Every craftsman has a "First Slip" — a mistake that teaches them more than any textbook ever could. Mine was a quilt binding that puckered like a badly sewn seam.
In the autumn of 1994, I was commissioned to make a wedding quilt for my sister. It was to be a masterpiece of heirloom fabrics, stitched with the precision of a master tailor. I had spent weeks sourcing the silks, the cottons, the vintage linens. But when I came to the binding — that final, crucial edge that holds the whole thing together — I made a fatal error.
I rushed the tension on my sewing machine, eager to finish before the wedding. The result? A binding that puckered and twisted, ruining the smooth lines I had worked so hard to achieve. The quilt was a disaster.
That puckered binding became my mentor. It taught me that in quality control, as in quilting, the smallest detail matters. A single loose thread can unravel the whole thing. A single miscalculation can ruin the work of months.
Today, when I inspect a manufacturing plant in Edwardsville, I think of that quilt. I check every bolt, every measurement, every darning stitch. Because I know that the best work comes not from never making a mistake, but from learning from every single one.
So here's to every "First Slip" in this galaxy. May your mistakes be the first draft of your next masterpiece.