Hi there. This is a new series where I tell you what I made this week, and what I thought about while making it.
I like trying new things. Normally I would say this is a poor excuse for a personality trait. Actually, I would say that right now too. It’s not so much a personality trait as it is a habit. One that I’ve personally been practicing a lot lately. I have a lot of thoughts about newness and its capacity to psychically change the shape of your brain (see Neuroplasticity). But that’s not what I was thinking about this week. What I’ve been thinking about this week is how trying something for the first time rarely goes according to plan. I mean, how often is it the case that you have a new experience and think to yourself, “That went exactly how I thought it would.”
The unknown outcome of a new experience is a chaotic element in forecasting, but embracing this allows for the joy of novelty. I’m tempted to say that a little chaos never hurt anyone, but to be honest, chaos has hurt a lot of people. What I actually want to say is that chaos is a natural element of life, and learning to dance with it is a skill that pays off tenfold.
Back to trying something new. As a product of my staunch optimism, I frequently discover is that things are more difficult than I anticipated. For example, I ended up making a simple tank top this week. I had planned something far more complicated and once I started I realized I was going to need more time and a few extra tools. So, I folded up that fabric, unfolded the gingham, and pivoted. This isn’t a super fair analysis because I’m not new to sewing. But I am renewed to sewing, as I haven’t touched a sewing machine in several years.
I ended up creating something entirely different than I set out to. And there we have it, the underrated joy of subverted expectation. Of course, not all unforeseen circumstances cannot be ‘pivoted’ into positive outcomes. But trying is almost always worth a shot.
This week I made a: Very pink, very gingham tank top.
Materials: Cheap (as in poor quality & inexpensive) Gingham fabric I picked up at Fulton Fabrics + thread
Tools: Sewing machine that I bought on a whim Thursday night, pencil, scissors + electricity.
Experience: Genuinely positive. Slightly meditative + overall worth the time. I wore it for the rest of the day. Delightful <3