Trying to turn "What Was I Thinking" into a "Make It Work" moment
So, I recently went to Joann's to pick up some thread with a 50% off thread coupon. Or so I thought.
Joann's is NOT a short trip for me anymore, having moved out of the 'burbs and into Tampa proper. Upon my arrival, I headed straight to the thread racks with my empty spools in tow so I could replace by color code. I just toss my empties into a Ziplock so I don't have tokeep track of make a list.
After about 15 minutes, when I was done choosing my threads (about 12 spools), I wandered over to the pattern area and was happy to see a big "$2.99" sale sticker on the Simplicity drawers. I proceeded to spend another 30-40 minutes browsing the catalog and drawers and narrowing my choices down to just two Simplicity patterns. I'm broke these days so even this felt like a splurge. Giving myself a $30 limit in the store to include my pattern and thread and whatever else, I next browsed the fabrics and found some for the dress pattern I had in hand. Plus two others from clearance. I figured I needed a pick-me-up new dress and I had a long weekend for adjustments and sewing.
Can you guess where this is going?
I waited in the crowded checkout line and, finally, it was my turn. I dutifully handed over my thread coupon and my fabric coupon. And then had a mild heart attack when the total was well over $70. Apparently, my thread coupon started the NEXT day ... AND ... Simplicity patterns weren't on sale. It was a stupid (small print) New Look sale sticker on the Simplicity drawers. But by now, I really wanted to make the new dress since I had already invested time and mental sewing. So, I handed back most of thread ... some I couldn't do without, sale or no ... and one of the Simplicity patterns, and used my 40% coupon for the other, 2281. I've never paid so much for a Simplicity pattern in my life ($10-ish!!). And I still busted my budget.
Can you guess where this is going?
I've decided I really don't even like the pattern for me. I was set to make the view shown in red and with the waistband contrast. I was so intent on fabric selection and since in my mind the pattern would only be $2.99 "wasted," I totally missed how high the neckline is. Ugh.
But since I had already bought the damn thing at the high price -- and the fabric -- I decided I could make my adjustments and then just wing it for cutting down the neckline. Which I started to do ... even taking pics along the way to detail my adjustments here on the blog (see below). Except I still wasn't feeling it.
And so it sat for most of last weekend. Until I was sitting on my bed and noticed the shirt I had recently worn still hanging on my "closet annex"...
Simplicity 4122. A past TNT that I've made many times, after adjusting the yoke to be more scooped.
So, the rest of my "sewing" time last weekend was spent thinking about and then actually morphing a tracing of parts of S4122 into S2281. And here's where I am so far today.
We'll see. Part of me just wants to dump the project and move on to a quick palate cleanser, especially since I'm decidedly NOT looking forward to a side insertion invisible zipper.
Joann's is NOT a short trip for me anymore, having moved out of the 'burbs and into Tampa proper. Upon my arrival, I headed straight to the thread racks with my empty spools in tow so I could replace by color code. I just toss my empties into a Ziplock so I don't have to
After about 15 minutes, when I was done choosing my threads (about 12 spools), I wandered over to the pattern area and was happy to see a big "$2.99" sale sticker on the Simplicity drawers. I proceeded to spend another 30-40 minutes browsing the catalog and drawers and narrowing my choices down to just two Simplicity patterns. I'm broke these days so even this felt like a splurge. Giving myself a $30 limit in the store to include my pattern and thread and whatever else, I next browsed the fabrics and found some for the dress pattern I had in hand. Plus two others from clearance. I figured I needed a pick-me-up new dress and I had a long weekend for adjustments and sewing.
Can you guess where this is going?
I waited in the crowded checkout line and, finally, it was my turn. I dutifully handed over my thread coupon and my fabric coupon. And then had a mild heart attack when the total was well over $70. Apparently, my thread coupon started the NEXT day ... AND ... Simplicity patterns weren't on sale. It was a stupid (small print) New Look sale sticker on the Simplicity drawers. But by now, I really wanted to make the new dress since I had already invested time and mental sewing. So, I handed back most of thread ... some I couldn't do without, sale or no ... and one of the Simplicity patterns, and used my 40% coupon for the other, 2281. I've never paid so much for a Simplicity pattern in my life ($10-ish!!). And I still busted my budget.
Can you guess where this is going?
I've decided I really don't even like the pattern for me. I was set to make the view shown in red and with the waistband contrast. I was so intent on fabric selection and since in my mind the pattern would only be $2.99 "wasted," I totally missed how high the neckline is. Ugh.
But since I had already bought the damn thing at the high price -- and the fabric -- I decided I could make my adjustments and then just wing it for cutting down the neckline. Which I started to do ... even taking pics along the way to detail my adjustments here on the blog (see below). Except I still wasn't feeling it.
And so it sat for most of last weekend. Until I was sitting on my bed and noticed the shirt I had recently worn still hanging on my "closet annex"...
Simplicity 4122. A past TNT that I've made many times, after adjusting the yoke to be more scooped.
So, the rest of my "sewing" time last weekend was spent thinking about and then actually morphing a tracing of parts of S4122 into S2281. And here's where I am so far today.
We'll see. Part of me just wants to dump the project and move on to a quick palate cleanser, especially since I'm decidedly NOT looking forward to a side insertion invisible zipper.
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