Wedding Dress Stress

My client agreed to make a wedding dress for the first time and was drowning.

She's an extremely talented seamstress. She can make anything from scratch, but her Achilles heel was she liked to cut corners. She'd rather get to the "fun" parts, rather than triple check that a single stitch was without a flaw. She needed someone to be there to hold her accountable, double check her work, and communicate with the client. I was the middleman between the Bride and my client, and I made sure they communicated with each other on expectations, hopes, and boundaries. If my client wanted to change a design aspect, I was there to ask the Bride her thoughts.

You might be thinking, shouldn't the client know to communicate these issues? Maybe. But my client was so deep in the weeds of her project, and some days she'd fight with me on whether she needed to restart an aspect of the dress because she had already spent hours on it. Self-sabotage is a powerful thing and it can effect anyone. Especially when you're under immense pressure to deliver and want your project to be perfect. Like I said, she's an amazing seamstress - but she was already under stress and she had other aspects of her life to focus on, especially since she only had a month to complete this project outside of work.

Most days, I had to sit her down and ground her. "You're doing amazing. It doesn't have to be perfect, but you need to focus up and stop cutting corners. Enjoy the process. Put your love into it. Stop trying to jump to the finish line. You'll get there, but enjoy the journey even if it's rocky."

The day of the final fitting, the Bride loved it, but she wanted a different length on the bodice under her arm. The issue: we'd have to take apart the entire dress to do that. But I knew that was unrealistic, so I sat with my client and brainstormed. What was a way to do this without cutting corners, but also without redoing hours and hours of work? After a minute, I asked, "can you fold it inside out and sew it together?". She said she could try, and we did a sample set. Boom. Worked like a charm and it looked so seamless! We spent the rest of the day tweaking the design, and the Bride went home with a finished dress.

My client thanked me and said she couldn't have finished without my guidance. I told her that she did most of the work, I just made sure she held herself accountable and enjoyed the ride.

If you ever find yourself self-sabotaging or overwhelmed by a project, make sure to stop and take a breath. Remember you're not doing this to churn out projects like a machine. We're not computers, we're people. And the best way to ensure quality is to not cut corners, stay innovative, and believe that you'll make it to the finish line eventually. Just enjoy the time it takes to get there first.

If you or someone you know needs a Marketing & Creative Project Consultant, feel free to reach out or DM me on LinkedIn. Because burnout isn’t strategy.