Editorial Director –
There’s great satisfaction to be had from doing something yourself instead of having it done for you. Every toddler learns the experience. “I want to do it!” and whilst adults wait impatiently for boots to go on the wrong feet or Cheerios to be painstakingly transferred from dish to mouth one-at-a-time, the child gets a taste of the thrill of self-sufficiency and independence.
Sometimes in adulthood the prize seems to be to earn enough money to get someone else to do the work, or at least the work we don’t want to do. We hand off to a landscaper or housecleaner (or both) because the hours we work don’t allow us time to do it ourselves. We pay someone to hem our pants, change the oil in our cars, lay our flooring, paint our walls. These are all tasks that previous generations probably would have done themselves.
I can’t tell you which is the better approach, and there are certainly tasks that I’d be happy to pay almost any amount of money not to have to do myself, but I do think that when we use our hands to do a practical task we benefit in many ways. I’ve recently brought my sewing machine out of the cupboard, brushed off the dust, and turned my hand to some clothes making. It’s been a while. Having grown up with a mother who sewed I’d picked up some basics, and then took some classes when I first had a baby (there was free childcare), but for the last eight years or so my machine has only handled Halloween costumes and things with straight edges like curtains and cushions.
In the meantime, there’s been an explosion of sewing inspiration. Instagram is full of people (yes mainly, but not solely, women) creating wonderful, innovative, inspiring fashion. Search #imakemyownclothes or #memade and find endless examples. For me it’s not always the end result of my projects that gives me pleasure – there are still too many mistakes at the moment – but it’s the way you can get lost in the work. Connecting your brain to your hands, there’s no room for fretting about other things. It’s a deep, simple satisfaction: I hope everyone can find the thing that makes them feel that way too.
