Its Obviously A Straight Seam


It seems like it should be a straight seam.

First you pick your fabric

Cut out the shapes

Sew them back together like a big puzzle

And there you have it: A dress

I have seen them in stores, all hanging nicely in a row. They are always with their own kind. The sundresses in one place, the fancy dresses in another, and the girl's dresses else where. Then there are vests, blouses, skirts, jeans, and all sorts of different designs and styles. Each was is specifically hung in its own place where they look the most beautiful and compelling. Here the customers will stop in their tracks, where they will feel the soft inviting fabric, and perhaps take it off the hanger to buy. I have wondered how many mistakes it took for the designer to discover that one perfect style that now hangs so appealingly in the stores?

I have made a dress.

I had a pattern, so it should have been simple.

No ripped out seams

 

I had cut out all the pieces. They all laid scattered on the floor. I could picture where each piece would be used: This one for the sleeve, this one for the pocket, and this one for the skirt. No piece was left behind, each had a place and a purpose in the dress. Each one was shaped in just the right way in order to fit with its neighbor.

It should have been simple.

Perhaps it was because I wasn't following the pattern exactly, perhaps it was because I was working past my bed time, or perhaps it was because I wasn't reading the instructions that went with the pattern.

 

By the time I finished the bodice of my dress, the seam ripper had been dusted up, oiled and well used

At least three times.

However, once I was finished

I took a step back and wondered: How many people would know what went into that bodice?


Later, I took the sewing machine downstairs 

Things went a little more smoothly

I was working in the presence of a professional: my Aunt (and cousin)

I could ask her questions, before I made the mistake 

 


 

Sewing began to look a little more like a straight seam following the zipper line.

“Sew two rows” She said

“It makes the gathers neater.”

Even with help

There was still room for mistakes

Sewing a seam crooked, forgetting to make sure my belt was even, catching the top part of my zipper

 

 

 

However, in all... that seam ripper was able collect dust a bit more heavily

I wonder... if sewing dresses are a bit like people...

In the past I have loved to read biographies of people who have done great things. Often people talk about these famous people and their famous acts of kindness. They are kind of like those rows of dresses in stores that people gawk at. We see the polished, smoothed out, ironed part of a person. I wonder: What did these people have to go through to get to where they are now?

 

 

Just like my dress, I am me.

I see all the times I have had to use the seam ripper.

I see all the mistakes that I have made.

I see all the things I have had to redo,

to correct,

to struggle through

I see me.

Sometimes I step back and wonder: What do other people see when they see me?


 

I have recently found

That going downstairs is helpful.

Asking questions to the professional: Whoever that may be.

The professional doesn't just see the dress that is hanging in the store

Neatly in its place

Pretty

The professional sees the process, gives advice, gives warnings, is interested in new ideas

The professional knows you.

 


...And so with all it mistakes...

I finished the dress

Should I let it hang in the store next to all the others that looks like it

Should I let it be gawked at in its perfection

Or should I tell its story

Of the ripped seams

Of the new techniques learned

Of the long hard hours

Of being real

So that people will not just gawk and dream of impossibilities

But so that they will be able to get to know the process...

                      ...Of my dress and I.

I like to find stories in unlikely places and connect them with unlikely subjects. Here are stories and analogies that I see as I travel around the world.

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