Friday, November 09, 2007

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

First, The Good:
I found the Big Red Button! While I was looking for something else, of course...but the Pesky Weekender is done! Of all the fabrics I've used to date to make Weekender bags (um, I think I've used 5), this was By Far The Most Uncooperative. It shrank when steamed...even the 'rayon' setting was too hot; it slid around like nobody's business, and it wouldn't hold a crease for nothin'. But it does look rather cool, doesn't it?

I finished the first burgundy item last night after choir! The modified bodice of Loes Hinse's City Dress. It looks pretty good here; but the fabric is stiff enough that when I put a jacket on over it the neckline buckles...I think the shoulders are getting pushed towards the center by the jacket. I can kind of push it back, but I have to be Very Particular about how I put on a jacket.



The Bad:
I suppose I should've been on my guard when I arrived at church yesterday with all my sewing gear...and discovered I'd forgotten my box of thread. Fortunately, I had grey thread on my sewing machine, and a spare spool of the same in the notions box, and pile of grey garments to work on, so I figured I could stay busy and didn't let it bother me (much). But it was a harbinger of my foggy brained state...

When last we saw our heroine sewing costumes, she had completed the pockets on one of the ladies' garments and packed everything up. So, yesterday the sewing began with attaching the front and backs of said garment at the shoulder seams. Being foggy brained, and dealing with fabric which was has identical right and wrong sides, our heroine sewed them w/the wrong side of the front to the outside.

And did not realize it until the sleeves were attached. Which means the shoulders had been stitched and serged/trimmed, the neck facing had been applied, trimmed and topstitched and both sleeves had been sewn on.

Remembering that the right and wrong sides were identical, what would you do?

My solution:

Amputate the pockets. Emotionally, it was very hard to do; the pockets looked nice. But it was either that or spend the rest of the day picking the whole thing apart. Costuming, not couture...
The front of the garment is now a bit narrower than intended (I had to true up the side seams after whacking the pockets out), but, well, ya do what ya gotta do.

Finally, The Ugly:

Under the 'Wardrobe Refashioning' heading, here's one with unknown origins that My Sweet Baboo forwarded to me. It's so ugly that not only am I not going to try it, I am only going to put a link here so that the image doesn't confront me every time I open the blog:
Eeeeww!


Edited 11-19-08: that 'refashioned t-shirt' (Jockey shorts cut out for wearing over the head) was so ugly that I winced everytime I looked through my flikr albums so I finally deleted it. I'm hoping everyone has seen it somewhere by now!

Back to costuming!

6 comments:

  1. Yeah! You found the button! I have to admit, it does *look* cool, but we all know better about that fabric's behavior.

    Yes, I've done many things like that. Amputation is the best solution, either that or put binding over the seams and stitch those pockets to the front, but I can't recall too many Biblical characters with those sorts of pockets!

    Well, considering I'm reading this while waiting for homeroom to start in front of a classrom of junior high, I had a *very* hard time supressing looks of horror and just plain laughter over the "refashion". You know, there is a point when people go too far; knowing where that point is important. At least my mother only used my dad's wornout underwear for scrubbing floors, not for wearing in public as a bra!

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  2. I love the red bag - very feisty. I'm amazed you had gone to the trouble of pockets on a costume anyway --- but I should have known. You sew with such love for your church, and it always looks so nice!

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  3. Yeah, that's definitely a 'feisty' Bag!! LOL I was ready to feisty it right out the window more than once... ;)
    We've found pockets are really good if you have to use a wireless microphone; it gives a place for the transmitter to go.

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  4. Lisa that photo you linked to was HILARIOUS! Did someone really just cut the crotch out of some underwear and put it on as a top! *LOL* I am hysterical laughing everytime I think about it.

    Thanks for a good laugh this AM!

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  5. Why Lisa, haven't you heard of the "RedNeck Tank Top"? They're made by a lady named Bonnie out in CA. She's on another list that I'm on and recently posted a tutorial on how to make them for a gag gift. LOL!

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  6. Wow...thanks, Marty! I hadn't heard of it...and you'd think I'd hear of things like that, living in Alabama...

    My DH commented, 'Does someone really need a tutorial to do that?'

    I still think 'Eeeww!' LOL

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