Sewing Rules (and the consequences of breaking them)

My Minions,

Very early in my sewing journey, I was strongly advised against cutting and sewing in the same day, or at least without a significant break.  Applying interfacing, staystitching, and other steps to prepare for construction are okay immediately after cutting and marking, but one must at least eat before real sewing begins. 

I started this past Saturday afternoon by pressing my patter pieces with a dry iron, figuring out my layout, cutting, marking, interfacing, and staystitching.

And then I thought, oh, I’ll just get the darts sewn in and then eat, run errands, be a responsible adult, etc. before continuing with construction.  This was the punishment for not following the rules.

My machine ate my lining fabric.  I spent a good 30 minutes disassembling, pulling, tugging, and cursing to remove the lining without any real damage.  And then I spent another 30 minutes cleaning my machine (hey, it was already open!) and reassembling with a straight stitch plate in order to avoid further issues.

After eating, grocery shopping, folding laundry, and otherwise behaving like an adult, I decided construction could wait until the following morning.

I made significant progress after a full night of sleep.  Everything lined up without any confusion.  There was no tugging or easing to make match points work and thanks to my edgestitch foot, the topstitching was a breeze.  Just look at how beautiful it is!  

Then I got to the part where the waistband was supposed to be attached.  I scratched my head for a bit, pinned, and stressed about how I would keep it all flat while going under the presser foot.  At this point I decided I needed a break. 

My break apparently was not long enough though because my seam was not even and my topstitching makes it worse instead of camouflaging it.  Consequently, I will be removing the waistband, which may result in may mean cutting new waistband pieces, and trying again this weekend.

I should know better than to defy the sewing gods.

Until next time,                                                 

Jessica, Empress of the Universe