Life is too Short…..

Ann over at Gorgeous Things  wrote a lovely post the other day titled "Life is too short to buy cheap fabric".   I agree whole heartedly, and since I was unable to post a comment directly to Ann my thoughts are spilling over here after romping around my thoughts throughout the day.

I agree with Ann that this is not a question of snobbishness.  But it can be a way of life, hence "Life is too short…" for so many things.   Life needs to be embraced, to be lived and buying and struggling to sew cheap fabric is not enjoyable and is not worth the time spent.    As Ann pointed out, "just because a fabric is expensive doesn’t mean it’s not cheap, and
just because a fabric is cheap, doesn’t mean it’s inexpensive."

If you love to sew, it is a waste of money and time to spend time on something that is crap.  And cheap fabric, whatever the price is crap, it is money and time down the drain.  You might as well just buy your clothes at Wal-Mart.  But we all know that we don’t sew or knit because we can get shirts and socks at Wal-Mart.   If something is worth spending time on, it is worth doing well with quality materials.  Quality materials do not have to be expensive.  The Internet has made a wider range of fabrics available to more people.  But learning to know and appreciate quality takes time.  I am not saying that we should run around in silk pants and tissue-fine cashmere tees while burping the baby and weeding the garden.  But it is worthwhile to learn about quality and buy the best quality of whatever is appropriate for your needs.  If you need washable pants and cotton tees or blouses, buy good quality cotton, that feels good when you wear it, sews nicely, and holds up well through repeated launderings.  You will feel better and be happier with a few nice things that fit well, and look good, and stand up to the wear and tear of daily life far more than a dozen things that look like crap after a few washings.

If you need a suit that you are going to wear several days a week all season for a year or more, and it needs to look good traveling, you might not want to invest in super 120’s cashmere blends, which really don’t hold up all that well, and they aren’t meant to.  But you can learn to distinguish the different qualities of wool and buy a good lightweight wool that will sew beautifully and hold up to all the abuse you throw at it.

My friend Mary used to tease me that whenever we traveled together I always took the same navy suit, and it was true, I did.  I made that suit out of a lightweight pinstripe that sewed beautifully, never wrinkled, and wore like iron.  I spent about $20 dollars a yard for that fabric, and I didn’t think it was that expensive, and I wore that suit for 4 or 5 years, traveled around Europe and the US with it, and was sad it when it finally started to look a little worn.  That suit was well worth the time I put into it, and it would have been a good value even had I spent more on the fabric.

Life is also to short for cheap linings, cheap interfacings, cheap notions and threads.  They all make the process more difficult and reduce the value of the finished garment.  Life is too short not not to take time pressing and making something to the best of your ability.

OK, let me get back to that one.

I wrote a few months back about zippers.  More exactly I wrote about the dearth of good zippers available for purchase near me and how I had decided to buy good zippers by mail (or on my trips to NYC).  Well I kind of did that.  I ordered some basics.  When I set aside a group of fabrics to sew, I would look at the zippers I might need and order them; but I don’t really have an adequate set. 

For example when I decided to make the maroon skirt I did not have an appropriate zipper.  I thought I did.  I looked in the zipper box and said "I have a maroon zipper" and thought no more about it.  But it was a 24" zipper.  Luckily zippers can be shortened.   I decided that I needed to approach my zipper stash, and yes i now have a zipper stash because life is too short to use a cheap zipper that will break, or to interrupt a sewing project because I have to wait a couple of days for a zipper.

I have my fabric stash organized by color.  I am pretty consistent in the colors I love to wear and those I don’t.  I also know what lengths of zippers I most commonly use.  So I sat down with a zipper color card and ordered an assortment of zippers in the colors I most frequently sew in the sizes I use most often.  Then I made a list, a spreadsheet actually, where I list the sizes and colors of zippers in stock, and cross them off as I use them.  When I use up a particular size and color of zipper it goes on my sewing notions list, which is one of the ongoing shopping lists that live on my Palm and always travel with me.  You never know when you might find yourself near a zipper source after all, now do you?

This plan doesn’t work for the exceptions, those fabrics and projects that aren’t in my normal repertoire, but with those projects, I usually know they might be unusual, can check my supply, and order the proper parts at the beginning of the process.  But this way, if I get a mad urge to make a top or a skirt, or most things for that matter, I can just jump right in and sew.  Life is too short to do it any other way.

The problem is that I increasingly think life is too short for a lot of things:  cheap sentiment, cheap food, cheap wine and so forth.   If life is worth living it is worth living well and fully, seizing every moment and making the most of it.  And so life is also too short to let it be ruled completely by the demands of others.  Life is too short not to put myself first at least some of the time.

Last week I ran around like crazy responding to everyone else’s crises, saving the day, fixing this and that, and ignoring my own needs and desires.  I was totally spent by the effort and I did not get any time to sew and precious little to knit.  But I don’t have to let weeks like this become the norm.  I can say "no".

So I am hereby declaring that life is too short not to spend time sewing and knitting.  I insist that I should have some time in my sewing room this week, time to work on my Marfy muslin, and perhaps time for some other things as well.  I want time in my sewing room for my own pleasure and sanity.  In fact, I deserve time in my sewing room because it is, after all, my life, and this is the choice I wish to make.

Wish me luck.  I tend to waver when faced with the competing demands of others.  But life is too short not to try.