Monday, January 30, 2017

Sewing is my passion

I love creative challenges. Sewing was my passion for about three years until my youngest came along and time became very scarce. But every once in a while I'll get so inspired by a design that I'll carve out time and start sewing.
This was one of those rare times.


I came across a brand new pattern by an amazing designer behind E&E Patterns. 
I rushed to the local library, got the pattern printed and started working on it right away. 
When I began trimming, folding and taping pattern pieces together, I almost hurt my brain while figuring out where each page was supposed to go and how to align lines and curves that didn’t want to be aligned. Turned out it was not the fault of the pattern. 



To my horror, I realized that I was missing a set of pages and to further complicate the process, the prehistoric Adobe Acrobat that was installed on the library computer where I had printed out my copy, had decided to omit some of the much-needed lines illustrating the width of the sleeves and side panels. So, there I was, staring at my pattern, which resembled a large jigsaw puzzle with some pieces that had faded away and some pieces that were lost altogether, and realizing the hopelessness of the situation. 



Deciding on the right fabric was not an easy task either. While I had one specific plaid wool blend in mind, I couldn’t find it for the life of me. So, I had to settle for a sweatshirt fleece. I’ve once learned that fleece requires a certain type of needle, but it had been too long to remember which one, and even if I did, I doubt I’d be able to find it in my stash. 
To make things even more devastating, once I laid out this incomplete pattern  onto this second-choice fabric, I came into realization that I had merely enough material for ¾ of the dress. 
I’m guessing most people would have given up at this point.



But I am not ‘the most people’ when it comes to creative challenges. 
Situations like this get my creative juices flowing. 
At that decisive moment, I felt rush of adrenaline in my body, as if energy was pumped into my veins, my brain went faster and faster until every worry or thought in my head was muted, and all that mattered was my mission to design a gorgeous little dress.



The dress fits my oldest like a glove. 
It's got my favorite princess cut bodice and interesting godets in the skirt. 



I was so inspired, I couldn't resist adding lots of details and twists that are not part of the original pattern. My daughter loves her new dress and I couldn't be happier!