Adventures in sewing

I consider myself to be a decent seamstress when it comes to sewing basic shapes.

I can't sew clothes

Don't ask me to put in a zipper or make sleeves or figure out a waistline.

but a nice square pillow?

you betcha

curtains?

fun!

Some bunting or banner?

Why, that's just triangles on a string!  No problem, my friend!

And so it was with high hopes that I began my project for making a bed skirt for the guest room.

I mean, it's just a big rectangle for goodness sake.

Rectangles I can do.

Big is sometimes a problem for me but I was feeling optimistic.

I did the measuring

I figured out the yardage needed

I bought the fabric

I looked at a few online tutorials and decided I would do my own thing.

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sidebar:

Why is everyone so into "no sew"?

I don't see how using a glue gun to put together a bed skirt is any easier than sewing a few straight stitches.
Perhaps the following account will shed some light on that...

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I began by measuring just to be sure that my plan was good

and I began cutting and sewing.

So much ironing...

Somehow when I cut the fabric I ended up using less than I had originally planned.

I usually round up a bit when buying fabric so I figured it was not a big deal...I had obviously miscalculated when I bought yardage.  

I'll just use it for another project.

Later as I was connecting two of my long strips of fabric I am thinking that something is not quite right...it seems a little off somehow.

But I am optimistic!

It will work out.

Not because I have done the math or because I have been super careful in my cutting but because I want it to work out.

You see, I am a winger.

I like to wing it rather than figure it out.

This is why, even though I am good at sewing basic shapes, you would never ask me to make, say, a quilt.  That requires exactness and that is not my forte.

And so, as I continued working, it became clear that there was a problem.

Oh crap!

things had gone awry and there was a slight twist in the fabric.

It wasn't quite straight.

And in something as big as a bed skirt this will eventually be a disaster as the skirt will not drape right.

Blast!

And so, like any good seamstress, I got out my seam ripper and began to undo things.

Then I got lazy and decided to just rip out the stitching...which did not go so well either.

And so, at this point I think, "Debbie it is time to stop winging it and make things perfect.

Sheesh!"

And so I spent some time making sure the fabric was perfectly straight.

I cut the fabric perfectly, I measured, I ironed, I sewed, I ironed some more.

It was looking good and I decided to take a break.

Later, at about 10 PM, I was sitting in the family room when suddenly my subconscious mind somehow finished some sort of mathematical computation that it had been apparently working on all day and it sent a message to my conscious mind that said,

"You measured wrong.  This skirt will be too short"

And  indeed it was.

And that is how I ended up at 11 PM with a seam ripper, taking out all of the work that I did that day 

as my husband asked me if I knew the rule of "measure twice, cut once".

Yes, I've heard of that rule thankyouverymuch.

I recut the fabric that I hadn't used very much of...

and this time ended up using the amount I had originally thought I needed.

What a shocker.

Here I am, actually pinning before sewing this time.

Trying to learn from my mistakes.

I then spent a ridiculous amount of time pinning it to the bed frame and trying to get the corners right.

One corner gave me fits and, of course, it's the corner that you see when you walk in the room.

You might be wondering what the point is.

Well...

1. It's my blog whose title is "too much information" so obviously there's no point! I come here to write about my day and to whine about my problems.

2. Just in case I am ever caught bragging about how good I am at sewing...I am putting this here to remind me that, yeah, I'm not that good. No need to be cocky.  Given enough time and tears I will eventually have a finished product, however.

I still believe in sewing over using a glue gun.

I mean, I would have likely had the same issues (since they were more about measuring than sewing) if I had used a glue gun and I wouldn't have been able to just pick it out and start over.

I'm happy with the finished bed skirt but I have to improve my methods since I plan to make one for the king size bed in my room eventually.  This one was only a double.

I'm tired just thinking about it.