Where Time is of no Consequence
February 26, 2015
The last fortnight I have loved reading "The Last Runaway" by Tracy Chevalier (she previously wrote The Girl with the Pearl earring). The main character in it, Honor Bright, is a quiet, peace loving Quaker who travels with her sister from England to America in the 1800's . Don't worry this blog is not going to be a book review I am getting to the point I promise!
Being a keen patchworker and very accomplished in sewing, when she arrives one of the many differences she discovers between the two continents is the applique quilts that they produce and prefer are of a much lesser quality and quicker to make. There is a lot of lovely descriptions of her patchwork and what struck me was how time was not an issue in this period. Quilts in England took as long as was necessary, sometimes two years on one quilt, whereas the Quaker brides in America had to be married with at least a dozen quilts (known as "comforts") so it was quantity more than quality they were interested in.
Relating this to my own life currently, I do feel that it is a shame that this aspect of taking your time over something has been lost. While I always put a lot into whatever I make and it is still quite time consuming I do not have the complete luxury of making something that has absolutely no time limit. Some work I have abandoned because it is just too time consuming and others because it is just not cost effective. Our way of life now is so much faster/instant but does that make it better? While top Couturiers pride themselves on the detail and scale of their projects they can also put the price tag on that matches this effort.
So what is the answer? Perhaps a balance between putting your love completely into what you make and taking the time you personally need,but also knowing when you need to finish it and move on. Either that or balancing long term and short term projects where you can adjust your time accordingly. But oh how I would love to spend a year like Honor Bright where it was all about the love and time was of no consequence!!
Being a keen patchworker and very accomplished in sewing, when she arrives one of the many differences she discovers between the two continents is the applique quilts that they produce and prefer are of a much lesser quality and quicker to make. There is a lot of lovely descriptions of her patchwork and what struck me was how time was not an issue in this period. Quilts in England took as long as was necessary, sometimes two years on one quilt, whereas the Quaker brides in America had to be married with at least a dozen quilts (known as "comforts") so it was quantity more than quality they were interested in.
Relating this to my own life currently, I do feel that it is a shame that this aspect of taking your time over something has been lost. While I always put a lot into whatever I make and it is still quite time consuming I do not have the complete luxury of making something that has absolutely no time limit. Some work I have abandoned because it is just too time consuming and others because it is just not cost effective. Our way of life now is so much faster/instant but does that make it better? While top Couturiers pride themselves on the detail and scale of their projects they can also put the price tag on that matches this effort.
So what is the answer? Perhaps a balance between putting your love completely into what you make and taking the time you personally need,but also knowing when you need to finish it and move on. Either that or balancing long term and short term projects where you can adjust your time accordingly. But oh how I would love to spend a year like Honor Bright where it was all about the love and time was of no consequence!!
Posted by Julie Porter.
