Carelessness and Catastrophies ...

Don't the two always go together?

The saga of my dress continues, went to set the sleeve in and discovered I'd overlocked the back neckline in with the shoulder seam and taken a good 2" off the top. Bother!! Luckily enough, there was enough fabric left over to cut a new back panel. So, unpicking I went, re cut, stitched, and no-one will be the wiser! Next problem is that the sleeve and the arm hole aren't playing nicely together ... mainly due to changes in the pattern I have had to make (to fit my huge bat wing arms) ... so, after some creative cutting, I have pinned the sleeve back in for tacking and trying on. This isn't as much fun as it could be. However, the good news is that once it's done, the pattern will fit well and I can just cut and sew the next one (if there IS a next one) without any fitting or dramas. I guess that's the bonus of altering the pattern as you go!

So, have put that aside for a short while ...

Sewing the next thing, which is 2 dresses for a customer. They are a very simple pattern, think very long singlet with slit up one side. However, the fabric is a shiny stretchy jersey that was horrid to cut out. And, due to various non-brain moments, have had to unpick a fair bit already ... which is sad considering it's such a simple pattern. Firstly, instead of stitching a centre back seam, I stitched the side seams together ... cheated and cut the entire seam off ... there is enough give in this fabric to lose that bit of width. Try again. Next, realised that I hadn't allowed for the side split. Back to the unpicker ... best thing about unpicking is that I'm using a twin needle to stitch the entire thing together so that all I have to do is slice through the zig zag stitches on the back and it all falls apart. Phew. Why twin needles you ask? Because the jersey is so stretchy, it gives some extra stability as well as the overlocking, and as I'm going to twin needle the neck, arms and hem, this is much easier than threading and rethreading each time I do a seam. I did have the foresight to wind 2 bobbins before starting, so that I won't have to stop and re-wind mid project. Always nice!

Also in my sewing basket is a huge amount of sewing for a friend who is currently overseas. That's good, she can't ask me where it is while she's away!! Will get onto that eventually, just not highly motivated ... all basic stuff, but needs bits and pieces of tweaking!

Well, off to the jersey dresses, then to explore the depths of my freezer and see what meals I can come up with for the coming week. Menu planning and money saving sure go hand in hand.

Happy day

Mrs R