Masterpost: How to SEW ALL THE THINGS I WANT RIGHT NOW

"How do I handle having so many dream projects and unfinished things and jumping between eras and feeling my heart race and still getting nothing done and having nothing to show for so much effort and time?"

We've all been there, I guess. Earlier this week, I had a lot of help after posting this question on the HSM Facebook group.

Most of my blogposts are just research I'm doing anyway; I try to write up my notes as well as possible, partly to aid future humans completing similar projects, partly because my own memory is shot to hell and I really appreciate coming back to a well-written article tailored exactly to me. It occurred to me that - this was a kind of research, I'm certainly going to need to look back at these notes for the rest of my creative life - and the replies I got were so universal in saying - me too, me too, me too.

Here's what I learned:

This Is Totally Normal

Not one person said this wasn't a problem they had. Oh, the simple joy of being understood entirely. Like me, many people had projects unfinished going back several years, a tendency to have 8 things on the go, and messy emotions to challenge while sewing like frustration, disappointment, envy or impatience.

Pick One Era, and make Separates

Frustrating but good advice. Many people said they did this, and it helped keep them on track. This allows you to re-use the same undergarments, the same research, patterns and fabrics, and create lots of mix and match elements to give you several looks without much extra work. It also lets you have several bites at similar techniques and garments, improving each time.

Honestly, even though this is probably the best advice in the thread, I'm still not quite emotionally ready to take it :p I still want ALL THE THINGS RIGHT NOW.

Pick an easier era

Making corsets is its own specialist skill, but there's plenty of history which does not require it. I often forget that Viking, Roman, and Medieval looks are a form of historic sewing because it's not my passion period. Others mentioned the 20s as easy on the undergarments, and a loose fit; and I feel confident that a 50s bullet bra is within my skills too. I also think Regency womenswear is simple enough to be a good first era, if you can make the stays - which look comparatively straightforward. 

Lovely as Victoriana is, it is definitely the deep end: not just corsets, but the most complex and structured development of 500 years of women's support garments; tailored and shaped bodices, and ungodly quantities of fabric. Though I still wouldn't stop someone starting there if that was their passion era, and they wanted to put their focus there in the knowledge it was a tough startpoint.

I think as a new sewer it's ALL so hard - and easy to not know that some things are still a lot harder than others.

Plan plan plan plan

The other most popular answers were about planning. Using a notebook, or setting mini-deadlines on a calendar or app, to break monumental tasks into manageable ones. Example: write down all your goal costumes. Then, write down what parts those costumes include. Then split each part into a list of tasks, and put them in order; or evaluate how fun they are to do, and just drop aspects which you already know you are never going to finish. Using notes, whiteboards or other visual aids is crucial, to help the brain see a nice easy path rather than a huge chaos.

One of my favourite comments was about completing one family costume a year. I love the idea of planning in such a zoomed out way: not only planning a single costume, but planning what stages of costuming fit where in your year schedule.

Another popular idea was having a set number of shelves, baskets or boxes for projects. You can only start a new project if there is room in the basket, or an empty box. I've already been trialling this with my non-sewing thing, and it's definitely provided an emotional breathing space and relief. Even if most of my boxes now contain a second project. As someone with serious badbrains, I really need a detailed flowchart and diary systems to get the smallest things done; and I love the way that basket systems extend that kind of tidiness into your physical space. From where I am sat, I can see my six project boxes, and that makes things feel far "simpler" compared to older systems I used, like a list of unfinished projects which I inevitably looked at once then lost. Because of the challenges I have getting started, I also like to store i.e. a needle and the correct thread in the box, so I can absolutely pick it up and go with minimal effort.

Finally, I love the idea of planning a "boring tasks" afternoon, where you go through your project baskets and do those little neglected or final tasks one likes to put off.

I was linked to Cosplanner: an app specifically for costume people to break down their cosplay projects. It is wonderful, and just inputting everything I felt a weight lift from my chest.

Internet Pressure

A couple of people talked about how comparing oneself to other sewers can be unhelpful. This is so true, whatever your internet hobby; and so much easier said than done. Even when I think I'm over it or aware of it, it sneaks up on me. You know, there are those nice posts about it on Wearing History and on American Duchess about how bad life was when those photos were taken, and yet it's never really going to be enough to defeat human nature. And I share their feelings about their photos: as a longterm depressive, 90% of photos people have taken of me, I look at and remember at once how unhappy I was that day. 

One fun idea was sharing unfinished or imperfect photos. And I definitely appreciate those articles, because people running swoonworthy blogs have an powerful part to play in helping readers understand what they are seeing, although it shouldn't ever be expected. It helps to remember too that many of the most professional looking blogs I follow are, of course, run by sewing professionals who have the time, experience and need to make better stuff and take better photos.

That said, I think really the only way to handle this is get better at being mindful of one's emotions, or limit your exposure to the internet if it's causing serious problems. 

Change Your Standards

Having something, anything, is better than an unfinished pile and a slumpy mood. Many good suggestions included ways to lower your personal standards and free yourself from parts of the hobby which were slow, difficult, or which were a barrier to having fun and finishing things. Too much research can also be a form of procrastination (guilty as charged)

These included:

• using "wrong" fabrics
• reusing similar undergarments over several costumes
• getting a commercial corset
• leaving insides unfinished, as was often the case at the time

It's also important to set your own standards and goals. That might be strict historical accuracy, but your priority might just be to try a new technique or have an OK costume to wear. There are tonnes of different ways the hobby can be satisfying, and being aware of what those are helps us make smart decisions and recognise what garments or eras are going to be a hassle for us. For me, this is definitely behind moving towards retro rather than history sewing: my top priority is to wear more old world glamour asap, and in retrospect, the Edwardians were the wrong place to start.

It Gets Better With Practice

Many helpful comments came from people who had sewn for decades, about how they had built up their wardrobes and skills over time, gaining more experience, better understanding of fabrics and so on, as well as still hitting plateaus in their knowledge and having the exact same frustrations no matter how advanced they were. I liked the idea of tracking skills you learn and celebrating them, the way you might celebrate a full costume. Many people complete one costume a year; and it's apparently also usual for research to take equal time to making things, which makes me feel better about how little I've accomplished.

I was also reminded about learning emotions. A lot of this problem isn't really about one's ability to sew or afford fabric, but the emotions that come along with that: envy, social exclusion, frustration, disappointment, impatience, and so on. At the Personality Disorder service where I have my therapy, they talk a lot about emotions as skills one can learn, practice and improve at (people with Personality Disorders typically suck balls at understanding what emotions they are having, or at handling them at the usual volume). I think seeing sewing-related-emotions as skills which are as important as rolled hems can be useful, and helps focus the attention on practicing them to.

It's GOOD To Have Many Things On The Go

Some lovely comments about the benefits of having many simultaneous projects and goals. As someone with all the mental health problems, I really dig it when people look at problems and find ways that they are strengths.

Lots of goals means we can pick off the easy ones, while recognising dream garments we are not able to make yet. Several projects means when you hit a wall with one, you have something else to work on until you are ready to go back with fresh eyes (just so long as you don't START new projects when this feeling hits, or are not using it as an excuse too often). Having multiple projects from the same era on the go can help shift things up, especially if you have easier, low-pressure accessories like a fichu, pocket, chemise or shawl to intersperse with the tough ones, and help get a complete costume finished sooner.

Have An Event To Go To

Deadlines work. Having an absolute date helps break down the planning onto a calendar, especially if you already have some grasp of your sewing hours per week and how long it takes to complete familiar tasks. And it also encourages one to have something done, even if it's not perfect. Lots of people said that not having any local events was demotivating, for the same reason.

I'm actually an odd one out here: I found having an event increased the stress level. Perhaps because like many HSM challengers, I didn't have a local event and would therefore be organising one. So the pressure was on for me to have something to wear. We talked about how many costume events grew out of existing interests in i.e. Jane Austen, and perhaps my next route is to set up a historic sewing club who occasionally has costume events, rather than the other way around.

Some wise quotations

"For each thing a season"
"Perfect is the enemy of finished"
"the goal is practice not perfection"

Well, this is just a start. But just having this conversation made me feel a lot better. If you have any techniques which help you defeat the sewing blues, do pop them in the comments.