Just to give a little background, I made the mistake (?) of offering to make my mom a skirt. My mom and I do not really share the same personal style. She leans towards being very glam and girly, and loves light, flowy fabrics. And as you know from my EOTDs, I do no such thing. So making something for her would be a project that is completely different from anything I've made before. Additionally, making something for myself is somewhat high pressure because I'm such a perfectionist. Making it for someone else is stressful because I don't want the person to point out any mistakes. Making something for my mom takes the stress up a notch because she is as picky as I am.
The type of skirt my mom wanted was a skirt with a high-low hem. Easy enough, right? I had the pattern for it already (I used McCall's M6567). So I take her to Jo-Ann Fabrics, and of course, she chooses a polyester chiffon-like fabric. Not the easiest thing to work with when you are just a beginner. She also wanted a lining and an elastic waist. The simple skirt with an elastic waist is generally one of the first sewing projects that a new sewist begins with, so I figured that it wouldn't be a big deal...that is, until I started playing with the "chiffon". It was somewhat of a nightmare. Also, trying to help my mom decide on how long she wanted the front hem to be was a bit trying. She can be very indecisive and incredibly picky. So when she finally decides on something, she won't budge even if I make suggestions on how to make it better. At some point, I will have to realize that I should just do what she wants even if it means that I have to start all over when she sees that I was right. =/ I love my mom to death, but, as I'm sure many of you can relate, she can also drive me crazy! But after two and a half days this is what we got:
A flowy, lightweight, red skirt with lining and an elastic waistband finished with a narrow hem that hit her mid-calf in the front and at the ankle in the back. Let me tell you, it wasn't even the hem that almost killed me, it was putting together the elastic waist with the double super slippy and flimsy fabrics. For months, I've been putting off purchasing this liquid stabilizer because I didn't think I would need it in the near future. Boy, did I need it. Thankfully, I was able to improvise and found a can of cornstarch to temporarily "stiffen" the fabric so I could sew with it. From this experience, I can tell you that if you sew, a can of cornstarch is definitely a cheap and quick solution when working with difficult slippy fabrics that don't really "fold" or press flat. As a disclaimer, I would test the cornstarch on a piece of scrap material before spraying it all over your project. I have no idea how cornstarch interacts with silk and such.
My mom seemed pretty happy with the end result, I think. If there was something she didn't like about it, she didn't really let on. For my first flowy skirt with elastic waist and working with such a difficult fabric, I think I did OK. I also learned a few new things about elastics and lightweight fabrics.
Any fun stories out there about trying to impress someone with your handiwork and it worked/didn't work out so well??
No comments:
Post a Comment