I'm Sarah Mittnick and this is Seamwork Radio, where we tell stories about the surprising ways that sewing impacts our lives.

Hi everybody and welcome to the very first mini episode of Seamwork Radio.

We're going to be talking to makers like you in these little mini episodes about how the practice

of sewing has helped them to slow down, get to know their bodies, discover who they are,

and connect to the people around them. So you'll be able to

tune in here every month for these little mini episodes, kind of mid-month, and we'll share

stories from our community of people who care about sewing and creating, just like you do.

So I'm Sari, and I'm the founder of Seamwork. And I'm Haley. I'm the pattern designer here at Seamwork and I'm

excited to be hosting along here with Sari. So every month what we're going to do is just share stories

around our theme for the month. So our theme for this month is creative grit. So what is this idea of creative grit? You might be

familiar with the idea of grit being our tolerance to failure. And creative grit is just the

tolerance that we have for failure when we're specifically engaged in these creative pursuits.

So it really comes from this ability to be gentle with

yourself and at the same time optimistic about the future. And that really helps you push through

all kinds of creative challenges. So for example, when you are maybe sewing and you have to rip out

your zipper five times in a row, it can be so

easy to just kind of spiral on that and to think of that as a failure and a reflection of

your abilities rather than an opportunity to learn and to grow. So that kind of optimism is just

something that you have to practice, just like putting in a zipper

or something you have to practice. And that's what kind of sustains your creativity over the long

haul. So this theme was inspired by an article I wrote a while back called How to Develop Creative

Grit. And if you want to read that, it's an issue 45 of seamwork. And I share

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