Do You Have to Love Sewing to Love Making Clothes?

Do I actually enjoy sewing? This might seem like a crazy question, particularly from someone who shouts about their love of sewing from the rooftops, so I think I need to explain.

I recently listened to an episode of the Love To Sew Podcast, “What If I Don’t Love to Sew,” where Helen and Caroline discussed the act of sewing and whether it was okay to not enjoy it. Just hearing someone else say that they don’t actually enjoy sewing made me realise, that’s me!

Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love dressmaking, but there is one element of the process I don’t enjoy that much, and that’s the sewing part. The creativity, the daydreaming about outfit options, running my hands over fabric, spending hours scrolling through social media and admiring other handmade outfits, and then the final product. Absolutely yes! All of it and then some.

I don’t even mind the prep work, ironing, tracing, cutting out, tidying up even, but I find the sewing, well, kind of stressful. I often hear people talk about how relaxing they find sewing, but it is not like that for me. There are so many things that can go wrong, and you have no idea if your project is going to turn out until it’s done. Which means the hours and hours you spend might be wasted, and this applies pressure to get everything right. Yet I continuously make mistakes, and my unpicker is my best friend.

So, whilst listening to Helen and Caroline discuss other sewists' relationships with sewing and having an aha moment where I realised I could relate, I started to think about, well, why do I do it? And that is when I realised (seriously, it was a big epiphany day for me) that there is so much more to sewing than sewing.

Sewing is just one part of making clothes. Yes, it is one of the larger parts, but for me, the thing I find addictive and that keeps me coming back is the creative process. The daydreaming and hours spent admiring other beautiful clothes and then the smug feeling I get, that regardless of how many times I stabbed myself, unpicked a seam, or threw something in the corner, I made a garment. Overcoming all of that and achieving my vision is so rewarding that I will persist through the stressful part, and isn’t that exactly what the creative process is all about?

It’s not like Gucci just woke up one day and became a fashion superstar, or JK Rowling just pumped out some average characters and a publisher thought, yeah, why not. No, it was having the vision in the first place and deciding to stick with it, and that is what it feels like every time I try and make something (not just clothes). I have a vision, go for it, and hope for the best. And you know what? I am lucky to say that over the years since I started sewing, I can count on one hand the number of failures I have had. I don’t say that to gloat but to acknowledge that although I don’t actually love the sewing part, I push through anyway, and I love that I know that about myself.

For anyone who has listened to the podcast episode (and if you haven’t, check it out), I need to acknowledge that some people, even those who sew regularly, don’t enjoy sewing or making their own clothes at all. This shocked me, obviously, but what I like about the Love To Sew podcast and podcasts in general is that you get to hear other people’s opinions and understand another person’s perspective. There were a few people who rang or emailed the show and opened my eyes to the reality that there are lots of people making their own clothes because they have to. They simply sew out of necessity. Whether it’s because they cannot find anything to fit them, or they have strong environmental values, they are doing it because they must or feel obliged to, and I just wanted to say that I admire them for it. There are so many things in our lives that we don’t want to do or wish we didn’t have to do, and it’s often incredibly hard to stick with it. So, for anyone out there who is making their own clothes because they have to, you deserve a massive pat on the back!

So, thanks to Helen and Caroline for discussing such an interesting topic and thanks to their listeners for raising it. I had my eyes opened in more ways than one.

I would love to know what you think. Are you secretly hating sewing too, or is there some other part of the process you can’t stand? Let me know in the comments, or on social media. I am genuinely interested to see what you think.

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