Oh, the Sewing Woes!

I found this fabulous fabric on Joann.com that used two things I love: Vintage Simplicity Pattern Illustrations and Autumnal Hues.  So, I purchased three yards hoping to use a new pattern, Simplicity 8736 Vintage 1940s Blouses, and to create two separates, a blouse and a basic skirt, that I could wear lots of ways instead of just one dress.  

I figured that a blouse would only be half as difficult as sewing a dress and a skirt would be no problem.  I've come a long way since I began sewing a few years ago and at this point I can sew a basic gathered skirt in my sleep.  So, all in all, I expected this to be one of my easiest sewing projects ever.  Oh, foolish Leandra, that was not to be the case at all.

It wasn't just that a few things went wrong; it's that everything that could go wrong did.  It was the sewing equivalent of Murphy's Law, not just with the trying out of the new pattern for the blouse, but also with the skirt, which I had to take apart and redo three times as I learned to use the new machine, ran out of thread, and broke the gathering thread when I was 75% of the way done.  The blouse was another matter entirely.  As a purely visual learner, I called on Mr. B yet again to help me decipher the instructions, and in the end, I'm still not sure I did it right.

Then the bodice was miserably tight as it consisted of a series of 8 darts around the waist and none at all in the bust.  Yes, I made the mistake of not checking my measurements against the pattern, because I always wear the same size in all previous patterns, but not this time.  These darts made the waist forever riding up and the chest puffing and puckering out awkwardly.  I was extremely disappointed with the silhouette, but determined to find a way to fix it since I couldn't re-cut the blouse in a bigger size.

I also learned how to use the button hole setting on this new machine which I've never used before on any machine.  In the case of the buttons, I did have a small pieces of scrap fabric to practice on and when I was happy with the results, decided to test it out on the blouse.  

It turned out acceptably.  Not great, but acceptably.  There is one button in particular that I can tell is out of line, but by the time it came to the buttons, I was emotionally too numb to care about changing it.  Plus, I'm always saying that little imperfections make things more interesting, so now buttoning the back of my blouse is "interesting" not difficult.

In order to make the blouse wearable, I went around the bodice taking out every single dart.  I still need to re-hem, but this did fix the creeping and blousing.  While the blouse isn't quite as nice as I'd hoped, it is at least presentable now and I've already worn it to work and on my mini-vacation which you can see pictured here.

The skirt, as you can see from its absence in these photos, is still not finished.  Although I measured multiple times and cut once, then remeasured and cut again, it is still about two inches too big and has to be taken in yet again.  So, currently it is sitting on the sewing table, gathering dust, until I am rested from my trip and ready to pick it back up again.

 

The worst part of all of this was that the fabric went out-of-stock both online and instore so I felt like I had wasted this lovely fabric.  Of course I know that one should always test a new pattern on sacrificial fabric and save your best for after you've perfected the new style, but fabric is so expensive that I don't really have anything but beloved pieces on hand at the moment.  I just can't afford to buy something I'm going to deliberately tear up.

Thankfully this Simplicity fabric has recently come back in-stock online and I've ordered an additional four yards, so determined am I to try again with the blouse and perhaps make a dress and save myself the headache of separates, because clearly, I'm not ready for the responsibility.

Shopping Info:  Paper Bag Waist Trousers from Princess Highway, Espresso Flats from Charlie Stone, Simplicity Fabric from Joann, Simplicity Pattern 8736