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[something-about-sewing]

Feb. 24, 2022

Aaaalright.

This is being chalked up as a learning experience. Kind of like everything else up to this point.

I did finish it, which is really the important thing here. I finished a project I started, and that's a big ol' thumbs up and a pat on the back, because that shit never happens. I don't finish things. So I'm still proud of this. That said, I must critique my work and give a post mortem.

Here's what I've got:

Not too shabby! But even the not so eagle eyed can tell something's off. The pleats in the skirt part: not centered, very uneven, kind of hides in print, so I'm not too upset about it. Choice of fabric: very good, cute af, the best decision. That seam at the bottom: impeccable, awe inspiring, right between those dots, very even, proud of myself for that one. The shoulder straps: where it all falls apart.

I mentioned in my last post that, because I'm a 28 year old man, I am completely incapable of reading directions. This is a bit of a lie, because in this case, I did read them. I just ignored them. And that was bad.

I was supposed to attach shoulder straps mid construction and not wait until the end like a god damn insane person. And that part of the instructions makes a LOT of sense now. But when I was working on this yesterday, I didn't have anything to be the shoulder straps yet, so I skipped it. I fucking skipped it. I skipped a step, because I am an insane person.

I shouldn't have. I should have waited. I got too eager. Too excited to do things. I suffered the consequences of my actions, and I attached shoulder straps at the end. They did not turn out well. Importantly though, I did not give up. I did not drop this project just because something got hard, and believe me, when I say I was going one stitch at a time and sweating bullets as I did, I mean it.

Here's the back, and some close ups on those straps:

Yikes!

They do not lay flat, they are not very secure, and they aren't even the same length. Lessons have been learned. I will do better next time. I will rtfm.

Lastly, we'll talk about that velcro.

I bought the wrong one, and I will visit a real craft store this weekend, because walmart does not have what I need. It's too puffy, and it is not good for this application. I don't have much to say about it beyond that.

I have learned a lot and I am improving. I will edit this post later and add a link to the pattern and instructions I mostly used.

Once again, thank you to anyone who made it to the bottom of this post. If you could drop a like, leave a comment, even a dm if you're feeling it, that would be very appreciated. If people interact with me on these posts, I will have more motivation to keep going and keep getting better. Either way, thanks for being here.

[something-about-sewing]

Feb. 23, 2022

UPDATE.

I had way more time today than I thought I would!

I have spent the last 4 hours working and I forgot to eat. Whoops. A bit too late now because it is 10 fucking pm and I need sleep. I will probably eat some crackers. And by that, I mean a whole sleeve of Ritz.

But anyway.

A few days ago I found a pattern for a dress and decided I was going to make it. Because I bought a printer yesterday, I could actually print out the pattern, and today I cut fabric and started sewing, and it's nearly complete!

Tada!

Right now it is literally held together by a pin in the back. I need to figure out what I'm doing for shoulder straps. The instructions used some lacey thing that I don't have. I also need to buy something to close the back. Probably tiny velcro.

I'm gonna take a trip to walmart tomorrow and see what they've got available. I'm going to walmart because I live 5 minutes from it and a real craft store is gonna be decently far out of the way. Which is to say, it'll be more than 5 minutes.

I'm very happy with my results on this one so far. It's turning out super well. Gonna finish it by the end of the weekend and I'll post more pictures!

I'd like to finish it tomorrow and then vegetate while getting my ass kicked in Elden Ring all weekend, but time will tell!

[something-about-sewing]

Feb. 22, 2022

Man, I have been busy.

I have had zero time to do anything with sewing.

But. Tonight I got a little time in.

I still don't know any proper terminology, but I was sewing the edges of some scraps. You know. Making them not look like shit and keep them from fraying. That kind of thing.

I was trying out various stitches and trying to get a feel for the machine and how I should do these things. My god, I was bad at it. To be fair, it was all an experiment for me. I need to know these things, so I was just fucking doing shit. And almost none of it was going well. Still fun, just not working. And then I tried a stitch where my machine was not happy with me and gave an error code. I still don't know what I was supposed to do for that one, but I finally read part of the fucking manual.

You would think that someone with no experience and doesn't know what the fuck they're doing would bother reading the god damn manual for the machine they spent 150 fucking dollars on, but alas, I am a 28 year old man, and thus I am incapable of reading the directions before doing shit.

What did I find? The section on overcasting stitches, aka the thing I was trying to fucking do.

And you know what? There's a whole other fucking foot for the machine that makes them easy! Like. Holy shit. I am an idiot. Turns out the thing I was failing at is really fucking easy, and I should just read the fucking manual!

God damn. I ain't even mad about it. I'm fucking thrilled. I thought I was just bad at it, but the machines are here to help.

Anyway, that was my adventure today. I also bought a printer, so I can now print patterns to play with. Hopefully I will be providing another update soon. I need to buy some velcro and some elastic and some other things.

I'm still having fun. Thank you to the 2 people that have seen and liked my first post. That tiny bit of interaction is more motivation for me. I'm setting myself the goal of making another piece of tiny clothing before the weekend is out. I've got 5 days. Plenty of time.

Thank you for reading this far. You're a beautiful human.

[something-about-sewing]

Feb. 15, 2022

Alright. I fucked up my first post already, putting it on my main blog instead of this new side blog and I am desperately hoping that nobody saw it before I deleted it.

If you did. If you happen to know who I am. Don't tell me. I will die of embarrassment.

With that out of the way, let me tell you why I'm here.

I'm a 28 year old man that desperately needs a creative outlet, so I've tried many, many hobbies. I usually end up starting projects, not being happy with how things are going, and dropping it because my inner perfectionist won't let me continue.

The other day, I decided I would do it all again. I watched a lot of youtube videos and decided that, of all things, I wanted to make doll clothes. I don't know why. I've never owned a doll. Never wanted to play with dolls. Not even an action figure. (that's a lie because somewhere I have a bigfoot action figure my parents bought me in Yellowstone, and it's foot is a stamp, but I digress) I don't what compelled me.

Two days ago I bought a sewing machine for about $150. I bought a few pieces of fabric and other supplies and I did some grocery shopping while I was out. Total I spent $300 that day and my wallet ached. Back on topic, I've never sewn in my life. I watched my mom do it a couple times and I watched some videos, but no actual experience. What the fuck was I thinking? I spent that night playing with it on some random fabric I once bought to look like a scarf for a Halloween costume. I put down several stitches... Seams?... Whatever the fuck I should be calling them. I also discovered the magic of the button foot and spent an hour trying to figure out how the hell it made button holes.

Yesterday, day 2, I went to Walmart. Why? Because I don't own a doll. Let me reiterate. I bought a whole ass sewing machine with the intent of making doll clothes and I didn't even own a fucking doll to put them on. How stupid am I? I lied again about the action figures. I have an Elite from Halo. It's got an energy sword. I really contemplated making clothes for it, but I don't have a working printer, nor do I know any of it's measurements, nor would I know how to adapt anything to it's body shape, so how the fuck am I supposed to make a pattern to make clothes? I don't. I get off work and I go to Walmart and I buy a Barbie and some extra clothes for like $20 and I use those. I took off the shirt it came with and I spent a few hours carefully deconstructing it with a tiny ass seam ripper and taking lots of pictures and tracing a pattern, and then I got distracted playing Deep Rock Galactic for the first time and I stayed up way too damn late.

Day 3! Today! I got off work and went home with a mission. I took my pattern, cut some fabric, and starting following the pictures I took in reverse to make a new shirt. I am very pleased to announce that I finished it. I fucking made a shirt for a god damn barbie. And here it is!

I made that shirt. Yeah, it's kind of shit, but I made it. And you know what? I had a lot of fun! A 28 year old man with too much free time had fun making a shirt for a Barbie. What's the world coming to?

I'm going to do more. I'm going to make more doll clothes because it's the most fulfilling thing I've done in a while. I have the shorts it's wearing, a skirt, a dress, and a few other things to make patterns for.

I'm so happy right now. None of the other hobbies I've tried and failed at ever felt this good. I'm glad I did this and I'm proud of myself for finishing this project. I think I'm actually going to stick with this one, but only time will tell. That's what this blog is for. I think I'm much more likely to stick with something if I share my progress publicly. If you actually read all of this post, thank you. It means a lot.

If you have tips or tricks you'd like to share, please reach out to me. If you have nothing you want to share and just want to say hi, then by all means, do it. I want to talk to people about this so I can keep motivation.