Sewing Failure

Sometimes you win and sometimes, well, you sit back and take one for the team!  This was one of those times.  But let me start at the beginning!  (And stick around until the end for some of my thoughts on sewing failure.

In my Make 9 for 2020 goals, you might notice there was a dress pattern.  A dress.  Normally I’m not a dress wearer, preferring skirts and top combinations.  But it had been so long that I thought I’d try…  I decided to use the Sanibel Dress pattern from Hey June Patterns, but hack it to be a maxi length dress.  Now before we go any farther, we must say that like every other Hey June Pattern we’ve sewn, this one is impeccable.  The directions are amazing, the drafting is awesome, and so on.  It wasn’t the designer’s vision that was the problem, it was my lack of vision!

You see, the problem is that I’m basically a rectangle in shape.  (Thanks 9 kids…)  And the Sanibel Pattern doesn’t have much shaping to it because of the ruching at the waist.  When it’s made as designed (as a short dress or romper) this isn’t really a problem.  But when I added length, I just became a very long rectangle wearing a very long rectangular object!  It was so bad that I didn’t even take photos!  

So I shortened it to about  and inch below knee length.  But the damage had been done, and all I could see was a rectangle wearing a rectangle!  While I was trying to decide what to do, Aria tried it on, and asked if she could make it work for her.  That was a much easier solution than me trying to learn to love it while it hung unworn in the back of my closet.  

Aria cut off the top, folded it over and finished the waistband, and she wears it all the time as a SKIRT!  She’s in love with the deep pockets.  Lesson learned, and sanity saved.  I might try the Sanibel Pattern again, just as a top, but for now, I’m letting it rest.

The fabric is a very nice rayon chambray originally from CaliFabrics.  We used it to sew this Laramie Shirt and this Phoenix Blouse.  It’s a very, very nice fabric both to work with and to wear.  

Alright, now my thoughts on sewing failure.  If you listen to my podcast, Outnumbered the Podcast, you’ll often hear my co-host Bonnie and I talk about failing as it pertains to motherhood.  And many of those same failure thoughts can be applied to sewing failure.  Failure is an opportunity to learn.  Learn what does and doesn’t work for you.  Learn about your style.  Learn new techniques.  Learn how not to do those new techniques.  If you avoid failure, at some point you will stop progressing, because to succeed you have to fail.  Remember failure=learning!

Dress Pattern: Sanibel Dress by Hey June Patterns

Dress Fabric: Ranchero rayon chambray from CaliFabrics