Closet Core Patterns : “Just. Make. It.”
Just Make It. Cut into that expensive fabric and be done with it. Get on with making and wearing the thing.
I read this article by Closet Core Patterns, and it was what I needed to crack on and make the pieces in the expensive Liberty fabric that I had been procrastinating on, for fear of f***ing it up.
Reading it made me realise: so what if I get it all wrong and waste the fabric?! I’m here to make, I’m here to learn. Get out the scissors and give it my best try.
My favourite sections of that article are below.
“Start sewing. Pick that “scary” project you’re longing to make and just. Make. It. Pull out that fabric you’ve been fondling but are too nervous to use and just cut into it......
Worried about ruining that “special” fabric? Is it woven from unicorn eyelashes? No? Life is short. It’s just fabric........
”But what if it doesn’t fit perfectly?” Again, no one really cares but you. You are asking way more of your me-made garments than you would of ready-to-wear, and if that pressure is preventing you from getting started or simply stopping you in your tracks, you need to learn how to shake it off. A drag line is not the end of the world. Learn what you can for the next time. ......”
Reference
Lou, H. (2016, January 2). Just Make it Already! How to Boost Your Sewing Confidence. Closet Core Patterns. Retrieved April 10, 2025, from https://blog.closetcorepatterns.com/just-make-it-already-how-to-boost-your-sewing-confidance/
Cherry Jeffs : “Repeating a process can teach us important lessons about subtle variation and refinement.”
This excellent article about what an artist’s body of work is also perfectly encapsulated why I refine - for longevity, strength and coherence of my inner voice.
Just found something absolutely brilliant, on the site of Cherry Jeffs, about what a body of work is. In this Cherry also talks about what repetition teaches us about refinement. Brilliant.
“In the early stages of discovering who we are as artists, it’s natural to want to try out lots of different techniques, media and subject matter. But for many of us, this kind of exploration can go on far too long! The result? Extreme frustration that we haven’t ‘found our voice’.
Constantly exploring different ways of working is exciting. But it’s also exhausting - and that makes it difficult to maintain over the long term.
This is one of the reasons why it can feel like an uphill struggle to make art regularly. When we don’t have a clear direction, it’s easy to get charged up to begin. But after a while, our enthusiasm peters out and we dry up. Eventually we restart in a different direction.
Repeating a process can teach us important lessons about subtle variation and refinement. But when we charge all over the map like this, we don’t get to learn these lessons.
It was only when I focussed on building a body of work, that I finally started to make art that spoke with a strong, personal and unique creative voice.
So, above any other considerations, the single, most important reason for building a body of work lies at the heart of your creative work: It helps you refine your voice, and the direction of your practice, so you can keep going over the long haul.”
Reference
Jeffs, C. (n.d.). What is a body of work? Cherry Jeffs. Retrieved March 18, 2025, from https://www.cherryjeffs.com/whatisabodyofwork