Sewing 101

     As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've wanted to get my sew on for quite some time.  With that goal in mind I thought I'd start with something "easy."  What could be easier than an easy-peasy apron?   As it turns out, a lot could be easier than an apron.  Something like learning Japanese might be easier.  Or maybe brain surgery... on myself.

    To be fair to sewing, I should admit that I tried putting all these separate pieces from two different aprons and a dish towel together freestyle (aka. without a pattern.)   I'm going to name it my Frankenapron.  Catchy isn't it? 

But I digress. 

You see, it's almost done, but not yet.  I'm not going to lie, it didn't quite turn out like I thought it would.  I'm thinking of adding a bit of embellishment of some sort to it (ribbon or fire maybe?) to add some oomph to it.  No matter what I do (or don't do) to it, I plan to wear it anyway!! 

Here 'Tis:



Please don't mind and/or judge my messy house, crooked Frankenapron or me.....not that you would



So, needless to say, I took a week or so off the sewing bandwagon.  But then something happened to ignite my sewing passion.  I was browsing Gap last week and found a skirt I simply had to have, just couldn't live without it, you see.  But there were a few things wrong with it: A) It was on gap.com and even though it was on "sale" it was still B)$44.99.  Add 7 plus dollars to that and it was more than I wanted to pay for a basic cotton skirt.  It had turned into a skirt I could live without, I guess. 



The skirt at $44.99 online

However, things turned around.  I went out of town and could physically go to a Gap.  So I searched out the skirt.  Eureka!  I found it! But wait, there was something wrong with it.  It was 3 sizes too big and the last one in the entire store.  BUT(another but)...it was in the clearance section and marked down to $30 with an additional 50% off.  Do you know what that meant?  Exactly.  This skirt that was $50 plus online could be mine at $15.  So I made an executive decision and bought it with the idea of taking the skirt in. 

What could be easier?

A lot.

Maybe a monkey with a blind fold would have done better.  Again, what was supposed to be easy turned difficult.  It actually started out okay, but as I was trimming the seams I actually cut through the center of the skirt....not an ideal situation for anyone.  Then I did something funky with the waistband and made it pucker.

Grr.

On the plus side, two hours later, I finished patching up my mess and ended up with a less than professional but still wearable skirt.

Nah, I don't give myself enough credit.  It does actually fit better and is more what I had in mind when I bought it.  It was just a lot harder than I thought it would be. 

BUT I did learn a lot from it.  I now know that maybe I shouldn't embark on projects that seasoned/professional sewing bloggers write about. 

Maybe I should plan on baby stepping it backwards to easy patterns, then move forward as I build skill and confidence.

As the 'flight of the conchords say: when I freestyle I lose confidence..co-confidence.

Word.

Whitney out.