Finish Or Be Finished

Studio Makeover was an on-line workshop about setting up your sewing space loosely based on my book of the same name (SUYSP). In-between writing the book and teaching the workshop, my approach to studio design changed significantly to include more of the emotional content as well as the organizational. It was a wonderful class to teach. One of the things the students and I would talk about was unfinished projects, commonly referred to as UFOs.

In my early twenties, while slowly disappearing under a mountain of unfinished and not likely to be finished projects, I made the decision to only work on one thing at a time in each medium. That was over twenty-five years ago. Since then, I will have one sewing and one knitting project on the go but not ten sewing and ten knitting projects. The decision was made because I was tired of the waste of cutting out projects that sat there uncreated in colors or styles or sizes or seasons that no longer worked for me. Surprisingly, there were unexpected benefits far beyond that.

Unfinished work has a certain pressure and a subtle hint of failure about it as do supplies we no longer want or need. It's about waste and in particular about the waste of time, money, and energy. We're a success oriented society. Because of that, we will typically stop working on a project when we don't know what to do, when we don't know how to do what we want to do, or when we're bored. Somehow stopping is more successful than pushing ahead. However, if that's the stage we stop at, that's also the stage we return to, which is why it's more common for unfinished projects to stay unfinished than it is for them to be completed. Unfinished, they sit there sending their subtle message of failure and waste. It's more subconscious than conscious.

My decision taught me that pushing through and staying with the project right to the end maintained the creative flow of a piece particularly with my textile paintings although I'm seeing tremendous benefits in this process now that I've returned to fashion sewing. What happens is that my artist and I are both on the same page, thinking and resolving questions. When there's no escape to a new project, your mind is more likely to dig in and do and come up with answers that work. By exploring those tickling what if thoughts over the years, I developed a stronger skill set, an ongoing trust relationship with my artist, and a greater sense of confidence in my abilities.

There are time when I honestly don't know what to do with a piece. After this much time, they are rare however, when that happens, I will set the project aside and start the next one and when that second one is complete, I'll return to the first one and finish it. If I still don't have the answer, I repeat the process. This doesn't happen very often anymore. Usually my subconscious comes up with an answer while I'm working on that other project.

One of the overwhelming things for many of my students was a studio stuffed with supplies that they no longer wanted or needed. There might be basket making and scrap booking and jewelry making and other supplies stacked around the studio that they had tried only to discover that they didn't like basket making, scrap booking, or jewelry making. It's okay to try new mediums, to see if they interest and excite us, and to move on if they don't. What's not nearly as productive is to keep those supplies when they're not needed allowing them to send a "you failed, you wasted time, money, and energy" message to us while stealing our valuable creative space and zapping our artistic energy. Again, it's all quite subconscious. My students would be amazed at how much lighter they felt not only by organizing the studio but by removing those unnecessary objects.

If a project isn't working and I stay with it and push through, I'll get to a place of success. Success is not creating a masterpiece. It is finishing. In the process of finishing comes learning and that learning goes forward to the next and the next piece along with a sense of accomplishment and confidence. However... there are times when a textile piece or a knitting project or a sewing one just is not and is not going to work. That's when I decided to be finished with it.

Being finished with a project means taking apart the supplies that can be used and returning them to inventory for a future project. Those that can't be used are disposed of. Depending on what I'm looking at, a supply or a specific object, I might chose to sell it, give it away, or throw it away. Whatever returns a feeling of creative possibility and eliminates negative energy from the studio.

Tomorrow is a new year. Although I've been following this policy for many MANY years, it's rare for the calendar to roll over with no UFO's in my studio. Yesterday, I finished the blue sweater. It's hanging upstairs in my closet. I also cut the two black t-shirts apart and sewed the good halves together to make a new piece. Everything in the studio is done. It's wonderful.

The new year feels wide open and full of amazing potential. Considering that 2009 has been yet, still, another year of high stress, I'm thankful for that. Today, I'm giving thought to my resolution for next year. I've been thinking about it quite a bit this week and I'm pretty sure of how I'm going to phrase it but not quite there yet. I know that my word is connect. I'll share more on that tomorrow.... hopefully after I've slept in.

SE Studio was a follow up workshop to Self Expressions, a workshop on creating independent art. It focused on following the creative path, pushing creative boundaries, and setting attainable goals. I'm somewhat unusual in that I absolutely love goal setting and enjoyed teaching about how to set goals that work. They're not nearly the prisons they're made out to be - in fact, they're quite freeing. I miss teaching It was so wonderful to help my students succeed. That's probably why I'm still occasionally doing it on the blog - like today.

Do you chose a word each year? Do you set a resolution? Is it clearly defined, measurable, and achievable? Please share. HAPPY NEW YEAR - Myrna

Grateful - new beginnings