.... Saturday morning sewing

I set aside this morning to do so some sewing, I am making a top which I had already cut it out so it was just a case of working through the instructions and cracking on with the sewing.  The thing is I got very little done and I kept breaking off to make tea and it has just dawned on me that I was sabotaging myself and wasting the time that I had set aside, I think I have a case of sewing fear.

I am not a prolific sewer nor am I very accomplished, to date I have made a bag, a few cushion covers, a couple of skirts and a dress. I haven't sewed since the end of last summer when I made the dress for my daughter, in all honesty I think it is only now that I realise I was too ambitious and it was beyond my level of experience and that it has knocked my sewing confidence.

Here are a few things that I think are holding me back and my plans for tackling them

• Lack of confidence -  I need to build my confidence back up, I aim to do this by facing my fear that it could go wrong and remind myself that I still have my sewing L plates on so it is OK to mess it up. I might also  take a step back and make something like a simple bag to give myself a boost.

• I don't always understand what the pattern is telling me to do - I keep my laptop near me when I am sewing so that if I come across something I don't understand I can look it up on the internet and try and work out what I am being asked to do.  Sometimes this works well but it can lead to me being distracted as  I end up reading blogs or pinning things on Pinterest.  Experience will help to increase my knowledge and a bit of self discipline is needed to keep me from being distracted.

• I don't know if I am making the correct size - I have already learnt that pattern sizes and shop sizes bear no resemblance to each other, I have taken my measurements (which are not pretty reading) and tried to workout the best size for me. The top I am working on at the moment I thought I had selected the correct size but when I pinned it together for a trial fit before I started sewing it but seemed a bit tight on the bust.  I think this needs a combination of experience, research and lettuce leaves.

• Will my garment be wearable - only if you make it in the first place

Have you suffer from sewing fear?  Do you have any advice on how to deal with it?

Thanks for reading, please feel free to leave a comment :)