Thursday, November 13, 2008

I am afraid....

A very long time ago I used to sew. I used to sew A LOT. In high school I made quite a few of my clothes including my graduation outfit (thankfully there are no available pictures of that!). Then I left home. As a going away present, my mom gave me her old Singer plain machine - I loved that thing (I actually still have it) but it didn't see much use. Then I got married and we had our first daughter. The sewing machine was pulled out and all manner of cute things poured forth from it. When dd#1 was 6 months old, my husband encouraged me to take a Martha Pullen heirloom sewing class where I learned lace insertions, french seams, pintucks, and so much more. Then dd#2 came along and matching dresses were the thing. Still sewing, but not as much. Then came ds#1 followed closely by dd#3. The sewing machine went into hiding where it has stayed for most of this last 7 years only coming out periodically for something special.


The sewing machine must come out now for a garment. DD#1 has been asked to play her fiddle for a clogger (dance) in an international competition where this clogger will be representing the US. I just found out that the girls need to be in costume. The clogger generously purchased this pattern and gave us some fabric samples. The fabric above is what my daughter chose. I am very intimidated by this pattern - it has darts, the full length means that the hem must actually be straight and even, there is a zipper. Zippers have never been one of my favorite things, not by a long shot. I have finished tracing and preparing the pattern, and cut the fabric. Now I must sew this thing together - it has to look good - and my deadline is November 22nd. Anxiety is very present - panic about to set in. Today I blocked out the time while all the kids are in school to start this. Hopefully I'll make some good progress without too many challenges.......

3 comments:

Kathleen C. said...

Take a deep breath! Okay, let it out.....

A tip for the hem (we do long skirts all the time): Once the dress is finished have her put it on (over the appropriate undergarments and wearing the correct shoes) and then chalk mark the floor all the way around. Fold the hem up 1 inch above the marks and presto... straight hem!
If the skirt isn't long enough to touch the floor do the same thing with chalk using a small ruler to mark an even distance up from the floor.
Make sure she doesn't look down while you're marking!

Tip for the zipper: use a temporary glue, like a spray adhesive to stick the zipper in place while sewing. And, since zippers arn't your favorite thing, don't go for fancy... do a centered zipper rather than a lapped.

Good luck!

hakucho said...

Lots of good luck on your project. It certainly looks very challenging. My sewing machine probably comes out maybe once a year if I'm lucky. I can sew, but I don't enjoy it. Not my cup of tea ;) I'll keep my fingers crossed all goes smoothly for you, The worst part is having a deadline!!

Apryl said...

good luck on sewing the costume/dress! I can only just barely sew, and only by hand, I don't have a machine but it is on my christmas list.

thank you very much for popping by my blog and leaving such a lovely comment. It really cheered me up.