On Getting on with It

Sometimes you measure twice and cut once, but life still doesn’t go according to plan. So you improvise and get on with it!

Today I was working with fabric of which I had a limited amount. Additionally, it had a directional pattern/print on it that I needed for my project (i.e., I wanted the print on it to run in a particular direction for the artistic look I wanted, otherwise it would ruin the piece). I was very careful in measuring the amount I needed and waited to cut the fabric until I was absolutely certain I had measured it correctly. Finally, I cut it and went to sew it on.

Lo and behold! I cut it wrong…it was too short…

I was so incensed with myself. I could not get more of this fabric, and even if I could have, I was on a sewing roll and didn’t want to interrupt my day by going to the shops. So instead I used my energy to improvise.

I used another, different fabric that I was already using in the piece to make up for the amount I had lost in my miscalculation. I found a way to add it in the center of my strip on two sides of the borders, thereby connecting the frame thematically to an inner part of the piece.

Life (and this quilt) wasn’t going according to plan, but I improvised and just got on with it.

The result was actually an improvement to what I had originally envisioned. I’m glad I didn’t sit and wallow in my disappointment in myself, nor did I run out and try to “buy” my way out of my mistake by replacing the fabric.