Originally uploaded by Old Shoe Woman
So I have been sewing all day today and it hasn't really amounted to anything. As a beginner sewer I know that it is a gamble if the thing is going to work or not. I've been making a skirt for the past week or so and been going along quite nicely. I made darts. I made pleats. And then today....Well, today I was on the home stretch. I inserted a zip (all be it not as neatly as it could've been) and then realised there was no way the thing was going to fit me. It was much too small. Worst of all was that the instructions for the facing were so cryptic I couldn't make any sense of them! I tried. I consulted my sewing books. I tried again. I tried to the point of giving myself a headache and giving up on the whole thing. It's taken me a few hours to be okay with that. I'm really frustrated that I got to the point of almost finishing the thing only not to! GRRR!
So I would like to put out a world-wide plea to all the pattern makers out there. PLEASE make your instructions easier to understand. If the pattern is labelled 'easy' or 'for beginners' then it really should be. Put in some more pictures. Explain those terms that pro-sewers already know. I'm sure it seems easy to you, but remember when you did it for the first time. Remember how frustrating it was to not understand.
I'm going to chalk this one up to experience and move on. Thank god for sale fabric from Spotlight, that's all I can say!
Call me.... and bring it with you when you come up and we'll work it out. Even if it doesn't fit, it will be a learning experience so it won't be a total waste.
ReplyDeletep.s. I now have a box specifically for 'crap stuff that didn't really work and I can't be bothered finishing'. I don't we ever get to the point where everything works out.
Gah, how frustrating! I think the pattern-makers assume too much knowledge sometimes. I pretty much always make a muslin of any new pattern first off because I KNOW I am going to do lots of sewing-up-and-ripping-apart trying to figure it out by trial and error because I very seldom understand the 'sewing-ese' in the instructions.
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