Friday, January 14, 2011

Friday Confessions


Are there ever times when you just know that you shouldn't be sewing? Times when you mess up stuff that you normally can do right in your sleep? Times when you have to push away from the machine, or else you'll set yourself back on a project instead of making progress?

This happened to me the other night - I thought I'd just spend a few minutes and sew some of the velcro tabs onto my PINK laptop case. Sewing on little velcro tabs with reasonably straight and narrow seams is something that I can do. Seriously. I have done it many times. I can do this.

Not that you could tell that from the picture on the right above... :(

I would have been better off just watching tv...

So, does this happen to you too? If so, any thoughts on why? Is it just being tired? Or do other factors contribute? When you're in this "zone", is there any way to get yourself out of it? Or do you just have to walk away and wait it out? I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)

13 comments:

BConky said...

I can't sew when I'm tired. I just mess everything up. I do better to walk away and start fresh early next day. I'm just a total morning person.

mamafitz said...

walk away, gwen, just walk away! i can't continue once i start making stupid mistakes, because it's like they (the mistakes) just feed on each other and get bigger and bigger, making the project harder and lasting longer. just walk away, and start anew later.

Julia said...

Gotta walk away when mistakes start happening. It's sometimes from being overly tired, and other times it's from stress, or who knows what?!

Sarah E. said...

Sometimes, when I tell myself it will only take a few minutes and try to finish it at night as the last thing, then it usually doesn't "only take a few minutes" or I try to hurry to make it "only take a few minutes". This hurried last minute sewing is what is the most frustrating to me. I either have to leave it until a time when i can relax and not have to be "only taking a few minutes (because I have to sleep sometime:)) " Or tell myself that it doesn't have to be finished now, just do a good job.

CarlaF-in Atlanta said...

Step away from the machine. I have messed up so many projects when I was tired. After the first or second mistake, I turn of the machine and hit the lights. It will be there tomorrow.

Myrosia said...

Well, I don't sew, but I certainly see it at work. If I am sufficiently tired or stressed out, tasks that I think I can do in my sleep just go wrong with beginner's mistakes. I have also seen it when I danced - once you develop the case of "two left feet", mistakes indeed start feeding on each other, and nothing goes right. I think it's just human nature, to under-estimate how tired or hurried you are, and then persist - it's almost like tiredness clouds your judgment and then you don't realize that you should cut your losses, and just come back to it the next day.

Anonymous said...

Happens to everyone. Usually it happens when I am not that interested in a project, am over tired or stressed out.

debbie said...

It usually happens to me if I try to sew when I'm just not in the mood. I learned long ago that I don't even try to sew if I'm really tired!

Zep said...

I don't care how long you've been sewing your not going to be perfect 100% of the time. Just like life, you're going to make mistakes! Learn from your mistakes and try not to make them again and if you don't learn they will just keep repeating themselves... just like life.

OK, so try having a room full of people sewing and there is no good mojo going on with anyone. I really hate when that happens and I wish I could walk away but.. we work through it and learn from it since it is a class.

Shannon said...

I can sew when I'm tired, but there are some days when everything goes wrong. I have learned after many years of trying to force things to work that when things start going wrong, it's time to walk away.
One time I tried to make a pair of simple elastic waist pants for my sister and I managed to sew the legs together wrong 4 times, each time in a different way. I wish I could say that taught me the walk away lesson, but sadly I didn't learn that for another 8 years or so.

Summerset said...

Yeah, it's time to quit and walk away. Actually, I don't work on anything after 9pm, unless it is just cleaning up the work room or simple stuff like threading the machines for the next day, etc. I get up pretty early, so I'm tired by that point.

Becky said...

In most things, I'm more of a night person. But I have discovered that if I try to sew after a certain time (usually around 9) I'll inevitably screw things up. So I rarely even try. And once one thing that I can usually do decently goes, it's all downhill from there, so I especially won't try new things that late!

Unknown said...

I know it's time to sew when my mind is unable to concentrate on other things and I know it's time to walk away when I can't concentrate on what it is I'm supposed to be sewing. Sewing should not stress you out more- and once you're beyond tired it doesn't do justice to you or what you're working on.