Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Ohhhhh sigh!

Boy these past two days... let's just say I did not get very far in the end!

I am making a dress without ever taking a sewing class and without having made anything but quilts before (not true... I made a futon cover for Art once, but that was really like a big pillow case). All I have to go on is my mom's memory of high school sewing class and Andrea's tutorial... and while these are both great sources, I am still screwing up an awful lot and spend a lot of time frustrated!!

Here's a fun fact... if you grab a rotary cutter by the wrong side, you will realize exactly how sharp they are... ouch!


I cut the first part of the bodice with my brand new pinking shears, but I have since gone crawling back to my beloved rotary cutter to cut out my pattern pieces, and I will just finish them with the shears later.

Yesterday I got this far:


That's the armhole. So far, this has been the only thing that I did right!! Here are the pieces for the neck bands, with the "fusible" interfacing attached... I'm not too thrilled with how this interfacing stuck, but I'm pretty sure it's just because I'm not patient enough to hold the iron on for as long as it takes, despite all the advice I've been given. I can't tell you how much I hate pressing seams on quilts, and I hate doing it equally as much on apparel!! Oh well.


I sewed these together, then ripped the seams out, them flipped them, ripped the seams out, then flipped them again, stitched them to the bodice, only to realize that I sewed the wrong pieces to the bodice, and those pieces are also inside out (my lining is the same fabric as the outside). So, tomorrow, if you wish you find me, this is where I will be:


Sigh. The good thing is that I did not make any mistakes that can't be fixed with a seam ripper and new stitches. I have another day off tomorrow, but have to dedicate the morning to Rosetta Stone and statistics, so tomorrow afternoon I will HOPEFULLY have the bodice finished. And then I think I may set the dress aside for a while and work on Art's placemats to get back into some familiar territory!

The very good thing is that I started early: I don't have to wear this dress until June 19! Even with all my screw ups, I'm enjoying this dressmaking... Art's quilt was SO much easier than the first one I made, because I knew what to expect, so I can imagine that the next apparel project I make will be easier than this one.

And that's that!

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