Sewing Fail

Every seamstress has gone through this (and if you haven't, don't tell me because I like to think that I'm not alone here). You have a piece of fabric that you adore and know that you will never find again, so you hang onto it, scared to cut into it for fear of ruining it. Finally, the day comes when you can no longer ignore the beckoning of your beloved fabric, and you decide to sew it up. You very carefully pick out the right pattern (usually after spending several days contemplating the matter) and then, with hands shaking, you cut out the fabric.

You congratulate yourself for getting this far without screwing anything up. And then you start sewing.

For me, this fabric was a piece of embroidered border print that I picked up last year sometime. It wasn't particularly expensive, but I LOVED it. Adored it. Everytime I looked at it, I got goosebumps. I decided to use a pattern that I'd made before and really liked, Simplicity 2642 (the view in the middle). I sewed the entire thing up, tried it on, and .... was crestfallen beyond belief. The fabric is a little stiff due to all that embroidery, and the sleeves stuck up in a very silly, shoulder-pads-on-steroids kind of way. It looked terrible. I couldn't just take the sleeves off, because the sleeves and the bodice were all one piece. Well, what to do now?

After much agonizing (and some cussing), I just cut the offending bodice off and slapped a yoga waist on the thing, making it a skirt. Definitely not the look I was going for, but I sort of salvaged it. The problem is that the skirt portion of the dress does not make for a fantastic drape when in standalone skirt form. I'm soooo bummed, though. So bummed.

Onto happier sewing news. I also sewed up some of my mosaic floral rayon jersey that I stock in Bamblue Fabrics. This has to be one of the most comfortable dresses I've ever worn. The fabric itself is buttery soft - it feels so wonderful against the skin! I just love how this one turned out.

Pattern: Butterick 4789

Very nice pattern, no surprises or anything like that. The twist is quite easy to do, and I love the effect. And I didn't have to hack the dress apart and reinvent it, which is always nice.