Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Crash, Burn,.........and Recover!

By the time I got my legs into those leggings I knew something was wrong. The only thing I could hear in my mind was those fateful words "Houston, we have a problem".  And tried as I may, I pushed and pushed, and realized those leggings were just going to be too tight to even wear. How could I have made such a silly mistake?

My plan, as mentioned in my last post, was to whip up a quick pair of leggings (using McCall pattern 6173) to wear to a Christmas party at church on Tuesday. I wanted to pair it with a tunic, jacket & scarf. This should have been totally uneventful but a silly mistake of absent mindedly cutting the leggings out wrong (stretch going down instead of crosswise) messed the whole mission up. Totally my fault!
(Look at the width of that leg. This could've been easily mistaken for a sleeve! LOL!)

So I'm out a piece of really nice legging fabric. And all over a silly brain fart. Nevertheless, the evening was not lost and I still was able to put on another outfit for the party. I through on a funky tan jacket, blue screen T, Express dark denim jeans and brown boots.

Fast forward to today. I marched down to Jo-Ann's and was able to get more of the same legging fabric to replace the loss. Actually I bought 2 pieces! Yay me!!!! So I''m quite the happy camper. See, it's the Project Runway dark blue (denim look-alike) legging/jegging fabric. I don't own any skinny jeans but I suspect when I'm done making these my leggings will have the look of a skinny jean.
(Got my 2 pieces of jegging fabric !!! I'm too ecstatic!!!)

This whole situation got me thinking a bit. I'm actually happy it happened. For one, it showed me just how far I've come as a sewer. I remember the days I would be devastated over such a mistake and the loss of a prized piece of fabric. Trust me I was pretty hurt by this snafu and until today I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get my hands on more fabric. But I didn't internalize the issue and let it define me. I just brushed the issue off and decided to move on to the next thing. Maybe I'm not explaining it right, but I'm sure there are some of you out there who know exactly what I mean. It's nice to have the confidence to "recover" even after you've "crashed & burned". Also this scenario made me appreciate the checks & balances I have in place to avoid any major disasters, which for me are few and far in between. For one, I usually always make a muslin--especially for wovens & pants to ensure a good fit and save good fabric. Trust me mistakes happen, but I've heard the definition of craftsmanship is being able to cover one's mistakes (wink).

So I'm back at square one and need to make my leggings which I'll knock out in the next few days. It was nice to go through that little situation & learn more about myself. Not a big deal, but pretty cool. How about you..have you had a recent sewing snafu that you handled fairly well? Do share:)

11 comments:

  1. Ooops Faye! It's McCall 6173. I added it to my post. Thanks!!!

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  2. I know what you mean Victoria...I did a dress and top the same way this pass week ;( Cutting out junk food will get me 100% into them, LOL...FIESTA ANYHOW.

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  3. I love the title of this post. I have certainly had those moments and I agree with you. As time goes on, I get better at dealing with them! Of course, I'd prefer not to experience them but what can you do?? BTW, you look great in that photo!

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  4. So very been there. Mine was cutting out a pattern piece from a piece of fabric ALREADY cut out from a pattern piece. Duh.

    Your outfit looks great and I'll have to go back and check out that legging fabric.

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  5. You are absolutely right. This kind of setback can and does turn off inexperienced sewers. But there is always another project....

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  6. Your title rings so familiar. In the past I would get myself into a frenzy over a crash and burn situation and my mojo would flee fearful of my retaliation...lol not so much now... Well I did get my panties in a bunch a few weeks ago over a wadder cardigan. *__^ however, I did learn from it.

    Merry Christmas.

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  7. That top I emailed you about...I ended up having to toss it. I figured out the silly instructions and with some of your help I was ready to finish the neckline. It looked really nice until I went to put it on. The amount of fabric that ended up getting cut away made the neckline too wide and then on top of that the neckline stretched out. I have never had this problem when applying self binding strips to a neckline. I didn't make a muslin, but it was only like $10 worth of fabric from Jo-Anns and I think I might try to pick some more up. If all else fails, I have enough left over I think I could make an infinity scarf with the remains. I used to get so sick over wadders...but it happens to everyone, even the most experienced sewers!

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  8. I enjoyed reading this post--->the visual of you trying to force your leg into those leggings is just too good! Awhile back I did the exact same mistake on a pair of riding breeches (which are just horsey leggings with a knee patch and no inside seam). I *did* force myself into those pants ($18/yard) but every time I wore them, I could hear a stitch or 2 pop.

    Yesterday I had a failure with a neckline binding. I just made it work, and even wore it last night. No biggie anymore.

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  9. Well I have not had a recent one but I have had many in the past LOL. Also in fairness I have not been able to to a lot of sewing this last year so umm ya my crashes wouldn't be real recent LOL...I am with you though, its nice when we reach the point we can say well DUH what was I thinking and move on.. Instead of letting it crush us LOL

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  10. Oh I'm so sorry about your "snafu"! You recovered nicely with you backup outfit...too cute!! and the sale on the jegging fabric at JoAnn too!! I must have missed that!!

    My biggest snafu happened just before my vacation...I was creating a formal dress for my cruise and it didn't turn out AT ALL!! I had one day before leaving and no where near enough time to make anything else (really nice that is). So I ended up purchasing a RTW formal. My snafu dress is still in the closet waiting on me to address it later!

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