Patterns are a roadmap

Patterns are a road map for your journey into the creative 
Vogue Pattern Magazine - April/May 2006 edition 

I read this today and thought this is soooo true! It really rang a bell in my creative soul. And then of course, I took it a step further and thought that I am really learning to enjoy the journey and the process

What do I mean? 
I use to be the biggest believer in the "fast, faster, fastest" method. If it couldn't be completed in one sitting it was not worth making. I invested in books on this topic. Read every magazine article I could get my hands on about it....practiced techniques and learn to cut multiples and production sew so that I could sew a garment as quickly as possible.

I actually beamed with pleasure when I would tell people that I could make an unlined skirt in an hour ~ from cut to finish. A lined skirt in an hour and a half. I did omit all of the shortcuts I took and that sometimes I didn't get everything finished exactly right! But hey, I was wearing it out the door and I looked good if you didn't look too closely. 

I was a fast, faster, fastest disciple until I took a Cynthia Guffey class. When I had the nerve to ask a question about how quickly could you finish a garment if you added three rows of "hand" stitching to the hem? Now you know hand stitching is a four letter word to the fast, faster, fastest crowd! So Ms. Guffy trained her eagle eye on me and told me that I should just buy cheap clothes at Target if I wanted to rush through the process. By the time she finished telling me about how I should enjoy the process because not only was it a hobby but it was a craft that deserved to be done to the best of my ability, I wanted to crawl underneath the stage and come back out when everyone had left the building!

But the words remained in my head!  I realized that there was so much truth in her statement, that the garments that I was proudest of were the ones where I took the time to plan them out and think them through. Taking my time and making sure that all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed. 

The ones where I actually enjoyed all of the steps, not rushing through them to get the outfit finished and missing something. The ones where I actually sat down and hand stitched that hem instead of quickly running it up on the sewing machine. Where I didn't wear an outfit that I had to be stitched into because I didn't have time to make buttonholes and sew buttons onto the jacket!

I also realized after hearing her words, that I should be paying closer attention to the details that spoke quality in a garment. I wanted to learn how to underline a garment. I wanted that 3 part hand stitched hem. So now, I consciously try to enjoy the journey in each garment I make. I don't always use a new technique I've learned but I do take my time. 

I now work the sewing order out in my head. I linger with my fabric and let it speak to me. I am willing to sit still sometimes and just hand sew. I baste seams together to insure that the plaids or stripes match before I take my pieces to the sewing machine.

I enjoy the journey. So are you a fast, faster, fastest disciple...no need to be ashamed if you are? Or are you taking the journey and enjoying the process and having the time of your life?