I’ve been wanting to sew clothes for years and I just never really got into it or enjoyed it. I’ve made a thing once or twice but it always felt a little stressful. I never liked what I made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then some random autumn night last year I was bored of wasting my evenings scrolling on my phone. I wanted to do anything else, regardless of what came out of it. Literally ANYTHING but wasting away online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I made a shirt from the easiest pattern I could get my hands on. I didn’t really like the style, it was just a plain t-shirt. I didn’t even pick the right fabric for it. It was supposed to be jersey, but I chose some woven cotton because it doesn’t move around, you can sew it with a straight stitch. The finished thing turned out alright, by no means perfect, but it was the first time I felt accomplished sewing something. I was happy and inspired by the result. Even though it was a mediocre make, with plenty of mistakes, and never something I would have picked out in a store, I loved it, simply because I made it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I made another couple of things like that. I made a skirt that’s the wrong size, it sits too low on my hips than what is intended. I still wear it sometimes. I love it simply because I made it. But it taught me that I don’t have the desire to create tailored items. Sewing them is stressful and I don’t love the way they feel. I need size adjustable. I need oversized, lose, easy, comfy. I always thought I had to make well-fitted advanced garments for me to love them. My perfectionist self whispers in my ear: if it isn’t made exactly to measure what is even the justification of hand making it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sewing something simple that works is satisfying. I would rather wear something simple I made, with its imperfections and mistakes, than something tailored I bought. Me from five or even two years ago would never have agreed with that statement. This shift in perspective isn’t a conscious choice, all I can do is observe it happening. It’s interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I made some more boxy woven t-shirts and shirts, and I ventured far out of my comfort zone and knitted a vest (Novice slipover by PetiteKnit). They’re easy patterns for beginners. There is no form fitting. The funny thing is, I have always worn lose and simple things. It’s ALWAYS been what I like. It’s just that I’ve lived in this fantasy of me maybe some day learning to love “fashion” whatever that means. Maybe if I could just find the right thing in the thrift store, or in fast fashion stores, or if I could just sew it……. So I buy these over-engineered items only to default back to my plain old jersey t-shirts. The weird thing is that I have bought boxy white shirts before and not worn them because I felt they didn’t look good on me, because they weren’t fitted. Creating them by hand is what made me accept them into my heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, all of this is to say that this is me officially deciding try this path of lazy sewing since it seems to be working out for me. I have a couple of really cool handwoven fabrics and as anyone in the craft sphere knows, special fabrics need special projects, right? But all I want to do is make the simplest clothes I can find. I want something that I won’t grow out of, that is forgiving so I don’t have to fret about getting the fit right, something that I won’t have to talk myself into wearing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a couple of patterns lined up. Maybe they will work out, maybe they won’t. But I will go into it like I did that first boxy t-shirt I made. An activity away from the glowing rectangle, out there in the physical world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve been wanting to sew clothes for years and I just never really got into it or enjoyed it. I’ve made a thing once or twice but it always felt a little stressful. I never liked what I made. But then some random autumn night last year I was bored of wasting my evenings scrolling …<\/p>\n