Learning from my mistakes

I used my seam ripper more last week than ever before. Everything I touched seemed to go wrong. I managed to sew all the wrong bits together on 3 dresses in one week! Maybe sewing late at night had something to do with this. Maybe I rushed too much trying to make quite a number of dresses for an upcoming market... Maybe, maybe, maybe.

I thought to myself, "It's OK. I will slow down and make something for myself for Selfish Sewing Week". Yeah, as if! That was a disaster too! I wanted to make myself a skirt. Simple A-line skirts are apparently a good project for a beginner. I grabbed my measuring tape and carefully took measurements. I was honest and didn't suck anything in. According to the size chart on the pattern I needed to cut out pieces for size 16. OK, I did that, sewed the pieces together and tried the skirt on. It fell off me since it was so huge. Oops. OK, my measurements kinda fit into size 14. So I adjusted the skirt and it was still enormous! By then I could not bring myself to use my seam ripper again. I was devastated.

I was chatting about disastrous sewing experiences with Victoria from As It Seams who also had a passionate date with her seam ripper that day. We talked about how we need to share our less than glamorous sewing stories too.

So yeah. Every now and then I fail. But that is OK. I see failure as a learning experience. Today I want to share a few of my failures with you and what I learned from them.

Pattern: Burda 9584

This is the very first dress I made for Little Monkey. I fell in love with the pattern. It seemed relatively easy to make and I could just imagine my little girl running around in a dress like this. So, While she was sleeping, I made my daughter a dress... that she never got to wear. Sure enough the dress is cute. But it was too big. You see, I did not measure her, I just went by ages on the pattern...

I learned that I HAVE to take measurements and not rely on age indications.

OK. Now I learned this valuable lesson I thought I would make a top and bloomers from the same pattern in her size. While she was sleeping, I made the cutest little outfit. However the top was still too wide! You know why? OK, this is a little embarrassing, but actually up until then I did not realise the markings on the plate of my sewing machine were seam allowances. So I guessed seam allowances while I sewed, and I guessed wrong!

Pattern: Burda 9584

 I learned to take note of seam allowances and to use marking on my sewing machine.

After making this little top I learned to check the length of a garment before cutting fabric. Luckily I had cute lace to make the top longer! Little Monkey got a lot of wear out of it! Oh yeah, the bloomers are from the previous example and got a lot of wear too!

Free pattern here

I love sewing with my grandma's fabric. When I was nine years old I begged my grandma to buy the fabric. I used it over 20 years later to make this sleeping bag.

Do I hear someone wonder why I am writing about it today? Well, have a closer look at the top of the sleeping bag. The design is somewhat unusual. Wanna know why? Because I made a mistake while making the pattern for it. I made the top of the sleeping bag too big. Since it was late at night and I was too tired to think of anything constructive I went ahead and chopped the top off... then let out a quiet scream and went to bed nearly crying thinking I have ruined precious grandma's fabric. The next day I thought of a different design and fixed the sleeping bag. This sleeping bag was a life saver last winter.

I learned that I shold not cut fabric when I am feeling tired. I also learned that even when things seem ruined I can try to think of a plan B and pretend that was the original plan.

Of course I made more mistakes... but I might leave them for another post.

If you have been sewing for a while I hope you are having a giggle remembering silly little mistakes you have made. If you are new to sewing... Well, I can promise one thing - you will stuff up. You and your seam ripper will become great mates. BUT you will learn from your mistakes, and you will make beautiful things and have fun in the process.