i can't even begin to count all of the times that i've had somebody say oh, don't worry. nobody will notice your mistake. LIES! the truth is that yes, some people do notice those mistakes. they probably just choose not to tell you that they noticed. please note that i said SOME people.
in the case of many mistakes, they could be explained away as a design decision. hey, that happens. sometimes a mistake can lead you to something you actually would have chosen if you had known. as an example, i made a wallet about a month after i started sewing. the wallet turned out great (except for the awful handwork i did to close up the turning hole), so i decided to make another one a few months later. by that time, i had much more experience reading patterns. while re-reading the pattern in preparation for wallet #2, i noticed that i accidentally omitted the top stitching. i decided to try out the top stitching on wallet #2, and i hated it. i ripped it out immediately. i actually prefer the wallet without it, so now it has become a design decision.
another type of mistake that happens is a flaw in the construction. even people with decades of experience screw up things sometimes. when i was at sew expo in february 2013, i listed to pati palmer of palmer/pletsch fame tell us that she had just put the sleeves on a jacket backward. on many occasions, i have turned to my trusty stash of seam rippers to help me out of a jam. if you sew, you will inevitably rip. nothing wrong with it at all. however, not everybody will take the time to rip out an error or something that just looks sloppy.
there is also a whole other set of mistakes that can be explained away as inexperience, laziness, or as apathy. when i look at the first few things that i made as compared to what i produce now, i cringe. however, i am willing to cut myself a teensy tiny bit of slack for those items. i was inexperienced, and i still fall into that category as i try totally different types of items (i'm sewing a few garments now instead of the quilts and bags that i started with originally). as an example, a few months ago, my husband and i were out at a local restaurant having breakfast. from ACROSS THE RESTAURANT, my husband noticed a lady carrying a bag that either she had made or one that had been made for her. he didn't notice it because it was a nice bag, he noticed it because the workmanship was just terrible. (to further explain how terrible the construction was, i should tell you that my husband does not really sew. he does tinker around with my vintage sewing machines because he likes all things with moving parts, so he understands the mechanics of it.) i would guess that it was the result of inexperience, but it wasn't a novice level project. i could look at the bag and almost see where it a went terribly wrong. so, perhaps it was apathy or ignorance. some people just don't care what their work looks like. personally, i try to always do high quality work. i quite enjoy the questions from random people asking me where i bought something and my only answer is that i made it. it's a pretty cool feeling actually.
finally, i can't forget to mention the mistakes that are frequently caused by not pressing something. as much as i hate pressing, it really does make big difference. i'm not talking about just a wrinkled shirt. it's more like problems with the points of a collar not being sharp or terribly wrinkled fabric when you are mid-project. i hate it, and it feels like a colossal waste of time, but it really does make a difference. press your fabric, press your blocks, and press your pattern pieces too!
i have heard other people comment on a flaw in a classmate's sewing right behind their back which is not cool. how about maybe getting off of your butt and ask the person having trouble if they have tried a different technique that might improve the issue.
in the end, we all just need to decide how many flaws we can have to still have a passable garment/quilt/bag.
Anything worth doing (drawing, painting, playing an instrument, sculpting David) requires experience. Celebrate the things we learn from our mistakes during the journey to something exquisite.
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