I just went upstairs to my sewing room and found all the elastic that I could ever need. Thanks Mom. Years ago, she packed it up and sent it to me. {I don't know what she was even hoarding it all for, but I'm glad she decided it was a good thing to buy.}

I've never sewn swimwear before, much less been taught anything swimwear-related but so far, it's been a very good lesson for myself.

While I'm doing all this, I'm not thinking about which is the way I was taught in school... because I wasn't taught swimwear in school. I was never taught any "standards" and I have no memories of people telling me I'm "doing it wrong" or that it's not how the "industry" does it. I'm not being graded on it, I'm just making samples and learning what to do better on them next time.

I now have patterns I'll be able to use for years and tweak for other projects and sew together.

I'm learning that actually, I do know how to stop and think about how things are done, how they're put together, and use knowledge of sewing and design from what I've been taught. I also can look at other garments, somewhat dissect them, and then see what I should to on my own garments.

Through all this, I've learned that you can make a bunch of mistakes and it's fine. I felt like in college, I wasn't allowed to make mistakes and I was supposed to literally be a professional from day 1. But I really have only been seriously sewing since 2003, if that. Maybe later.

I'm not a typical designer in a lot of instances. I've always been looked down on in school because I don't really have a favorite designer or necessarily feel like you have to follow the rules. It's art in a sense, so why should I feel like I have to do things "in the vein" of someone else? Who cares if I put a chunky, bright orange zipper in the side of a dress? I understand usually what works for a reason and not just an arbitrary "standard" that became a standard over time.

But this swimwear project has let me grow in ways I never thought it would. I have more confidence in my other garments and I have no doubts that I'll know what to do when it comes time to make a new dress, top, etc. I have much more confidence in teaching myself new things when previously, I thought I would need a teacher to help me figure things out.

Maybe these are all things I was supposed to be doing all along, but either way I'm glad I'm learning it now. Better late than never.