Have you had one of those days where every step along the way just goes wrong? Last night when I came home from work, I was ready to dig into my sewing project when things just kept happening.
For starters, I’m working on a summer blouse since I’m really itching for springtime. I’m making New Look 6808 view C, the pink one at the bottom center:
And here’s what I have so far:
The blouse is in this light blue rose printed fabric, that is some kind of blend of cotton and X, maybe a rayon. And I’m pairing it with a white collar and coordinating blue bow.
The first thing that happened was I found that I had run out of my trusty silk organza. I use it all the time and I’ve taken it for granted that I always have more in my closet. I’ve taken to using silk organza as both an interfacing and as a facing piece for underneath collars. It enables me to finish the seams cleanly along with adding a bit of stability without excess bulk. I realize this is completely a brain-fart on my end, but it was frustrating that I couldn’t find a piece big enough for my collar piece. (Issue #1)
I went for the next best thing, a lightweight fusible interfacing. Sounds fine right? This is where issue #2 happened: I used the wrong press cloth and got bits of glue everywhere on my fabric.
All of those black/grey dots is bits of dirty old glue from my press cloth. They just wouldn’t budge after lots of picking! Grrrr
I had more fabric, so I cut another piece and refused it. No biggie… Until my husband came home and I got quickly distracted and burnt my hand with the hot steam from my iron. That was issue #3.
The burn had gotten a bit better by the time I took this image at the end of the evening, but its a little red circle just south of my thumb.
After icing my hand is when I realized that I forgot that I needed to finish the collar seam and that using fusible interfacing wasn’t really necessary. Gaaaah! (That was Issue #4.) I tried to find a run-around solution and attempted to use my rolled-hem foot, which was unsuccessful. Mainly because it was my first time using it and I couldn’t get a nicely finished seam on the first few practice runs. I can’t call this one an issue since I’m happy I got a bit more practice with using it. Maybe on my next project I can try it again.
So I then had to go back to my fabric and cut two more collar pieces, a front and a back. And this is the point at which I was wishing I didn’t even use interfacing since I hate the added bulk and the fact that I now have to sew the two collar pieces together which is more than enough bulk for my summer blouse.
Next goes issue #5: The horrible directions! I seriously have no idea why pattern directions have to be so poorly written. But in this instance I’m thinking it’s just poor editing. The directions for the collar make absolutely no sense.
I’m working on View C… I did #6 & #7. But then on step 8, they refer to the collar and collar facings. Okay…. Don’t even get me starting about what they’re talking about when they say “Layer seam”. I’m assuming they mean “Grade seam”. Since Layer seam makes no sense.
Reading ahead, the images that correlate with the rest of the steps all has a finished outer edge to the collar.
From step 8 to step 9, the outside edge of the collar is finished, but they never tell you how or when to do this. I read and re-read these directions for at least 20-30 minutes trying to figure out what they’re talking about. After spending way more time than necessary, I gave up and decided to sew it how I thought it should be sewn.
I began stitching the front and back collar pieces together along with the facing pieces. I stitched them, pressed them, and began trimming the seam allowances when issue #6 strikes! I cut nearly through my facing, not just the seam allowance.
Nooooo! I actually yelled out loud at this point. Being really frustrated, and knowing it shouldn’t be this hard to sew a collar, I decided to give up for the evening, eat dinner, and watch some tv.
I know some of this issues are of my own doing, but some of them really weren’t. :|
I know I was somewhat upset as everything was happening, but really I don’t think I was as upset as I know I could be if I was really emotional about it. For some strange reason, as I’m writing this post after decompressing, I feel like I’m much more objective. I never once came remotely close to crying, which is good!
It’s not hard what I’m sewing, but for some reason things just kept happening. I know I’m a decent sewer and on any other day it would have taken me 30-45 minutes to do what I spent 3+ hours on tonight. I do wish things happened differently, but I’m sure I can do it tomorrow instead. (I think pms may be playing a factor in my brain function.) heh Has this happened to you guys… one bad thing happening after another?
On the plus side, I don’t think my next sewing ‘session’ can go any worse. :) But keep your fingers crossed for me anyhow…. just in case.
In: Sewing
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