100//100

They say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be a master of your chosen skill. That's an hour a day for well over 27 years! Yikes. Of course if you are cultivating a skill professionally it would take less time, and of course this is an arbitrary rule that implies there is only one definition of mastery. Exploring that issue would be an entirely different post!

So, what's my point? Why am I blathering on about hours of practice?

I have decided to set myself a challenge.

I have been sewing, on and off, for about 2 and a half years now. I am definitely a better sewist than when I started but I want to increase my progress speed, I want to get just that little bit closer to 'mastery'. With this goal in mind I am taking a small amount of inspiration from the 10,000 hours theory (1% to be precise) and will be endeavoring to sew for 100 hours in 100 days!

It's no mean feat and requires an average of an hour a days sewing (a lot more than I do now) but the entire point  of this challenge is to push my sewing self (and spend fewer evening watching back to back episodes of 24) and increase my sewing skills.

I will be tracking my progress here, posting all my makes and hoping that a few of you might join me, or indeed help cheer me on!

A challenge like this wouldn't be complete without a few rules guidelines, so here are mine:

1. Sew for 100 hours over 100 days (obviously)
2. "Sewing" refers to nearly all the processes of creating a garment, including pattern alterations and cutting fabric but not assembling PDF patterns or tracing patterns.
3. Work on one project/garment at a time.

And that's it. Keeping it simple.

The 100 days kick off today and I'm aiming to be finished on Monday 1st December.

 (I know this date is more than 100 hundred days from the start date but I have 2 one week holidays scheduled during which I will not be able to sew!).

Does anyone want to join me? I'd love some company, whether you start with me today or set your own time frame. All good challenges have a blog button so you can grab one below whether you're joining in or cheering us along!

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Have you set yourself any sewing challenges lately? How many hours do you think you've spent sewing?

Alice