Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Top Five Explores that Missed the List

Yesterday it was cloudy and cool, except for a short period of time when we saw some sunshine. These are the days that everything around us looks dull and uninteresting.

I decided to clean our bedroom and put a new finish on the laminate flooring. It turned out great so will be doing all the laminate floors in the house. It gave me a lot of time to think about the items I made and was disappointed with the end result.

The top five misses of the year of exploring were certainly learning lessons. I do enjoy learning from the “I missed the mark” projects.

1. The Printed Blouse was a learning curve in measuring, using a new pattern system and some plain old bad math on my part. Too big in the body and way to long in the sleeves is how I sum up this miss.

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I did like the fabric and the pattern on it. Wanted it to wear with blue jeans. Did not happen. But I got a taste of pattern making and it whetted my appetite to learn more.

2. The Grey Dress with 3 large godets. I thought I was emotionally attached to the skirt pattern until I started to sew the dress. Not the case. First, getting all the godets lined up evenly across the back was a job unto itself. Second, the colour of the godets are somewhat darker and, though they add a element of mystery to the dress, I wasn’t thrilled. And lastly, much to my disappointment, someone called it the Nun Dress.

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I ended up feeling ho-hum over this dress.

3. The Green Western Shirt was by far the biggest miss. The fabric was horrid – it showed every pull and it also had flaws in the fabric. I always felt the fabric made the shirt look cheap. I didn’t buy the fabric and would never have bought this piece.

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4. The Child’s Western Shirt turned out too blah as there is no definition between the yoke and the body pieces. The lovely piping faded away into the background. I was using up what I had on hand hence the colour issue.

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5. The Marabella Leather Vest started out as a win and ended up being a miss. The lace on the vest was beautiful but the fringe ended up putting it into the miss category. I was not very happy with it and should have taken the bottom seam out, tucked in the fringe and sewn it back together. A big no-no with leather though as you punch holes in the vest and weaken it every time you rip out and restitch.

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I don’t hate these five items I made. Each was made and decorated with the usual care that is put into sewing clothing. But, they had an element of disappointment for me which happens to every sewer. The owners of each piece (except the first one) love them.

Today is the start of Christmas hampers. We will work in the mornings for the next 4 days. This afternoon I am at adult tutoring, the last one until January. It is hard to believe that Christmas will be here next week.

Until tomorrow……………………………

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