Saturday, July 12, 2014

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 to keep 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.

14 comments:

  1. You sound much like me! I did that a couple of weeks ago with a coupon in Hancock's.
    Usually I forget to give them the darned coupons. I live an hour away, so by the time I think aobut it, it is too late.
    Then when I do think about it, everything I buy is already on sale. You never know on some things. I usually ask before they cut my fabric.
    I think the pattern is cute. You know there are several places you can resell patterns. One is on Facebook.

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  2. I can certainly see where that sucked the fun right out of your plans. However, the fabric looks awesome and with your skills, I can't imagine anything less than good and more likely a great dress resulting. Hang in there!

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  3. Don't you hate it when the sewing "god" seems to be working against you. I always feel that I have to make up for my errors, and the other part of me wants to chunk all the "evidence" of my boo-boos into the trash and try to forget the whole thing ever happened. But, alas, where money is concerned I'm usually not able to take the hit, so I muddle through. Heads up, with your skills I know you'll come up with a winner!

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  4. You will make this work and it will be beautiful on you.

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  5. I am sure it will look fantastic when finished. Often the one that causes the most grief turns out to be the best.

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  6. I ended up using my coupon for the thread at hancock Joann to far for me as well. Unless i'm leaving work
    And I also had the patterns that was not on sale and my husband telling me to get them. I did but went back friday and got the sale price for the patterns. It was 23.00!!

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  7. It is always comforting when experienced sewing folks share their challenges. We all have them, it's what makes us so happy when something turns out well. My Mother taught me to sew and she was always encouraging. Whenever I sewed an "oops" she would look at it and say "It's only a little Puckerment" and rip it out for me and hand it back for me to redo. I hope this one is just a little puckerment. Glad you are back.

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  8. I agree it sounds like one of those projects that suck from start to finish, but I like the save so far. I think you'll turn lemons into lemonade. If you live in the area I think you do, there is a Hancocks on Dale Mabry just south of Kennedy. FYI. It's tiny, but they do have thread. :) K

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  9. Give it a go and see what results. It can't hurt :)

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  10. What a pain when shopping and budgeting doesn't go to plan. Simplicity patterns in the UK are $13-14 and they are only ever discounted to half price. I dread to think how many patterns I would get if they were reduced to the equivalent of $2.99.

    (P.S. So glad that you are blogging again - I missed seeing your blog pop up in my Bloglovin list.)

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  11. Ugh. Still, you got to sit in an air-conditioned space for a while, surrounded by pattern and color. I dread entering a chain-store for fabrics anymore. So different from when I grew up, and there were independents on every corner, and manufacturer outlets all in a row on U.S. 29 at Summit Avenue ... sigh. Good on you for soldiering on! The nice thing about being jobless is that you have all this time. The terrible thing about being jobless is that you have no money. Am praying for a decent job to come to you, and soon.

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  12. I had a one yard piece of brightly printed gauze that wanted to be a summer dress, but the only way it would work was with a side zipper. Gah! I hate the side zipper thing. I hope this project turns out well for you, after all this work.

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  13. I hope the frankpattern turns out well! I don't think I've ever put in a side seam zipper in a dress. Why do people loathe it so much? Hmm. Maybe subconsciously I hate it too and that's why I haven't done it yet!

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Thank you for each and every comment. I appreciate them all, but I have to be honest and let you know that I'm usually bad about answering questions. I hope you understand that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.

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