Bobbin Along!
This Week
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| My finished tote bag! |
My aunt helped me a lot with this process and understanding the instructions for the zipper and for putting the bag together, and I am really grateful for all of her help. Because I had her on the phone and was focused on figuring out what I was doing, I do not have very many pictures of the process of finishing the tote bag..
However, last week I mentioned that I had some extra panels that I cut into pieces for a new bag pattern. (Ovenden, G., n.d.) I was also able to work on that bag and get it (almost) finished this week as well. Since I had all of my pattern pieces cut out, I was able to just get started on sewing this week. I started by sewing tabs onto the ends of the zipper and then stitching the main panels to the sides of the zipper.
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| Zipper with fabric tabs on the end to attach it to the bag! |
Then I added a bottom panel and sewed the bottom of the bag together, following the instructions, (and the very helpful video tutorial that was provided with the pattern). This made sure that my seams were hidden. During this process, I also attached some extra tabs to the end of the bag, which made the holes that my straps will go through. I have to order a strap and clip/adjuster for this project, because the craft store did not have the size I needed, so I will update next week hopefully when they get here!
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| Bag panels attached to each side of the zipper |
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| Bottom panel attached and sides all sewn together! Now I am just missing the strap/handle! |
This part of putting the bags together came together a lot faster than I thought it would, and I am really excited to have a couple of finished items (or almost finished) that I can enjoy. I am planning on gifting at least one of these to one of my family members, probably my sisters, so I am excited for that as well.
Autonomy, Motivation, and Self-Determination in Occupation
I have found that I have really appreciated the feelings of autonomy I have experienced while pursuing this new occupation, and the ways I am moving towards a further sense of self-determination within this occupation as I continue to learn and progress. While I have been working within a pattern, I have found myself really enjoying exploring all of the different choices I have within this occupation. There are so many different things you can do to make a project unique, from changing the fabric or colors, to changing how you stitch the quilting, or one example that I experienced this week was choosing to add a zipper because it was something that I wanted and felt would be useful. I have enjoyed being able to be creative and have so many different opportunities to choose and how that has made my experience unique.
My experiences so far in this occupation have also given me insight into my own motivation. There are several different ways that we can be motivated, or driven to do something, and classic theories on motivation often talk about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is “doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions” (Ryan & Deci, 2000), whereas extrinsic motivation is when “an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome” (Ryan & Deci, 2000). I find that I have experienced both of these motivations in the context of my new occupation. I have enjoyed learning different skills in the process of sewing/quilting, and I have found that the time I have spent sewing is also one that I enjoy and typically find relaxing or rewarding. However, I also found a lot of satisfaction this week in finishing a project, and having a product to look at and show to my aunt and grandmothers. I also am considering gifting one of these to someone else, and I think sewing projects would be a great option for Christmas or birthday presents for my family, and I have enjoyed looking forward to that future outcome. There is also some element of extrinsic motivation that I feel to make sure I am pursuing this occupation each week due to the implications that I have on my school work, but I will say that I feel that is a fairly small portion of my motivation.
The concept of self-determination is one that I still feel I am growing within this occupation. To have self determination is to have your own ability to manage yourself, to make confident choices, and to think on your own. (Deci, 1971) Because I am still developing my level of skill in this occupation, I find myself not always very confident and often reaching out for help. However, I know that as I continue to do this, I will further develop my skills and move further towards self-determination in this occupation, and being more confident in and having more choices in what I want to do in my projects, and learning more about the extent of what I might be able to do. Next week I am planning to start a new type of project, and work on a pillow cover. I am going to quilt this project as well, but I am planning on expanding my pattern beyond just squares and moving into what is called “half-square triangles”, where each block is made up of two triangles, which gives you a lot more options for patterns and shapes to show up in your quilt panel. I am excited to further develop my skills, gain more confidence, and be able to explore the choices available to me as I continue to pursue this new occupation.
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| Examples of half-square triangles. (Wickell, 2020) |
References
Bethany Lynne Makes. (2023, July 22). How to sew a recessed zipper (Enclosed end
method). https://www.bethanylynnemakes.com/how-to-sew-a-recessed-zipper/
Deci, E. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 18(1), 105-115. doi:10.1037/h0030644
Ovenden, G. [gracomakes]. (n.d.) Crosstown crescent bag PDF sewing pattern. [Online
product listing]. Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1418521614/crosstown-crescent-
Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions
and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25(1), 54-67.
https://www.selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2000_RyanDeci_IntExtDefs.pdf
Wickell, J. (2020, July 06). How to make magic 8 half square triangle unit. The Spruce
Crafts. https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/magic-8-half-square-triangle-units-
2821440
Hello Josilyn! Not only did I enjoy learning about your projects, but I also really appreciated your description of how autonomy, self-determination, and motivation have impacted your occupational experience.
ReplyDeleteI reviewed your citations and had a question about your sources. I have noticed both in this course, along with others, that you have found some very applicable sources-specifically scholarly articles. In this post, I noticed the Deci, 1971 article about motivation and thought to ask you about it!
I would like to ask for some guidance from your experiences of finding these types of articles. Perhaps where you typically look (google scholar, ISU library database), how you determine what to search to get good results, or anything else you think is helpful.
To connect this question to our course content: I think improving research skills is important as future clinicians, especially because we understand the importance of continually seeking up-to-date evidence-based techniques. Doing so will also help us develop self-determination as graduate students. Considering most of our assignments are research-based or research-encouraged, developing these skills will improve our occupational performance as students . :)
Hey Cambrie! Thanks for your comment!
DeleteTo be totally honest, the Deci 1971 article was the one referenced in our course powerpoint slide on self-determination, so I just stole the resource from Kylee and decided to check it out further. With finding other sources, I usually find luck with searching Google Scholar using quotation marks and the word "and" between each word I want included in the article topic to search for specific keywords. I also have just been searching the American Journal of Occupational Therapy through the AOTA website now that we have access to that. I do like using the ISU library sometimes, but I'm not that familiar with it yet. A couple things it does have that I like is it gives you access to PubMed through the NIH National Library of Medicine, and there I just filter my search results by "Free Full Text", and sometimes "Full Text", as sometimes it will have links to another database ISU has access to. Plus they have the "Cumulated Index in Nursing and Allied Health Literature Database" (CINAHL Complete), which often has had good articles as well, I used that one a lot in my undergraduate. I just start using the databases I like from the following link on the "Databases" tab: fhttps://www.isu.edu/library/
I absolutely agree with your comment regarding the importance of research skills in school so we can continue our competency into our professional careers! I like the idea that it will help us to develop self-determination as well, because it gives me something to look forward to and a positive perspective on something that can sometimes seem time-consuming or tedious.
Thank you Josilyn! Your insight is really helpful, and I'll be trying some of your ideas as I research for our History of OT reflections!
DeleteHey Josilyn! I love what you are doing here! Sewing is something that I really enjoy as well, I even sewed pajama pants for my family one year for Christmas. I also really like the idea of bringing in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. From my studies and personal experience I have found that intrinsic motivation has always been stronger than extrinsic because we are drawn to do the things we naturally enjoy. What made to decide to make a tote bag? Did you use a pattern or come up with it by yourself?
ReplyDeleteHey Lucy! Thanks, I have really enjoyed it so far. That is a super fun idea and I bet they all really enjoyed it. I also totally align with the personal experience that intrinsic motivation is stronger or at least more durable or long-lasting because it leads us to the things we naturally enjoy. I decided to make a tote bag mostly because it had a lot of simple, straight lines, and that sounded within my ability! But also, I like having fun bags and accessories and I thought it would be something cute that I might enjoy having, and that I would actually use because it is big enough to really carry things. I used an online pattern from a blogger, which was great because she really explained every single step.
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