangle taking out one corner that would obscure the face.
So here they are recut. You lose the tail but that's better than cutting them across the face.
So that's just one night and one block! In general, I have made all the mistakes. I have stitched the wrong seams together, stitched wrong sides together, stitched things upside down, used the wrong colour thread, cut and stitched directional fabrics the wrong way around. And, one of the perils of doing so much by hand, I have stitched things into my clothes.
In fact here's a pic of an upside down block (the desert island block) in my Fussy Cutting Forest quilt. It is now stitched in correctly, but I had to unpick twice. Unpicking EPP is not fun.
I seem to be cutting without counting properly quite a bit at the moment. I posted this on IG about being one short of fussy cuts for my La Passacaglia, because I hadn't checked the fabric properly.
Also, currently sitting on my sewing table is this (dark photo, because the weather was not cooperating with the 10 second window my kids gave me to take the pic).
I spotted another great star flower section fussy cut in my VW camper van fabric (see the one here) and enthusiastically cut it out. But the motif was too near the edge to actually get all the repeats in the blue/red fabric. The one at the top is missing too much of the point to hide in the seam allowance.
And there's no seam allowance to try to piece the last diamond together. I am debating piecing it to a muslin foundation with a herringbone stitch at the raw edge join. It's kind of a messy solution for what will ultimately be a quarter inch square of fabric, though.
You will notice this unfinished block didn't make it into my March fussycuttingsewalong roundup post.
So that's me and my mistakes! No one gets everything right first time. Mistakes are part of the quilt's story and part of the creative process. That's why we do samples, test blocks and drafts. Literally every quilter and artist who has ever existed has made something and then got fixated on the one little bit that is a 'mistake'. The good news is that normally only one person notices or cares - the artist. Everyone else just enjoys the beauty and feel of what the other person has created.
Thanks for reading!
First up, I know my sewing is a long way from perfect and I generally do mention mistakes and difficulties. But I still edit, downplay problems and leave things out. I take at least half a dozen photos of everything and usually only one or two are even usable, due to poor focus or shadows of the phone. Most of them look like this.
Admittedly my camera focus has improved since I got new glasses a couple of weeks ago.
So, sewing mistakes. My general policy is to unpick as little as possible. Make it a feature, quilt it so it doesn't show, accept that the finished item will be less than perfect. But that's not always possible. Let's look at the mistakes I was making/fixing on Monday night.
I am working on my April Tula Palooza block (Read here for more about what I am doing with this sewalong). I cut it out about a week ago. I am resizing to make the pattern work as a single 9-patch block. I am good at maths. I am a Maths Professor's Daughter and I am proud of my maths ability. Geometry and arithmetic are a big part of what I love about quilting. But wow, my arithmetic was out. First up, I was 7 short on my background squares. I don't even know how that's possible with counting based on 3s and 9s.
Next, HSTs (half square triangles). I needed an odd number of some combos, so I used two different methods to make them. They have come out two different sizes.
Fortunately the bigger ones are the wrong ones, so this can be fixed by trimming.
And lastly, fussy cutting. I realised that the larger pieces were a nice shape for fussy cutting these seahorses.
I totally failed to take into account that they would have a background triangle taking out one corner that would obscure the face.
So here they are recut. You lose the tail but that's better than cutting them across the face.
So that's just one night and one block! In general, I have made all the mistakes. I have stitched the wrong seams together, stitched wrong sides together, stitched things upside down, used the wrong colour thread, cut and stitched directional fabrics the wrong way around. And, one of the perils of doing so much by hand, I have stitched things into my clothes.
In fact here's a pic of an upside down block (the desert island block) in my Fussy Cutting Forest quilt. It is now stitched in correctly, but I had to unpick twice. Unpicking EPP is not fun.
I seem to be cutting without counting properly quite a bit at the moment. I posted this on IG about being one short of fussy cuts for my La Passacaglia, because I hadn't checked the fabric properly.
Also, currently sitting on my sewing table is this (dark photo, because the weather was not cooperating with the 10 second window my kids gave me to take the pic).
I spotted another great star flower section fussy cut in my VW camper van fabric (see the one here) and enthusiastically cut it out. But the motif was too near the edge to actually get all the repeats in the blue/red fabric. The one at the top is missing too much of the point to hide in the seam allowance.
And there's no seam allowance to try to piece the last diamond together. I am debating piecing it to a muslin foundation with a herringbone stitch at the raw edge join. It's kind of a messy solution for what will ultimately be a quarter inch square of fabric, though.
You will notice this unfinished block didn't make it into my March fussycuttingsewalong roundup post.
So that's me and my mistakes! No one gets everything right first time. Mistakes are part of the quilt's story and part of the creative process. That's why we do samples, test blocks and drafts. Literally every quilter and artist who has ever existed has made something and then got fixated on the one little bit that is a 'mistake'. The good news is that normally only one person notices or cares - the artist. Everyone else just enjoys the beauty and feel of what the other person has created.
Thanks for reading!
I laughed out loud at stitching things on to your clothes! Like you I love math, in fact I loved it so much I got a degree in Mathematics. However, for some odd reason, I fail miserably at quilt math! I enjoyed your post and love your sense of humor. :)
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