Finally moved into my sewing room
As I mentioned in a previous post, my home studio was displaced by my husband needing to move his art studio back into our home. Last night we actually finished the last of the major setup, and the husband was kind enough swap out the old electrical outlets for new and improved grounded electrical outlets as well as mount my pegboard where required, which allowed me the opportunity to work.
Has anyone ever mentioned seamster’s block? Where a sewist sits and stares at his or her piles of calico and quilters cotton but just doesn’t have a clue what to make. No? Really?
Funny.
naked teapot
‘Cause I think I definitely get a case of it from time to time. I did end up (eventually) making a reversible tea cozy. And realizing that usually when I’m suffering a creative block it’s because I’m trying to live up to another persons definition of quality and not my own. I think that applies to writing (and to photography) too.
fully clothed teapot
A few years ago, I was asked to teach an online class on creating plush dolls as a form of spiritual and emotional expression. I was so excited. I wrote up a curricula for online use, put together a recommended reading list, and submitted samples of my own work (dolls.) Then I waited.
The person who had originally recruited me then dropped a bomb, saying something to the effect of the samples I submitted were very “basic” I asked for clarification and was rewarded with tons of links sent my way of art dolls all embellished to the hilt. I never responded.
I have nothing against art dolls. Not a single thing. But they aren’t my thing. I am a Quaker. Don’t get me wrong, if someone wants me to make them a complicated, fancy, revealing Empress of Clashistan ball-gown with rhinestones and frills and honking horns I’m fully capable and willing, but it’s not my default setting.
Being plain (one could say being basic) has a profound meaning for me. I prefer to focus on the little details that few see or appreciate, which is desirable in a tailor (and yes, in someone that helps others create plush dolls based on their emotional lives and not art dolls which may be based on the latest trend or fad.)
Still though, it’s the contrast between what I think the world expects and my own expectations that sometimes slow me down. While I like to stay true to myself, I understand the need to appeal to others that may not share my beliefs. This continual balancing act between worlds does slow me down and I get stuck from time to time.