Things I learnt while learning to sew.

Well, I learnt to sew of course!

Ha ha, you already knew that, unless it was a really terrible course but since I was teaching myself that couldn't possibly be the case.

Teaching myself to sew was a bit of a challenge since I had to overcome some self-esteem issues from high school.  My sewing teacher found me unteachable because I was left handed.  Luckily my being left handed has never been a problem for me, so I found myself eminently teachable.  The first thing I learned.  I can learn to sew.

The next thing I learned was humility.  I'm a slow learner on this one but sewing is a patient and persistent teacher.  Whenever I felt that I was finally getting the hang of this sewing caper I would lift up my dress and find that I'd sewn the shoulder strap to the bottom of the dress; or the zipper on back to front; or the inside of the bodice to the outside of the skirt; or I'd just sewn a whole seam with an empty bobbin (which means that all I'd done was punch tiny holes into the material);  or I'd failed to switch the machine from straight stitch to zigzag or vice versa; or well, you get the idea; lots and lots of mistakes.  On a related note I also learned that the unpicker (or seam-ripper) was my new sewing best friend.  Whatever mistake I tried, my unpicker was there to undo it all and take me back to the beginning.

My unpicker taught me patience.  So, so, so, many times did it take me back to the beginning, back to me holding two bits of material that I wanted to be joined together in some fashion.  Well not just any old fashion but in a wearable fashion.

I also found out that I am creative.  I have found so many ways to make mistakes.  The variety seems endless.  I have also had to fix said mistakes and sometimes even the unpicker is not enough.  Sometimes, dare I say it, even some ingenuity was required. (Oops, there goes all that humility I was storing up.)

There you go four things I learnt while teaching myself to sew, (well five if you count the actual sewing.)

1. Teachable
2. Humility
3. Patience
4. Creativity

Ta da!  And I also got a dress that fits.   Yay!