How precise/accurate do you try to be in your own work?
I quite often see the phrase - and if this is truly the "best" that a person can do - or it's "good enough" for the project at hand - so be it.
"If it looks good to a blind man passing by on a galloping horse, it's good enough"
But that really doesn't work for me at all. And I NEVER heard my Mom say that.
I was raised by a Mom who looked at the BACK side of most needlework and the INSIDE of most garments - if she could see it! Neatness and accuracy counted with her!
Some things that I learned from her:
Grain lines matter - ever try to fold a pair of jeans that were cut wonky? Or fold a tablecloth that had off-grain ends?
The pattern and/or directions is/are not always correct.
She allowed for a learning curve - she did not demand perfection because she felt perfection was not possible - but to strive for "as well as one could"
To leave as much material uncut as one could. One DID NOT cut a little piece out of the middle of a big piece!!!! (Well, except- maybe - for a tree skirt.)
I don't think she did the wash before cutting thing - but I do remember her washing new blue jeans or overalls for an hour or so to soften them up and get SOME of the excess dye out. And one bought them a bit large to allow for shrinkage. "Doing the Wash" was a production back then.
I have a lap quilt that she did with unwashed fabric for the backing. The backing shrank - a lot. I picked it apart because it was tied and the backing must have shrunk a couple of inches in both directions. She made this when she was in her 80s and did not have convenient washing facilities.
Patching her husband's bib overalls was something she took pride in - she matched the stripes of the patches to the base fabric - so they did not look "PATCHED" from a distance. Black carpet thread holding down a patch would not have worked for this lady! Mending/Patching were respectable things to do. But she did have a fit (as do I) about buying pre-torn and bleach streak lightened jeans. (One should EARN the fade marks!)
Mom made hundreds of lap quilts - she always tried to have the tops and backs coordinate - and lay flat!
Miss you, Mom!