I am not one for making New Year's resolutions, but for 2014 I did take a moment to consider what I would like to do this year. I decided that learning how to sew would be a good goal for the year. So many times I need to make alterations on my clothes so I send my repairs to grandma but I don't get them back for at least a month since she's so busy and lives over an hour away. It only seems logical that I learn to sew so I can repair my own clothes at my convenience and even make myself new things.
There are only three people close to me who can teach me but none of them can. My grandma is too far away, my one friend is too busy, and my other friend is sick of sewing. And to my dismay, the fabric store offers sewing classes when I am not available. So I am out on this limb alone. I decided the only thing I can do is just pick up some fabric and sew.
I was able to borrow my friend's sewing machine and get a brief lesson from her on how to use the machine.
Now where to start. I made my way to Walmart (probably the worst place to get fabric. In fact, I am sure it is an abomination to the professional seamstress) to look for some cheap fabric and a simple pattern.
Note: My style of learning is hands-on and visual. I am not the kind of person who can learn by reading directions. I have to be shown and then I have to practice with someone guiding me. However, since my options were limited, the only thing I could do was by the dreaded pattern and try to sew my way through that.
There was a rack of patterns that seemed to be well-priced but they were ugly. I looked for the simplest thing I could find.
Ah ha! I found a pattern for a cute apron. I wear aprons around the house, so a cute apron would be a fun, seemingly simple thing to make. The headline on the package said "Sewing Made Easy" and that it was only 99 cents. I thought, "Is it really that easy?" There was only one way to find out.
I rushed home with my discount fabric and my cheap pattern.
I was all excited as I laid out my fabric and began to prepare for this new endeavor. I opened up the directions thinking, "This can't be so bad", but as I perused through the instruction catalog, trying to find the English instructions--not the French or Spanish--I realized this was going to be a big headache.
Yet, I tried matching the pattern to the fabric and I just started cutting away. After I finished cutting, I realized this pattern was not very accurate for one-sided fabric. It turned out that in order for the pattern to work, some of my pieces would need to be cut from the back side.
In my frustration I tossed the pattern aside and decided to create my own apron sans pattern. The cuttings I had made would be a mess to salvage, but I had run out of fabric and there was nothing I could do, other than scrap the whole project--which was not something I would care to do.
After much brainstorming, pinning, and running back and forth between the iron and the sewing machine, I came up with an apron. I even managed to create ruffles--a real delight for someone who has knows nothing about sewing.
The apron was nowhere near perfect. It was a little too short, but it seemed to be pretty decent for my first time sewing from scratch.
I managed to salvage my fabric, but never again to I plan on buy a pattern, no matter how "Easy" it is.
