Sewing angst

[chocolatepot]

I had one of those moments where I felt like everything I've done on this jacket has been wrong, why am I bothering, it's not going to fit and the print is ugly and not really period and I'm going to look like an idiot. Then I attached the cuff I finished to the sleeve I'd set in and tried it on, which made the sleeve not look ridiculously short, and I started feeling so much better.

Okay, the linen is too heavy (maybe it's meant for a modern jacket or upholstery) and the print, which looked kind of like a painted pattern on the internet, is not really right for ... any period, really. And I think I'm going to have to take tucks in the cap of the sleeve to make it less puffy. But it fits and it is much more period than an "English bodice" (sleeveless, loose) so I think I will be all right. To be honest, I think my problem is that all I ever see is really good stuff from the bloggers I follow - since I haven't really gone to any events before, I have no idea what the Woman in the Camp is wearing and assume they're all perfectly-outfitted and have expertly draped each other's gowns, etc. etc. This may not be so. At any rate, I'm going to have nice Fugawee shoes and I have awesome spiral hairpins to hold my bun in place (THEY ARE MAGNIFICENT), and I am going to have fun with my mom in her shortgown, which she has of course sewn perfectly.

Also, I just want to link to meddow's great meta on Catelyn Stark. I only read the first bit to keep from spoiling myself, but that bit at least was very good! I'm not a huge fan of Catelyn as a person, but I do like her as a character and I love that Martin uses her to explore the sorts of things a mostly-conventional woman of her class could get done. I have some thoughts on CoK and some things I picked up on in my rewatch of GoT that made me go "oh, right!" but I will save all that for tomorrow.

Comments

[bizarreoptimism.livejournal.com]

I had one of those moments where I felt like everything I've done on this jacket has been wrong, why am I bothering, it's not going to fit and the print is ugly and not really period and I'm going to look like an idiot. Then I attached the cuff I finished to the sleeve I'd set in and tried it on, which made the sleeve not look ridiculously short, and I started feeling so much better.

This is going to sound really weird, probably, but: this post strangely made me feel a lot better. I've hit a rough (really rough) patch with my writing at the moment (This isn't going anywhere, you don't know where you're going, you don't know what you're *doing*; why are you even bothering??), and when I hit a rough patch with my writing I feel depressed about EVERYTHING ELSE, too. (It may be weird but it just appears to be how I work, so I usually just try to go with it.)

So I found it oddly reassuring to really know that other people hit such moments of self-doubt and angst -- and not even JUST about writing but about other creative endeavors, TOO. And, I dunno, it just -- made me feel less like an idiot, I suppose. "See, other people have self-doubt when they work on their creative projects too! You just gotta keep powering through like they do."

So, y'know: thanks for that. ^___^ And glad you're feeling better about the jacket now. I know absolutely nothing about period clothes, still sounds really cool to *me*. You should post photos! :)

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

No, it makes a lot of sense to me! It doesn't tend to happen to me when I'm writing because I don't think I get far enough along in anything to feel like I've wasted the effort. Whereas this sewing project, counting all of the pieces in it (jacket, petticoat, underpetticoat, stays), is like 85% done. And the hand-sewing ... it's enough effort that you really want it to be done right and on something that fits and looks like something you'll want to wear multiple times.

I will totally post photos! Along with maybe some period portraits for reference.