Expectations

Will post basement results soon.

Since my mom is in town, I've been thinking a lot about sewing. The other day, I took a bunch of fabric over to her and we played, "What should this be?"  I got some great ideas and it was a lot of fun. Yesterday, she came over for a few hours so she could help me with some more concrete things, like taking in some shirts and making some skirts.

I tried on the last skirt I made, the blue six-gored. She immediately said, "It's too big." and we discussed how to make it better. It'll mean taking the waistband off, but I should do that anyway since I did a pretty sloppy job of it. I'll take the gores in at the top, but leave the bottom as is. I'll also make the elastic smaller.

I have this really pretty, batik-y looking rayon in blues & white. Very summery, very drapey. I was thinking circle skirt. My mom said the for a circle skirt to really look right, it needed a proper waistband and a zipper. I've been putting off working with this fabric since I got it weeks ago, because the thought of a circle skirt was intimidating to me. I didn't want to deal with all that bias finishing. She suggested a slightly gathered skirt. I could get it cut out of one piece (selvedge to selvedge), with one seam, an elastic waist, hem, and done. I've made skirts like that a bazillion times before and knew I could whip it out in my sleep, so I got started.

I made it, and tried it on.  It looked nice, but not the full, drapey, flowy, girly skirt I'd had in my mind. And therein lay the problem. I had an expectation of what this fabric should be, and this wasn't it. It's not bad; it just isn't what I want for this fabric.

So my time with the seam ripper is going to be longer than I thought. I don't really mind taking it apart. I have enough left over to add to it to make another six-gored skirt, which I know will be flowy and drapey and girly the way I want. I'll even be able to use the measurements from the one I already made once I get it fixed. This also gives me time to bite the bullet and get the Serger fixed.

The ironic thing is that I have a plaid seersucker that I love (used it to make golf shorts for the girls a couple years ago) that will be perfect for a simple gathered skirt. I will easily have three new skirts next weekend.

Of course, I have no idea what I'm going to wear to church this morning.