The relationship between my sewing time and my emotional state is a close one; I have long joked that sewing is much cheaper than therapy and has fewer calories than chocolate. Sewing helps me to unwind and relax; it can even relieve a minor headache. When I go in my sewing room, I deal with no one’s mess but my own. No one piles their things on my sewing table; no one takes my things out and leaves them laying around (Baby Boy being an occasional exception as my room has no door). In short, my sewing room is my own; I can put things in order and trust that they will stay in order. I do share my room with Twirly Girl, but she has her own corner so that I don’t look at her mess while I am working.
Sewing allows me to do things that stay done. I mop my kitchen and someone tracks in mud; I cook meals and the family is hungry a few hours (or less!) later; I bandage a scraped knee and another child begins to cry. But when I make a dress, I have something lovely to wear on Sunday morning for several years. When I make a little pair of blue pajamas, I can watch them get handed down from brother to brother to brother. Clothing does eventually wear out (or get outgrown), but the knowledge that I made something useful and attractive lives on in photographs as well as memories. When I succeed, especially with a complicated pattern, I have proved to myself that my brain does still function, even on the days I call every child by the wrong name and forget to thaw the meat for dinner.
Sewing is also my creative outlet. I cannot draw, but I can play with line and color as I create an outfit that is pleasing to the eye. I can follow the directions, or I can take a pattern and alter it to suit my own purposes. I can create and wear my own style regardless of what is “in” this season, and I can create clothing that lets my children express their own styles and personalities. I can also be frugal by using what I have or what is readily available (sometimes reusing a garment or other cloth object), spending my time rather than my money to fill a want or need for my family. And for me, time in my sewing room is almost always time well spent.
I had hoped that sewing would be like that for me…but I found it raised my blood pressure, instead of lowering it! But I love to see what you do with fabric and thread! So keep it up!
Thanks! I do find that sewing only reduces stress when it goes well. . .on bad days, it just makes things worse like the other night when I wasted a bunch of fabric because I cut it in the wrong spot.
Sewing is my relaxation and fun. Even simple items, like cloth napkins from fabric leftovers give me the feeling of accomplishment that you stated so well. It saddens me that only one of my daughters has had any interest in learning to sew.