Procrastination

I enjoy most parts of the design process. Sketching, knitting, taking the pictures, the layout, writing the initial pattern are all things I enjoy. But there is one part of this work that I hate and because I hate it, I avoid it. I try everything to get away from having to do the dreaded sizing. I know that I shouldn't. I've learned from experience that procrastination only means that when you finally buckle down and do something you not only have to suffer through the pain of doing the dreaded task, you also feel guilty for not having done it earlier. Nonetheless, I still avoid doing the sizing on my patterns.

You would think that sizing wouldn't be the worst task. It's relatively easy and really only requires a basic understanding of human body shapes and simple math. But still it is the worst for two reasons.
First of all, it's tedious. It's the same math over and over again and it's not mentally challenging. It's about about the same amount of intellectual stimulation as filling out a spreadsheet.

Secondly, people freak out about sizing error, treating every error as a personal affront. To some extent I understand why people do this. The reason why many people knit or sew is to be able to create clothes that fit their bodies perfectly. Many people don't fit the mould when it comes to off the rack clothing. So I understand the frustration when the craft they have learned to be able to solve this problem fails them. I have even more sympathy for people knitting their first garment that come across this problem. Putting so much time, sweat and tears into a first sweater only to have it not fit is a dreadful situation.

That being said, I have read far too many forum and blog posts lambasting designers for simple errors. Even when the designer apologizes for making a mistake, I've seen people get worked up and portray the situation as one where the designer is against people of a certain body shape. Usually this means the shape that the designer or model isn't. This seems unnecessarily harsh to me. Yes, the clothing industry as a whole is skewed towards thin, tall women with boyish figures. Does that mean that all knitwear designers are morally opposed to women with other figures? No. Of course not. Beyond the fact that it is reprehensible to use people's physical appearance as a measure of their worth; as an independent designer that serves a community composed of people of all different shapes, sizes, ages and tastes coming out as someone who judges people for their body is like shooting yourself in the foot. It is a sure way to lose business.

We make mistakes in sizing because it's boring and we're human. Additionally most designers only have the resources to make one piece. In my case, I make the garment to fit me. This, in itself isn't really a problem. The problem happens during sizing because the fact of the matter is that sizing is an intellectual exercise and the further away you get from the actual garment and the human body for which it was designed, the more likely you are to make mistakes or to distort. Yes, designers should strive to make their patterns error free but mistakes are going to happen. When they do, it's best to correct them with as much grace as possible.

So what is the moral of the story here? Don't sweat the small, easily fixable stuff. And also I really should stop complaining and actually do some sizing.