I took the proverbial step back after realizing it was the end of June with the start of July being very near (How did that happen?), and we were more than the halfway through the year. I made some goals at the beginning of the year that I hadn't reviewed for a while and decided to pick my next project from the #makenine2018 list I had made.
While I was on holidays, I was struck by the number of gorgeous dresses I saw women wearing. Dresses, in my opinion, are the perfect answer to hot weather, especially if they have no defined waist. Due to the unseasonably hot weather we've been having recently, I chose McCalls 7387 from my #makenine2018 list for my next project.
I decided on a cross between View A and View C, using the sleeve bands, and the style of hem from View A, but the length of View C. I also opted not to include pockets. I chose a black cross-weave cotton-mystery blend fabric from my stash. I thought that the mystery fabric was mildly stiff but should relax with washing. If it didn't relax as much as I want as quickly as I wanted it to, I figured I would wash it with some Coke. It turns out that I had the perfect amount of fabric for this dress. I cut size Large, and didn't do any of my standard adjustments - I figured that it was a pretty relaxed fit with plenty of ease, so I hoped it would be okay and just went ahead and cut.
I started sewing it with high hopes, but then my sewjo just took a dive. I couldn't figure out why at first and came up with all sorts of reasons as to why I was avoiding the sewing room. It was too hot. I was too tired. I worked a 14 hour day. It was too early to go into the sewing room. There was too much stuff on the cutting table. I had laundry piled on the ironing board. It was too late. The dog ate my homework...you get the idea. I had a sewing retreat planned with a friend of mine and really needed to figure this out!!
This past weekend was our sewing retreat and I was still sort of "meh" about this project, but it was my current project that was already in progress. My machines were threaded up with the right colour, and had the right needles, and I really wanted to finish the dress just for the sake of finishing it. I told myself that pressing will make the dress better. The fabric will get softer as I wear it over time. I had hangups about the back pleats and how the fabric sort of stuck out from my butt when I tried it on, as well as the shoulder width feeling much too wide, but I just told myself it would be magically okay if I kept working on it. So, in spite of all of this, I soldiered forward telling myself I couldn't make any judgements about this garment.
I kept merrily sewing along, to the point of the directions for the front "fly," front "band" and front "facing." Things did not go as planned, and I ended up with a very nicely executed backwards opening front hidden placket that seemed significantly lower than what the pattern illustrations indicated. When dissecting the instructions to figure out what went wrong, my sewing friend kindly pointed out that I had been kvetching about this project for the entirety of the time we were in my Atelier and that maybe I should just ditch the whole thing and start fresh.
Which is what I did.
And I'll be damned if it didn't feel good!
Of course, this coincided with the end of the sewing day for us, so I very happily poured myself a glass of a celebratory glass of wine for the return of my sewjo and delved into plans for my next project*.
The moral of the story is that sometimes it's just best to cut your losses and move on!
*I'm pleased to announce the sewjo has returned with a frenzy and the cutting table is currently littered with fabric and patterns for my next capsule wardrobe!
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