In all honesty, the biggest struggle I faced in Propel was myself. I was constantly over-correcting myself and burning myself out for no apparent reason. What I mean by this, for example, would be when I was making the satchel and tote bag. I tried making those 2 pieces without a lining of interfacing the first time and that led to a very floppy, unusable bag. After I had realized I messed up something so simple to remember, I did not sew for almost a week. Now was this just a simple little mistake? Yes. And for that reason, I looked at myself and thought, “how could you mess something so simple up?” Which led me to believe maybe clothing was not my thing. But then some of my successes would come along and completely revitalize the thought of making and designing clothes. One of these successes include learning to make my own patterns. This is something I am extremely proud of. Not only will this save me money in the future, but with this I can create unique and intricate designs that nobody else would have. An example of this could be the cow print tote and satchel. After making the tote I realized I wanted a singular and a longer strap, which made me revamp my design and create something new.

Propel pushed me and expanded my knowledge. At the beginning of this semester, I was not yet able to make a pair of shorts, from designing the garment to making the pattern and then sewing and creating the actual garment. The way Propel helped me learn these things is through adherence to both deadlines and personal goals. But it also helped me to slow down every once and awhile and enjoy what I was working on, an realize that school isn’t all about counting those “beans” (marks).