It’s extremely frustrating to spend hours on a project only for it to refuse to fulfill your vision. Sometimes you never finish it, and it disappears into a basket, hidden under other disappointments; it’s even worse when you begin a project with ambitious goals in mind. The fear of failure is the enemy of your creative endeavors.
With Eid al-Fitr celebrations moving into the winter months, I find myself thinking about gifts for my family to avoid the last-minute rush.
This time of year is full of temptations to spend endlessly, and gift-giving falls into this category. Besides Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, numerous holiday sales permeate the season. All of this pushes us more than ever to splurge on every birthday, religious holiday or special event we can anticipate — while the deals last!
Overconsumption is already such a prevalent issue, and stores capitalize on our giving and gifting mindset with marketing tricks. Expectations built on an advertised fantasy of a perfect gift could make you think you’ve struck gold in the middle of T.J. Maxx.
Instead of focusing on what could be perfect, think about what feels the most special. And if special is what we’re looking for, the answer is right in front of us.
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What about — and bear with me here, because this is a crazy take — something that isn’t what a zillion other people also have simply because it’s the current trend or was slightly cheaper than it usually is? Of course, that requires thought and consideration, as well as execution, and it can be much more overwhelming to pin your hopes on your own prowess rather than to just open your wallet.
I learned how to knit and embroider when I was very little (and loved doing so). Yet, I could count on my fingers the number of projects I have actually managed to cast off over the years. The thing is, it’s easy to run away with great visions of what a project should look like and build up expectations you realistically aren’t ready to meet.
I could conjure beautifully knit sweaters and elaborate shawls in my imagination all day. So when the actual result rarely looks as flawless, unsatisfying results can put people off from trying again or even doing something different with the same medium.
During various deep dives into the YouTube sewing universe, I’ve encountered videos with titles like, “Here’s why your clothes look homemade — in a bad way.” That tag-on at the end almost makes one feel better, but is it so bad to have a few garments that testify to the work of your hands? The videos go on to clarify that there isn’t anything wrong with a project looking homemade, although that isn’t the implication their captions and thumbnails put forward.
As a more experienced crafter, it is fully understandable to want to clean up the way your projects look. The wording of such video titles could be better, though. When scrolling past, it might feel discouraging for a beginner to see the term “homemade” coupled with (unbeknownst to them) a more advanced crafting mentality. Starting somewhere is important, and as long as you’re enjoying it and doing it, you’ll get something wonderful out of it, even if it isn’t the most spectacular thing.
I have gifted many “ugly” homemade items to loved ones. In fact, I’m being kind to myself by putting those quotations around the word — they were truly awful. Still, they were infinitely more memorable than the gifts I’ve bought.
A few weeks ago, in our family group chat, my mom texted a picture of a tattered piece of paper with some splotches of blue paint on it that she had found in my late grandfather’s belongings. I alone recognized what it was meant to be: a vague shape of a hippo I had painted for him when I was 7 or 8.
When I gave it to him, I knew it wasn’t very good. Despite that, he put it up on his wall, and it remained there until we moved several years later, where it continued to claim a place in his new room.
When I opened my mom’s text, I laughed at how I had so excitedly gifted such a horrendous piece of “art,” and how special it was that he went above and beyond in matching my excitement.
Responses like this to my gifts are what remind me how special handmade things are. We love to say what matters is what’s on the inside. That applies here, too.
The blue hippo is bound to agree.
Zaynab is a senior in LAS.
