Hello peeps!!
How ‘s things?
Today I’ve got a very special post. It is a story of failure, and as sad as I am, it is good to share these stories too for a number of reasons:
1. It helps us accept that things go wrong and it is normal.
2. We learn from our and other people’s mistakes.
3. It is not the -freaking- end of the world.
4. It can be incredibly amusing (of course after all the emotional turmoil is gone..)
So what happened?
Back in September I bought two meters of wool-poly mix from the remnant box (aka treasure box!) of Rolls and Rems. Luscious gray in colour and slightly stretchy and also kinda scratchy. Now, I am the person who cannot stand scratchy fabrics and goes berserk after 5 seconds of wearing them, and not even straight on my skin. So this had to be lined, whatever it was going to be.
Months went by, ideas went by. I finally decided I would make some sort of coat/jacket/cardigan to avoid the scratching business and after some more ideas, I found the Eagle by Vanessa Pouzet
Isn’t it JUST GORGEOUS?
I got the pattern, taped, traced and cut.
I did not have enough fabric to cut 4 pieces of the front as required, and was not keen on the idea of using a different one on the inside, although I did have some super soft wool in my stash that would go great.
Mistake no 1: I decided to go for a simpler version and skip the lining altogether. The plan was to finish the edges with bias binding- hey maybe even find some leather tape? that would be awesome!
I completely ignored the instructions and put the whole thing together, missed the makings on the yoke and ended up with something that did need a couple of tweaks but could actually work.
But then I could not find a reasonably priced AND decent looking leather bias tape (any suggestions welcome!)
Mistake no2: Ok fine I will put the whole lining business in. So I go ahead and cut the two missing fronts and two sleeves from my other very nice soft wool and the back lining piece from some leftover black cupro. I construct the whole thing again and end up with and inside and an outside ready to be connected.
Mistake no3: All was done very nicely and neatly on my overlocker. BIIIIIIG mistake.
So, obviously for those slightly more experienced than me, yeah you cant put them together now! That’s not how you line something, there is a pretty complex sequence here and there is a reason why! TO LOOK GOOD!
Mistake no4: Instead of going back to my original binding idea that would still work, I decided to cut everything out and put it together all over again, this time (only a little too late, M) following the instructions.
Oh, the wishful thinking. Of course now all the pieces were slightly smaller, and not in a 5/8″ kind of way, in an uneven and not sitting together very well kind of way, as my construction was different for the outside (that was not meant to be lined) to the lining. Anyway, I tried and I actually did get them to work together albeit not perfectly. But when it came to put the sleeves in? Trimming the seams resulted in my sleeve cap to be significantly smaller than my armscye. Dooong.
With no more fabric to cut new sleeves, and no more steam, inspiration or love for this project, I ‘ve put it away. I might give it a try in a few days, or next winter. Or I might throw it in the bin. I don’t know.
Sometimes that is what happens. And that’s called real life.
Have you been all successes recently or is your bin full too? Do share your failures please!
The stories of petite Manou 