I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. I debated whether to post about my failed Easter jacket. This made me think about how much I wanted to reveal about my sewing journey on my blog. Should I post only my successes or both failures and successes? I’m not going to bore you with the details of how I came to my conclusion. I decided I want share the successes and failures of my sewing journey. After all, isn’t that what a journey is all about?
So, here’s what happened.
It has been awhile since I made or brought anything special for Easter. I had gotten out of the habit of this because for me Easter is not about special outfits, Easter bunnies, etc. However, I decided I wanted to make something this year. So, I decided on a Chanel-ish jacket and skirt.
I selected a pink/beige/taupe tweed and a pink silk twill I had in my stash for a very long time. So, I set out creating a muslin of the jacket. I made adjustments, for a full upper arm, sway back and narrow shoulders. The fit was perfect. I underlined the tweed with silk organza. Now, I didn’t have enough of the tweed to cut out 1 inch seam allowances, so the plan was to sew the ‘sa’ down. Then it began….the unraveling. The tweed was unraveling really bad. It seems just to look at it, it would unravel. The more I handle the fabric to sew the pieces the more it unraveled. I realized I had to serge, but it was too late. When I tried the jacket on, the fit was very distorted. I basically lost my seam allowances due to the unraveling. At this point nothing could be done. So, on 4/7 at 2:00pm est my jacket was a bust.
Now, I could have kept going by cutting out and completing the skirt. I could have easily paired the skirt with something in my wardrobe. But I didn’t. I was in what I call a funk. I didn’t want to sew anymore on Saturday. However, I began thinking about what to do with this unwearable jacket. I didn’t just want to waste the fabric. So, I decided to take the jacket apart. The silk organza is salvageable, I can definitely use it for other things. I thought since the jacket fabric unravels the way it does, it would be perfect for creating trim down the road. So, I’m going to add the fabric pieces to my trim box. Hmmmmmm, now I feel all is not a total lost.
So instead of beating myself up on why didn’t you serge the pieces from the beginning, I’m just putting this under lesson learned. Now moving forward, this week I will be working on a white blouse and a pair of navy tropical wool pants. Afterwards, I have to start the pieces I want to wear for the my upcoming trip to New York. I’m so looking forward to the fabric shopping. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to NY. I hope I don’t have to have a fabric time out. LOL!!
Until next time…….keep sewing!!!