5 Minute Crafts Are A Lie

There’s no such thing as five minute crafting.

It’s an illusion that is becoming a bit of a craft blog epidemic. (And yes, even I’ve fallen into the trap of saying it.) The truth is, just reading that craft tutorial is going to take you longer than five minutes. Can I be brutally honest? I usually take more than five minutes just to choose colours, let alone make anything.

After sourcing materials, designing something, putting it all together, correcting errors, making the better design from scratch, photographing and writing a tutorial, the “5 minute” claim is so far out of the water we could wave at the guys in the International Space Station.

Let’s not even think about the hours of practise that got us to the point where we could tackle the project in the first place. Or the time it takes just to clean up.

Is following someone else’s tutorial really that time saving? I always like to put my own twist on things: my own fabric choices, or buttons, or colours. Or, on the occasions when I do follow a tutorial to the letter, finding the exact materials always ends up being a pain. (Don’t even get me started on embroidery floss.)

It‘s okay to craft for longer than five minutes. The third or fourth try might be as quick as five minutes, but that’s not the point. If you love crafting, doesn’t it deserve the time? Let yourself sneak in an hour or two. (Sans cleaning time.) You deserve it.

If we can dedicate an hour to a sitcom, it’s OK to enjoy crafting through your WIP pile.

Lots of crafty love,