Designer Update

Dressmaking is a funny hobby. It makes you do things you wouldn't normally do. Having declared I was making a mock before attempting on the actual material, I pulled out my stash of fabric. My stash, for a dressmaker, is pitiful. My mother has a much better stash. My aunt has an even better one. The trick is to buy lots of fabric and never make anything out of it. When you do buy a pattern, you buy the fabric to make the item. The result is a great stash of fabric that I can raid. You have to be careful though in raiding fabric stashes. The last time I did it without asking, I cut up fabric that was leftover from my mother's bridesmaid's dress. Never ever cut up expensive fabric that has a sentimental value. It gets you in more trouble then cutting something right out of the centre of a piece of fabric, which I did once. You only ever do it once.

Not only did I not have the right type of fabric for doing a mock, I didn't have enough. I don't have a stash of old sheets so I was on the look-out for mock suitable material. This quest found me in Tiger somethingorother routing through their stock of sheets looking for the most meterage for the least price. I was buying a brand new sheet to take it home and cut it up. Oh yes. I bought the brand new sheet and took it home.

This is where it gets even odder. I had previously cut out the pattern pieces. I had ironed them. I made sure that the fold lines were pressed out of them. Have you ever ironed tissue paper? I didn't think so.

I next ironed the sheet to try and get the fold lines out of them. I never iron sheets unless I'm about to take huge sheers to them and cut them into little pieces. I know some people iron sheets to sleep on them. I think that's a waste of time.

So I laid my pattern pieces down on top of my freshly ironed sheet and cut it up. The next stage is tailor tacks. I hate tailor tacking. At this stage I stopped. I needed a guilt trip to set in to motivate me to the next stage. This past Saturday I was motivated enough to start. I am pleased to report that I managed to do it without sewing anything to the carpet. This is a huge accomplishment. Normally I manage to sew my pattern piece to the carpet as I tailor tack the darts. I spent practically all day putting the long running stitches into the pieces. You spend all this time putting in stitches and then you cut them up. You then spend ten seconds sewing the dart and then you pull the tailor tacks back out. One hours worth of tacking gone just like that. I hate tailor tacking.

There's a reason you make a mock. I made the wrong side, as always. There's nothing more frustrating then wearing a pink sheet that's too big for you. There was no way I was going to start from scratch. That meant more sheets and more tailor tacks. I determined how much fabric needed to come off to take it down a size. I took it down a size. Now it seemed too small. I'm going to go on a diet. It seems easier than starting again.