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| Blogs > oneladybrijit > For What It's Worth! |
Professional? Perfect? Ideals? Standards.
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Professional? Perfect? Ideals? Standards. Hello! A long time ago, I had finished my Fashion Retail Certificate, and someone kept her promise for me to be her bridesmaid, well, sort of, as I was now "Matron of Honour". (You can't be a bridesmaid if you are married!)  Ok, now back to the story. I had to make my "bridesmaid's dress", (probably because I had done dressmaking) for this wedding, and had been given the fabric, a pattern, and anything else I needed for this project. After I completed my fashion certificate, I hadn't touched a sewing needle for about two years, until situations arose, when it seemed stupid not to. Around this time was when I started making the bridesmaid's dress. Here I was alone, perhaps more alone than ever for once, as I had tried to work on this dress at home, only my motherly duties kept getting in the way. In the end things were arranged for me to stay at Mum's, away from the distractions, have meals provided, and some cuppas as well, and no distractions so I could sew. The date of the wedding was getting quite close by this stage also. I think I had a week or so to go, and had spent about five weeks trying to get into it, without getting anything done. I am not sure whether I had it cut out prior to this, or cut it out in this week. I do know that I felt pressured. Yes, isn't it lovely? When you feel pressured, you can make mistakes. Ok, so the scene is set. I had read the pattern through, to get the general gist of how this pattern was saying the dress should be made, and decided to use it the way it was written, as I had no trouble understanding the process. I just found it annoying, as it had about five layers of fabric, facing, interfacing in the top, along with the "bones" to keep the dress up. It was one of those "fairytale" dresses, with the strapless, very fitted top, and the full skirt, this one with the standard wedding type thing of the extra train style piece at the back that could be removed for less formal wear, and a ruffle on the hem, lots of work. When I originally cut it out, I nearly blew it, as there was almost not enough fabric, only at that stage, I was there with my then husband, and he looked things over, and suggested that maybe I should look again. I had said something about needing another two or three pieces of this part, and by checking, discovered that I had already cut them out. Don't pick on me. It was my first real project after the course was over, and I was feeling really pressured. I was so used to being able to contact a teacher, or sometimes a friend, and saying, umm, what do you think? ... that to not have that luxury, was "ahhh!" It was so scary! I was on my own! I felt really pressured, yet it was all a bit silly, as I did have the skills, just not the self confidence to trust my ability.Just laugh at me, it's worth it here. So I had managed to cut out every single piece of this multi-pieced garment, and there were quite a few, without ruining things. It had worked out. Now I was solo at Mum's, and I had started, and things were starting to hum. Then I started trimming what was needed because the front top was so fitted, that it needed to look like one piece of fabric, with "coincidentally" a seam or three in it, for shaping. There was the centre front panel, the side front panel, and the other side front panel. I had been working on joining all the layers, and thought I had succeeded. There I was, trimming away, and I was looking at this piece, and I was thinking, this isn't right. What's wrong?? I looked again, did some checking, and discovered that I had sewn the piece incorrectly. It's so long ago now, I am no longer sure. Mum was out, so I couldn't talk to her, and she is no dressmaker anyway, not even an amateur! It would have been nice just to share! I was looking at it, and thinking what do I do???? and more of what do I do??? and I had no idea. I was totally bamboozled, because I had upset myself. I was winding myself up, more, and more, and more, and more. In the end, I took Mum's phone, and dialled my husband, and burst into tears as I told him about it. (Uh, he was at work when I rang him.) This was when my life changed, in one of the best ways. I will share. He heard me out, and he was a man, not a dressmaker, only he had lots of skills too, in his area. He waited for the tears to settle a bit, and asked, can you do this?? Of course my initial reaction was no way! I was being the silly immature person that I still was at this time. He said what if???? I said, yes, I suppose that could work. Maybe. He said, "You are a professional now" He said: "It doesn't matter if it's not perfect. What does matter is that it looks perfect, and does the job it's meant to." What the outcome was, is one of the seams around the centre front panel, ended up about one centimetre, which is just under half an inch out of position, by me unpicking, and I hate unpicking, just it was worth it. He had pointed out that nobody would even notice if that seam was that tiny amount out, except me, because I knew it was out. He was right. The dress turned out "perfect", and it did everything it needed to do for the occasion. The dress was even fine after laundering, which some aren't. Now maybe it has taken a while to get to the point. For me, this day I learned a huge lesson, and that was about my standards, and what standards need to be met, which is where the reference to perfection comes in. What is perfection?? This question has been asked by many times, and sometimes by adults. Perfection is an ideal. Christians talk about perfection, and refer to a rose, only I have grown a few roses, and I can tell you that a rose covered in aphids, may be perfection, only I tend not to see it that way, as the petals are wrinkled up, and sometimes brown and ugly, and really not the way they tend to be in the glossy books. For me, perfection is a standard that you can live up to. It's the "bar" that you set, that you will achieve, and there is no not achieving it, as such. Only when you are faced with a situation like I was that day, you need to reassess, and do what I was taught, totally fix the situation if you can. If not, go into "damage control". Sometimes damage control can be when in doubt, do nothing. Sometimes it's just a nip here, or a tuck there. It all depends on the situation. You work within your means, and the situation at hand. That's what damage control is all about. So to be professional, I had to present a garment that appeared to be exactly what was asked for on this occasion, which I did. I have learned since, that even though I like everything to be authentic, and not only survive the day, but be usable a number of times after, it's not vital. Many professional fashion designers make garments that are literally "one day only". Some of those garments are held together by nothing more than pins or pegs, because of something that happened in the preparation process, like it did with me. Sometimes the model has gained weight, lost weight, or sometimes the model is ill, and a completely different model has to be used, so the garment that was complete, needs to be altered, and in a huge hurry, and that is why sometimes a garment is held together with nothing more than pins. For the purposes of a parade, it only needs to hold together long enough for potential to see the garments as they are planned to look. If the garment falls apart after the parade, it doesn't usually matter, as others can be made for whatever purpose they are needed for. Today, I have "professional standards" that I tend to take into everything in my life, as I like it that way. If it's a food, it needs to taste the way the person cooking it intended it to, as in if it's for me, then it's the way I want it, and if it's for a third party, it's what they asked for, unless it's something I planned for them. In this case, I do take their personal likes/tolerance into consideration. The food needs to be hygienic as well, so preparation processes have to be taken into account, as well as the location of preparation, in order to ensure a proper "professional result". If it's a garment, no matter who it's for, I want it to look great on the person the first time they wear it, and if possible, many more times, so I make the garment with that intent in mind. I have the skills, so it's no drama like it was back then. Even a special order, if I take my time, and don't let anything interfere, can be done. Only at the moment, time is my big hindrance, as I really have no concept of time. Until that changes, I just have to live with myself, and not commit to anything that involves fixed time limits that I might not meet, or set things up with myself, so that even though there are time limits, I can do things in a paced way, that allows for my "indiscretions". I like that "professional" finish in everything, so even if I am doing a bit of fence for myself, I work to make it meet a standard that I am happy with. With fences, as long as it all looks the same, that's already perfect, because that's all that's really needed with fences. It's just the way they are, and of course, the fence needs to serve the purpose it was built for, to keep people, animals, or birds or other, either in or out, or in some cases, just to look good, or hide something. Back to perfection. Most of us learned that when something is perfect, it's 100%. Usually when we target that standard, things fall short a certain amount, so I have changed that. When I do something that I want around for a while, I target about 110% or 120%. That way, if I fall short, I am still likely to achieve what people call "perfection". This way everything I do, tends to end up a "professional" finish. Everyone has their own standards, their own ideals. I merely have mine, as I grew up in a city, that was international, and there people wanted things "perfect". If something fell apart after the first use, they could get quite upset, and cause lots of problems, so it's really important in that situation, to ensure that whatever you might do for these people, is up to their standard, rather than yours. It's really clever, if everything you do, fulfils what they are likely to want out of it. Obviously, having grown up in that city, my standards have tended to be high, which is why I have gone into such detail with my standards. We all have our ways, and sometimes it's hard to accept those of others, however, without all kinds, we would not have an interesting world, no matter what I want or think.
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