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Dear Professor Pincushion – Sewing Time

Dear Professor Pincushion Sewing TimeDear Professor Pincushion,

Sewing is my newest hobby and I’m really enjoying it, but between work and kids, I really have a hard time being able to sit down and actually complete projects in a timely manner.  How do you manage your sewing time?

SewKrazyMom

 

Dear SewKrazyMom

There’s an old saying, “A stitch in time saves nine.”  What does this mean?  I have no idea, I’ll look it up later, but it is the subject of today’s Dear Professor Pincushion.

Look, I don’t pretend to be a great manager of time but, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years of sewing, it’s this:  Sewing time and real time are not in the same dimension.  It’s like there’s normal spans of time and then there’s Sewing time.  If this sounds confusing, it’s probably because you haven’t been sewing as long as I have and I’ve gotten to the point where I can navigate through this twilight zone and explain it in a simple example.

Let’s say that all I need to do is hem my skirt, nothing fancy, just a simple hem.  I figure this is going to take me 20 minutes to do.  After measuring, pinning, ironing, sewing, 20 minutes have passed and I’m done.  Question:  how long did it take me to hem my skirt?   Uhhh...20 minutes!  Ooooo...sorry.  The answer we were looking for was an hour and a half.  Thanks for playing!  An hour and a half?  Well, actually, thats right.  Whatever time timetable you predict something will take you to sew, you will be way off and you might as well multiply that number by 5 to get somewhere within the ballpark.  It might not be a ballpark in the same town but at least it’s in a ballpark.

This is also why you can sit down and sew for 5 minutes and then suddenly realize that you missed picking up your kids from school, making dinner, or even taking a shower.  That’s because Sewing time moves a lot slower than real time.  It’s also why things get so frantic when you’re up at 2am trying to sew something at the last minute.  Been there and it’s the worst!  It’s those moments that you start questioning this crazy hobby and your sanity.  Sewing is relaxing?!?  I’m not relaxed!!!  And if my bobbin runs out of thread one more time…”

Have you ever flipped through the pattern books and found the “one hour” garment patterns.  Yeah, that’s one hour Sewing time not one hour real time.  If I’m being honest, it takes me an hour just to pull out the pattern, figure out what pieces I need to cut out and which fabric I’m going to sacrifice for the cause.  Then you need to account for time spent getting a drink of water, checking your social media accounts, going out to get the mail, getting another drink of water, and maybe checking in on the kiddies or your fur babies.  So, you see, a one-hour pattern, in reality, can take upwards of 5 hours of real time from beginning to end.

What does this mean in trying to carve out meaningful, uninterrupted sewing time?  It means that if you have any kind life commitments, (work, kids, writing blogs about adorable cats), you pretty much have to either sew when everyone else in the world is sleeping.  Sleep is overrated anyways. Or steal time from other things.  Is mommy really taking a nice, long hot shower or is she in there trying to frantically sew in a zipper without anyone being the wiser?  Not that I’ve done this but here’s a tip: the shower method is also good for blocking out family noises and the shower steam can save you on some time on ironing.

I think, for most of us, we already have enough stress in our lives, and it’s really not beneficial to try and pressure yourself to add one more thing to your plate.  It’s a hobby, so pick small, non-stressful projects that you can pick up and complete fairly easily.  Or you can be like the rest of us and agree to make your niece an elaborate fairy costume with a few alterations, which, by the way, she needs in two days for a school performance.  But, no worries, because she picked out a 1-hour pattern.

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7 thoughts on “Dear Professor Pincushion – Sewing Time

  1. diane

    Wow this is so true, I thought I was just very slow at cutting out the patterns pieces, reading the instructions, cutting out the fabric and sewing it together, Once I watched the video and written down some of the steps involved, I guess I am really not that slow. Thanks for putting this in to perspective. Oh by the way, I am retired and still having trouble finding time to sew.

  2. diane

    Wow this is so true, I thought I was just a very slow at cutting out the patterns pieces, reading the instructions, cutting out the fabric and sewing it together, Once I have watched the video and written down some one the steps involved, I guess I am really not that slow. Thanks for sheding some light on this. Oh Yea by the way, I am retired and still having trouble finding time to sew.

  3. Sara2013

    This is the best . Now i know i am not going nuts for time, I notice this when i was going to sewing class……..

  4. 5a5a

    This is just so true. I am a working mom with 4 children and sometimes I just must put my sewing aside and finish in another day,or week, or even…..And I am not making any complicated things. Now I am in the middle of making my own bodice block. Started yesterday and I hope will finish it tomorow. Then must sew the muslin. That is yet another long story….

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