Why Don't We Share Our Massive, Epic Fails?

Big box of disappointed hopes...

Was recently exchanging emails with a fellow sewing enthusiast who reported that, over the course of a long weekend, "Every sewing project I attempted resulted in an epic fail. I decided to give up sewing completely. I do that every time I fail miserably. It never lasts longer than one good sleep."

Once I got to that third sentence, I laughed out loud at her clever humour, but it made me think of all those failed projects that we all have stuffed into a box somewhere. (And yes, only the most insecure among us would not admit to having one of those.)

Especially for those of us who have a corner of the web staked out as ours, these failed projects — whether massive or epic or otherwise — are likely never shared.

But why?

Surely we aren't concerned with keeping up an image of perfection, right?

Are we so pressured to share every success that the great learning experiences that arise from failures are kept private?

---

Check out crafty classes at Creativebug! [affiliate link]

---

It's amusing on some level how social media allows us to be gratuitously seeking affirmation of our greatness on a regular basis. Whether "instagrammer" or blogger, we post pictures of our creations and wait for people to comment on how talented and exceptional we are.

While I'm certainly not one to brush off a compliment when it comes my way, compliments in and of themselves are not something that I look forward to receiving about things that I make. I'm more interested in hearing how the item is perfect for you, how it's just what you've been looking for as your next project, that it would make the perfect gift for [whoever], etc.

It's never been the aim of having this blog for me to make something, throw up a few photos of it and then sit back to await praise about how delightful and lovely it may be. In fact, if that's ever the only point of making anything, this blog will quite likely cease to exist.

Learning, sharing and helping are the primary objectives of this space. Therefore, it only makes sense — for the sake of completeness if nothing else — to post about failures every now and then. (When I was preparing this post about fixing blunders, I asked for input from someone who had tested a pattern for me. She said that she had never made a "big mistake" and therefore had nothing of note to contribute. It made me wonder how she ever learned to be so perfect.)

Today I'm opening up my box of failed or otherwise unfinished projects for you to see. Whether or not the failures are "epic" is up to your interpretation. Feel free to make fun if you wish.

The first project pre-dates this blog. This was the start of something called the Little Betty Bag. The fabric was the pink/rose version of some bedding (sheets, pillow cases) that I received from my mother for my first sewing projects.

Front panel of a small bag...

I ultimately made a hat and some scrappy butterflies out of the fabric, so all was not lost. In terms of this being unfinished or failed, I guess it's really just unfinished. Nothing wrong with the panel that's complete, but I certainly have no enthusiasm for making the bag anymore.

Item number two is a small wallet, also predating this blog. I started it around the same time as I made my second Professional Tote.

Failed wallet attempt...

I recall that the remnants (the floral being the yellow version of the fabric from the previous project) were not quite enough for what I really wanted to do, and the orange fabric was actually the wrong weight for this application. If I'd ever gotten around to putting it all together, the wallet would likely have been too bulky to use. Therefore, this was/is a fail.

Not sure of the time frame of this next project, which was intended to be a (long) wallet.

Another wallet attempt...

I don't recall if I was following a specific pattern for this. From the look of it, it seems the same as the other two long wallets that I've made (including this one that I'm still using to this day). The card slots are complete, nothing else is. As a project, it's more unfinished than failed, but I don't see it ever being completed in the future.

This next one was supposed to be a bag with a diagonal flap. I don't think I was following an actual pattern, so I no longer remember exactly what I was going for. However, I do know why it was abandoned.

An abandoned bag...

There was a symmetry problem that was proving difficult to fix, so this qualifies as a failure. Those of you who have been around here may notice that the fabrics are the same as used on my third Make It Yours Bag tester.

Here is another — more recent — abandoned bag project.

Start of a crossbody bag...

I picked up two fat quarters of my Snowflowers fabric in faux suede (which Spoonflower no longer carries) during a two for one sale at least two years ago and proceeded to create a crossbody bag of my own design. As you can see, I got so far as to attach a pocket with one half of a magnetic snap on it.

The plan was to use recycled parts from an old purse to piece this together. Ultimately, I decided not to go that route, but was then stumped on how to finish it. Is this one unfinished or a failure? Probably a little bit of both at this time.

---

Watch live classes for FREE at CreativeLive! [affiliate link]

---

These next two are relatively recent.

This was supposed to be one of ByAnnie's nesting baskets. During one of Bluprint's free access times, I was able to download PDF'd instructions of the video classes and this was one that I kept.

Variant of a ByAnnie basket...

Instead of using ByAnnie's Soft and Stable product, I decided to improvise with a blanket remnant. It turned out to be difficult to manage, so in frustration, I tossed it aside. And there's it been ever since. It's technically doable, but I'd have to be really in the mood for it. Unfinished or failure? A little bit of both again.

This last one is totally embarrassing. It's actually a zippered pouch gone wrong.

A failed customization...

Without thinking too hard about seam allowances, I modified a pattern that would have yielded a peanut shaped zippered pouch and discovered near the end that the contrast fabric wasn't wide enough in the middle part to accommodate being attached to a zipper. I may eventually go back to these scraps and turn them into something else, but in the meantime, the project's a fail.

I had figured that rummaging through this box might inspire me to pick one of the abandoned projects and finish it, but that idea didn't gel. So my box was returned to the shelf and there it sits once more.

Ever since returning to sewing seven years ago, I've heard about "unfinished" projects that people have set aside. (In my youth, whenever I sewed, it was one project at a time and it got completed before I moved on to another.) Is there, however, a statute of limitations on the use of that word? For example, if something has been sitting in limbo for twenty years, is it still just unfinished?

In your mind, when does an unfinished project become a failure?