by Belinda Beasley

Created on: September 18, 2009

Crafting is a hobby that should be fun and enjoyable, rather than stressful. Everyone is human so it is inevitable that mistakes will be made while crafting. Sometimes these mistakes are easily corrected, while other times, these mistakes result in imperfections in the finished craft item. While quality does matter, small imperfections in homemade craft items may make the item more charming and desirable.

Every crafter has made a mistake when designing or creating a craft, and quite often, those mistakes have resulted in the discovery of a new crafting or sewing technique. These new techniques have often appeared on television shows or web casts and crafters of all skill levels find a new way to accomplish the same goal. Mistakes are often viewed as design opportunities in the crafting world.

Crafting has always been a passion of mine, and while I still enjoy creating small craft items, I now enjoy sewing. I especially enjoy little girl's dresses. These dresses are sent to a charity in another state. One of the worst mistakes I ever made was when sewing a girl's dress recently. I had finished the dress and because the bottom of the dress had a ruffle sewn to it, I needed to serge finish the seam. Although I serged around the dress very carefully, I was horrified to discover that I had serged a hole in the body of the dress. I was especially horrified because this garment was destined to be sent to a charity. This particular mistake created both a design opportunity and a need to correct the mistake.

I was lucky enough to find a creative way to correct the mistake. First, I used fusible interfacing to close the large hole as best I could, and then I sewed a wide decorative stitch around the entire dress, and you couldn't tell that a huge mistake had been made while the dress was being sewn. This dress was definitely imperfect, but I didn't think that a poverty stricken child who would receive the dress would notice. She would simply be overjoyed at having a new dress in her otherwise skimpy wardrobe.

Although I was sewing for charity and mortified that I had made such a huge mistake, it was something that could be corrected and really didn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Imperfections in homemade craft items may be part of the appeal to buyers at craft fairs. If the items are too perfect, they may appear too much like mass manufactured items. Many craft fair attendees are often looking for homemade craft items that are unique. They expect quality in homemade craft items, but quality doesn't always equal perfection.

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