Getting back on the horse

When I was young, I used to run road races with my Dad. The races themselves were fine, I enjoyed them, but I hated training. My Dad used to say, 'It takes three weeks to get in shape, but only one week to get out of shape.' It was true and I didn't like it at all, I'm a destination kinda girl.

So here I find myself in the same situation, not running, but sewing. And pattern making. And grading. I took almost a whole month off when I was on holiday, and it's taking me awhile to get back to where I left off. I'm incredibly frustrated. Before my customers go running into the hills, let me qualify this by saying that my actual sewing is going fine. My new machine is sewing more beautifully than I remembered machines could. Please forgive me, old sewing machine, I didn't appreciate how badly I'd been treating you.

But before I went on holiday, I could look at something and think 'I know how to make you'. And then I could make a mental list of what order I had to do everything in. And I could pull out a pattern, and remember how to make it bigger or smaller by moving lines and changing ratios. I was so immersed in The Business that it was easy (ish). But it seems that everything I've made since I've been back is tricky. I struggled with the bag, I struggled with the wallet. And then last night I made Steven a cozy for his Creative Zen. I took pictures as I was going along for a tutorial, but if I was to post it now I would have to call it 'How to make an Ipod cozy when you have too much time on your hands'. End result? Just as I wanted. The journey? Too long.


This actually would have taken me about 15 minutes if I had got the order in which to sew things right.


So I think I'm all set, I've been pushing myself hard too make things (like accessories) that I have no experience of. And for what? That's not My Business. Sure, I needed a bag and a wallet. An Ipod cosy is just about the only thing I could make my husband that he'd accept. But it's not what I know, not what I've been working so hard to get good at over the last year. My shops are re-opening tomorrow.