Creativity and Chaos

There is something very satisfying about turning chaos into order.  Taking rough materials and turning them into something beautiful, making something from apparently nothing.   The problem is, you have to have the chaos first.  Every project begins with a mess.  It doesn’t matter how neat you are, there is no way of avoiding it.  It’s like when you clean, you have to make things dirtier before you can make things cleaner.  Quilting works the same way.  I have had many costumers, and even some co-workers, apologies for making a mess in the shop.  Yet I have yet to figure out a better way of doing it.  Sometimes you have to pull every bolt off the shelves before you find the one that you really need.

I will admit that I thrive on a certain degree of chaos, much to the displeasure of my neater roommates; though even my roommate had the same problem when she attempted to sew a dress.  (She didn’t fail, she just hasn’t finished yet.)  As tidy as she is, for some time there was a pile of fabric and pattern pieces in the corner.

Creativity needs chaos.  You have to be able to let yourself make a mess.  There is an old saying that says an immaculate home is a sign of a misspent childhood.  Just as kids need to be free to make a mess sometimes, so do quilters.  There is a freedom `in mess making.  There is a joy in chaos.  There has to be freedom and joy in order to create: freedom to explore, freedom to make mistakes, and freedom to make a mess.