Sewing for others

You know, it's very interesting. I've been seeing more and more often blog posts that are vocally against sewing for others. Maybe these people get asked more often than I do, but I've never said no to sewing something for someone else. (Well, there was the time B asked me if I thought I could sew him a night cap out of a few tiny scraps of quilting cotton, but that was different.) I've sewn doll clothes for friend's siblings, people clothes, doll clothes, and other things for my own siblings, home accessories for my mother, and even a prom dress for a friend. Some things I got paid for, some I didn't. Even the ones I got paid for didn't work out to above minimum wage, though. And you know what I realized this morning, while reading one of these how-dare-you-ask-me-to-sew-for-you posts? I don't actually care.

I enjoy drafting doll clothes.

I enjoy sewing satin.

I enjoy being useful.

I enjoy making other people happy.

If someone wants me to sew something for them, and I have neither another pressing project nor good reason to believe it will be a nightmare, then I'm happy to. If you buy the fabric and notions, I'll sew you something. I'd like even more to sew it with you. That's what we did with the prom dress--its owner and designer sewed it together with me. We had a lot of fun.

If you ask me all the time, or if you don't appear grateful, I'll probably get kind of ticked at you. If you ask me to do something impossibly difficult, I'll probably say no. Other than that, I look at sewing things for other people as a way of sharing my talents. If I had a good voice, I'd sing in a church choir. If I had extra cans of food, I'd donate them to the food bank. I don't. Instead, I have extra time and a talent (not very large, but still a bit better than most of my friends) for sewing. I'm happy to share that with them.

Besides, if I only sewed for myself, I'd run out of shelf space very very quickly!

*Please note that this isn't meant as a knock against people who don't sew for others. Some people have been burned badly. Some people have much less free time than I do, so sewing something for someone else is much more of a commitment for them. Some people look at sewing as something they do for themselves. There are a multitude of reasons why you wouldn't want to sew something for someone else. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just explaining why I'm happy to sew for other people.