Oops.

Perhaps the first rule of sewing (or any craft, for that matter) should be: make sure your brain is fully engaged before operating machinery.

Sometimes I think my greatest talent lies in making really boneheaded mistakes, and I have to remind myself to cut myself some slack. In reality, the problem usually lies in my degree of focus on the task at hand. I tend to think a lot - about a lot of things - sometimes all at once. What this means is that while I'm sewing sometimes I'm thinking several steps ahead - or about an entirely different project - subconsciously assuming that I'm going to go through the motions on some sort of autopilot since what I'm doing (in many cases of stupid mistakes) is "easy".

Just the other day, I was trimming the binding around an armhole and nearly cut off the binding instead of the seam allowance. Doh! It's not a matter of skill, but of attention span.

So...if this happens to you, my recommendation is to get up and walk away for just a moment to clear your head and bring yourself back to the task at hand. Or at least get up and walk away so you don't throw your project out the window!

Cut yourself some slack. I'm sure it will turn out just fine when all is said and done.