Ah suppose man, ah'm just too much ay a perfectionist, ken? It's likesay, if things go a bit dodgy, ah jist cannae be bothered, y'know? --Trainspotting
I thought I was going to finish the Frenchy bag tonight, but I have discovered why sewing's not such a good fit for me: it requires too much perfectionism.
I made pleats. They were such nice pleats. I made the handles. I wished again that I could sew a little straighter (and iron straighter). I sewed the handles to the bag, then I went to sew the top bit to the main bag panel. One fit. One needed a lot of "ease." The teacher was trying to get me to ease it, "that fabric has a lot of stretch," "it'll be fine." Then it occurred to me to measure both main bag panels. One was 11" and the other 11.5". Could the pleats be moved without repositioning the handles? No, handle location was measured from the pleats. So I had to take apart one half of the bag. Only when "ah jist cannae be bothered," it's not my perfectionism that's gotten in the way. It's what sewing demands that I cannae manage. (It's okay, my mil talks just like this. Just for proof: when the dude takes off his shirt, he glows; he's so pealy-wally. Shoogle the pot when you're making popcorn. If you stop and burn it, you might seem glakit. )
3 comments:
Adjusting ease when putting two pieces of fabric together: put the larger piece of fabric in the sewing machine, adjust the stitch length to something long, like 6 stitches per inch (or your machine may call it a basting stitch). Sew a straight line 4/8 inch from edge, then another line of 6 stitching about 2/8 from edge, leaving the thread tails at both ends. Take the fabric off the machine, gently pull the ends of the dangling threads from each side, easing the fabric up so that all the "puckers" don't occur in one area. Hold it against the fabric you want to match it to from time to time to check that the sizes match, and voila, after some fiddling, you have two matching sizes of fabric. Generally works like a charm (although I'm assuming a 5/8 seam).
Good luck with your shoulder, too.
Glenna--fabulous directions. I am going to ease with ease in the future! But first I am going to measure and double check my work just in case ;p
I know what you mean. I have a sewn piece I need to take apart because my perfectionism is killing me that one seam is not straight.
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