I’ve started…but will I finish?
Mum taught me how to use a sewing machine as a child
and I’ve been making stuff with it, on and off, ever since. Every so often I
set up the machine on the table in the window and, full of enthusiasm, I embark
on creating something new in much the same way as I embark on writing a new
story.
I don’t know where ideas for stories come from but sometimes it’s a something on the news or overheard in the street and plots and characters demand I do something about them right now. With sewing sometimes it’s some fabric, or a paper pattern that catches my imagination. Often it’s seeing something in a shop that’s way out of my budget and thinking: I could make something like that. But whatever the spark, the process of putting together a sewing project is very much like putting together a story.
Arranging all the pattern pieces on the fabric so that they
fit is like pulling together a plot and as ! cut out each shape, I discard the
scraps the same way I sift and select ideas. Beginning to stitch the pieces
together is just as exciting as starting to write the first draft as slowly
everything takes shape thanks to whatever skill I possess alongside the effort I
put in.
Once I can try the half-finished garment on, I can see where
adjustments need to be made – exactly like editing. When I reach a point where
it looks like I’ll end up with something wearable, I trim the seams and snip
away the loose threads, just as I cut all the unnecessary detail from a story.
Hopefully, I eventually reach the point where the garment or
the story is finished, ready, good to go and the elation of wearing it for
friends to see or sharing it with readers brings both happiness, and some
anxiety that it’s actually OK. At this point I’m either itching to get started
on the next project straightaway, full of enthusiasm and creativity, or else I’m
exhausted and muttering ‘never again’ or ‘maybe in a while’.
Of course I’ve got just as many unfinished sewing projects
as I have half-written stories stuffed into cupboards. And I realise I gave up
on them for similar reasons too! They became too hard or suddenly lost their
appeal or I grew out of them, or discovered I needed something to make them work
that I didn’t have to hand and I lacked the time or the energy to go out and
find whatever it was. However, whether it’s an incomplete sewing or writing project,
I can’t bear to throw it away and I live in hope that one day I might get round
to finishing.
No comments:
Post a Comment