When I walked into my sewing room last night to turn off the lights, etc. before going to bed, I found shreds of Swedish Tracing Paper at the doorway. My first thought was that Dani had done her usual deed of pulling stuff out of the trash basket. But before I could even finish that thought, I remembered that I had emptied the trash earlier and there was nothing in it for her to pull out. And then I panicked.
My heart sank when I recognized that the shreds were my Ottobre tee patterns because it wasn't going to be as easy as simply re-tracing them since I had blended between sizes. I gathered up all the pieces and laid them on my cutting table. As I started smoothing them flat, I saw that, with some work, they could be salvaged enough for me to retrace. I also saw that only the 3 torso pieces were damaged and that all of the sleeve pieces were untouched. I went to bed.
This morning I got out the Ottobre pattern sheet, laid the main torso pieces on it and tried out the various shreds as you would with a jigsaw puzzle. My favorite of these patterns (the gathered front tee) was the worst damaged. Almost the whole shoulder area — a spot I always modify on any pattern — was missing and there was a good-sized chunk out of the neckline. I felt lucky that I had marked my blending between sizes very well, which made it so much easier to re-map what I had done.
I pressed the little shreds flat and with some trial and error got them back to the most important areas. Then I taped them in place, slid some more STP underneath where there were still holes and retraced those areas.
This is what the pattern pieces look like at the moment, with the leftover shreds sitting in the middle:
I'll retrace those onto some fresh STP and I'll be back to good as new. It was totally my fault for leaving the pattern pieces rolled up on the easily Dani-accessible botton shelf of my cutting table in anticipation of cutting today. Lesson learned.
At least it wasn't my TNT pants pattern.
Oh dear! You are one lucky lady that the paper wasn't all mush from slobber! I am sure Dani must have looked totally innocent, too! Ha.
ReplyDeleteI've learned not to leave the closet door open that has all the fabric stash because one kitty decided that is a warm snuggly place to sleep and leaves cat hair all over everything. But at least that is all washable so not quite as damaging!
You needed another copy of those patterns anyway, right? :)
Ouch, Debbie. That definitely hurts. I'm glad that you had enough left to recreate your patterns. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that they turn out perfectly.
ReplyDeleteJodi
Gotta love the dogs! I have learned to put anything important behind closed doors. I believe after our next home improvement project (new flooring downstairs) that I'll be moving the sewing space into the "den/workout room" and leaving the workout equipment to the sharp teeth of dogs - not zippers, patterns, thread spools, or yarn!
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to hopefully salvage the pattern. You won't know for sure until you make a new one, so I say put everything else off today and get busy making New Ottobre tees!! g
Oh no!
ReplyDeleteArgh. I would have been devastated. Glad you could salvage them without having to start from scratch.
ReplyDeleteHi Debbie! It's not only dogs that good, warm hearts!! Doesn't sound like Dani's "in the dog house". You must be easy to live with!!
ReplyDeleteWarm greetings,
Rhonda in Montreal
So we can safely say that Dani's feeling completely better then? ;-)
ReplyDeleteNooooooo, not the Ottobre tees! I'm glad to hear they were still recognisable and able to be salvaged. Of course you know you'll have to sew five or six tees now to be sure the new pattern is correct. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a bummer. I'm taking deep breaths for you. LOL. Sounds like you are able to salvage them quite well. When you're done you'll have to celebrate with a new tee.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine Dani's big innocent eyes when you accused her! I'm going to tell this story to my cat when he wonders why he is not allowed in the sewing room! I'm glad you will be able to salvage it, but no one likes to do things twice.
ReplyDeleteOh Debbie, I'm so glad she left enough paper for you to recreate the pattern.
ReplyDeleteNaughty Dani, but bless her, I'm so glad she's her old self again!
Obviously Dani's fully recovered now. Glad the patterns were salvagable. On the other hand, at least it was paper, not the sofa pillows again.
ReplyDeletehow about sewing up a straight jacket for Dani...glad you were able to salvage some to re-create
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess Dani got back at you for that nasty operation!
ReplyDeleteOh, no! Well, I guess a dog can't help it's nature. My chihuahua, Shadow, has a tendency to mark anything I put on the floor...so believe me, I don't put bags of fabric, or groceries, or anything like that down when I come home from shopping. And he chews the corners off of anything from books to boxes.
ReplyDeleteI know how time-consuming it is to trace those Ottobre patterns, and I'm glad that you were able to salvage yours!
I can relate, we have a cat that is a feline paper shredder. We got him declawed, and now he does way more damage with this teeth. Of course, Dani would like this picture: http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/funny-pictures-homework-eating-cat.jpg
ReplyDeleteBoy you sure are a lot calmer about that than I would have been! Glad it was an easy fix!
ReplyDeleteI guess Dani felt that if she was going to chew something it would have to be the best patterns she could find.
ReplyDeleteI would have cried. Seriously. But if it had been pants I would have had to use a paper bag to control the hyperventilating!!
ReplyDelete