Sewing... Badly

"Learn how to sew clothes" is an item on my Gumption List. My mother probably just rolled her eyes because she would have gladly taught me how to sew clothes when I was growing up but I wanted nothing to do with it. While mending clothes is a valuable skill to have, actually making clothes from scratch isn't all that economical anymore. Even my mother stopped making clothes ages ago when the outlet mall worked it's way into the American shopping scene.

Still I want to learn to sew clothes. Perhaps I've watched too many episodes of Project Runway and I'm envious of the designers who whip out dresses in less than 24 hours.

Sunday I walked through Hancock Fabrics looking for inspiration. The selection isn't quite what it is at Mood so this took a little bit of time. I found a super soft, micro-corduroy in a truffle color. I thought this would make a great skirt.

I searched through the pattern books and found a "Learn to Sew" pattern. Perfect. The instructions will walk me through the process and I'll even learn how to put in a zipper.

I got my fabric cut and by some fluke it came out to 95¢ /yard. I don't think I've ever bought fabric for 95¢ /yard. I picked up all my notions... thread, zipper, hook & eye, interfacing... then checked out. At this point, I would like to thank my mom for teaching be how to read the back of the pattern envelope to find all the notions. I did learn something during all those hours I spent in the fabric store with her as a child.

I got home, read the instructions, and cut my pattern pieces apart. That's when I ran into my first obstacle. When I selected the skirt pattern I based it on my dress size in THE REAL WORLD. I didn't even look at the waist measurments. Apparently, sewing pattern makers equate their Size 6 to a Size 0 in THE REAL WORLD. Doing the math I quickly realized that this pattern wasn't going to fit me. I would have chucked the whole thing right there if I hadn't paid $16 for the pattern.

I decided to add on to the pattern and hope for the best. That's when I came to my second obstacle. As I laid the pieces out on the fabric, I discovered that I didn't have enough material even if I was making a Size 6. I double checked the pattern envelope and concluded that there was a typo in the yardage requirements. I've had that happen to me one time making a quilt and all you can do is "Make it work."

My next design decision was to make the shorter skirt. The pattern makes three different length skirts and I originally planned to make the mid-length skirt. I rearranged the pattern pieces and remembered that I was using corduroy. I wanted to make sure that the nap was going the same direction on all four pieces. It took some fanagling but I channeled my inner Tim Gunn and made it work.

I whizzed through the cutting and was about to fire up the sewing machine when I realized that the cashier at the fabric store never rang up my thread. Obstacle number three. It was 5 pm on Sunday and I didn't have any matching thread.

My skirt project is on hold until I can get some thread. I'm not sure if is skirt is ever meant to be. I still don't know how my added measurements will affect the waistband. The instructions are also a challenge. They seem to be written by various authors. Almost as if the sections were cut & pasted together. One minute they treat you like an idiot and the next minute they assume that you've been sewing garments for years. I'm trying very hard to follow the instructions. But really, what are instructions except for someone elses's opinion?

I told my Sweetie if the skirt fits and comes out looking good enough that I'm willing to wear it out of the house, then we're opening a bottle of chanpagne. Then I'll make another skirt so I can get my money's worth out of the $16 pattern.