On (Im)perfection & Quilting

Let's talk quilting and perfectionism.

By personality, I'm quite the perfectionist. A few years ago, this was a much bigger part of my sewing life. Seams off by 1/16" of an inch? Rip out and resew!

And then I had a baby. And another. And another. Three little boys in 2.5 years. Time to rip out and resew for a 1/16th" mistake? Um yeah, no.

{Not perfect. Not even close.}

Some of you know that I've been working toward a more minimalist lifestyle (sewing room purge here, minimalism & quilting pursuits here). As I started this journey, I read The Joy of Less, by Francine Jay (Amazon affiliate link, disclaimer at bottom of blog). She wrote a section on perfectionism that really resonated with me:

"In 99 percent of the stuff we do, perfection is superfluous. It's not necessary, not expected, and likely won't be noticed or appreciated. So here we are, devoting extra time and effort to making everything just so - and nobody cares. It's actually a wonderful realization; because when we stop striving for perfection, we get our stuff done faster, and with greater ease." (chapter 29)

This really hit me. In quilting, like many of my other pursuits, I was striving for 100% accuracy 100% of the time. And you know what? It was completely unnecessary.

"I'm certainly not suggesting that you shouldn't have pride in your work, or put forth your best effort. In fact, doing a poor or sloppy job will likely increase the amount of work you do in the end - when you have to start over, make corrections, or apologize for your imcompetence. Rather, I'm saying there's a point of diminishing returns. Once you've reached 'good enough' - where the work you've done is respectable - there's often little point in pushing further toward perfection." (chapter 29)

I will say, I never would have been about to settle for a "respectable" level of work before. But having kids has pushed me to grow in a lot of areas, this being one of them. Yes, I'm always trying to become a better sewer and improve my accuracy and 1/4" seam. But I'm also learning to let go of my fixation on precision. I'm changing my definition of "good enough". I'm figuring out how to accept what I can do, rather than obsess over mistakes I just can't fix.

I would love my work to be perfect. But perfect isn't real, and it isn't realistic. 

So I guess, in a way, I'm proud of these mismatched seams.

What about you? What role does perfection - or imperfection - play in your work?