Tuesday, March 24, 2015

alterations are scary


In between ornament patterns I am trying to do much-needed and much-procrastinated clothing alterations. Do you hate doing this? I love the results but the actual doing is such a pain.
 
I have to brag that I successfully altered the waistband of one of my pencil skirts...the right way this time. (Usually I sew a hurried dart in the waistband, which gets the job done but looks bulky and  terrible.)

It was scary! I had to unpick the waistband at the side seams (so many parts coming together there, the fabric, the lining, the grosgrain ribbon finishing the inside, and some kind of thin ribbon that I had no idea what it was for) and resew it at an angle and then figure out how to put it all back together like it was and not make a hash of it. Then of course sweat bullets wondering if I'd taken it in too much. Huge relief to try it on and see that it no longer sticks out at my waist and fits properly. 

Now I have about five other pencil skirts that need the same treatment. Plus a pile of other clothes that I could wear if I'd spend a little time fixing them. Need to keep the momentum...

6 comments:

  1. Good for you... and congrats on your success! I agree, it's scary... especially if the owner of the garment is too far away to try it on. So is making said person a dress! Ahem.... wish me luck, and keep watch for it in case it DOES happen to fit. ;) But not for a while... I'm pretty slow. Ha.

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    1. Ooh, that IS ambitious, Grandma G. I wish MY mom would sew dresses for me long distance! Is it special occasion? She must model the end product!

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    2. It's just to demo Time Warp in a garment. Thought maybe you'd have seen her mockup on FB. It's from a vintage pattern that I made a dress for myself out of 35 years ago or so. :) So at least I know how the pattern ran for size. She will definitely model... IF it fits! IF.

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    3. Oh, yeah, I saw that! It'll be so cool!

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  2. Oh, show us a quick tutorial of how you put it all back together! That part scares the bujesus out of me. :)

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    1. Oh, Montymoo, you ask the blind to lead the blind. I basically kept track of the order I disassembled it all and then put it back together backwards, compensating for the amount I took it in. I ended up having to hand sew part of the grosgrain binding back on because I couldn't figure out how to get it machine sewed without showing on the outside. BUT IT'S DONE.

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