Oh goodness. I didn’t realize that when I wrote “Visit my new blog!” on my recent BurdaStyle and Pattern Review postings that anyone actually would. Now I feel a little embarrassed at the half-baked state of this blog. It’s sort of like when you tell someone, “Oh, stop by anytime,” and then they actually do and you’ve got dirty socks on the living room floor, a sink full of dishes, no snacks in the house, and you’re wearing a t-shirt you’ve had since 1991 that’s advertising co-ed naked something or other. Only it wasn’t one person, but a couple of hundred. Hello, visitors, and yikes!
If you came hoping for brilliant sewing tips, glorious photos of works-in-progress, and stunning finished objects, sorry- my bad! I hope that someday that stuff will be here. In the meantime, lest you mistakenly figure me for a sewing guru and find yourselves disappointed, let me be up front with you about some of my inadequacies as a hobby seamstress:
- I have never sewn a bound buttonhole
- I have never sewn a vent of any kind. Not on a sleeve, not a skirt, not on a jacket, nothing.
- I do not own a serger and have never used one (it’s on my wishlist)
- I have zero tailoring skills and have never padstitched anything
- I only own one sewing reference book that I use, Burda’s “Nähen leicht gemacht” (“Sewing Made Easy”). For everything else, I just troll the web
- I don’t own a proper ironing board. I have one of those little ones that sits about 3 inches off the floor. You know, the kind that college students have
- I still need to consult references when I install a lapped fly or all-in-one-bodice facing to make sure I don’t screw them up
- I’ve only owned a proper sewing machine for about eight months. Almost everything I made prior to that was sewn on a machine I bought for 50 euros at Plus, a German discount grocery store. Seriously, I made winter coats on that hamster-powered toy
- I don’t have a proper sewing table so I lay everything out on the carpet and do most of my work sitting on the floor. I leave trails of fabric scraps, thread, and pins throughout my apartment, to Dan’s chagrin (especially regarding the pins, which have a particular affinity for him)
- I borrowed a dress form from my sewing teacher for a few months but had to return it to him when I moved and now I don’t have one. Since then I rely altogether too much on the “guess and test” method of fitting, highly unprofessional and imprecise. (Anyone know where to get just a regular, unadjustable, cloth covered styrofoam form with an 83 cm bust? Because that’s what I really want, not a fancy schmancy one and not a creepy duct tape twin that leaves my pins gummy.)
- Corollary to the previous: I often sew in my underwear because I’m too lazy to keep changing in and out of my clothes when I’m fitting things
- I’ve never seen a single episode of Project Runway
- For every two garments I’ve made that I wear, there is a horrible unworn mutant in the closet or sitting unfinished in a pile on a shelf. I’m looking at you, georgette blouse from the 8/2009 issue of Burda.
Anyway, there are more ugly sewing confessions, but some secrets are just too horrible to share. The ones above are at least things that I think could be fixed. As you can see, I’m far from hardcore, and my skills are still pretty far from advanced. I’m working on it though!
The Selfish Seamstress 
6 comments
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October 26, 2009 at 3:05 am
lin3arossa
Not only do I visit, I subscribed! Now I’ll get a notice everytime there’s a new post. Looking forward to it!
October 27, 2009 at 6:27 pm
susan
My list of sewing confessions is quite as long as yours. You are not alone! Lovely blog, cheers!
November 13, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Veronica
Hi there !! You’re so not alone (like susan said). And your garments are wow !
December 12, 2009 at 12:20 pm
dami
heheheee…. well, quite a few of your “confessions” are right up there with mine.
i only just got a serger last week and that’s because i have 6 bridesmaids dresses to finish!
love your blog and the fact that you make patterns your own – this is what i do to bring my own designs to life vs. just using patterns as is.
December 16, 2009 at 12:13 pm
sigrid
I think it’s imperative to sew for oneself in one’s undies or all the sewing time is wasted with changing. But once my landlord brought a prospective renter in my apartment while I was sewing in this state, so I still feel a little nervous.
November 4, 2013 at 7:18 pm
Kate Noe
The dress form can be fixed with a really good friend. You need duct tape, seran wrap, and spray insulating foam. wear a t-shirt and normal under garments. Have friend help wrap you in seran wrap, twice. build Duct tape dummy, more is better in this. after the dummy is done seal the ends. I recommend using cardboard and a heck of a lot of tape. Fill it 1/3 rd with the insulation foam. brace a 2-4 so it would be in the center. continue to fill. Let it sit for 2 days, peel like a banana, some of the seran will stick. then wrap the resulting form in a thin layer of poly fill and fit a cover or a tee shirt on it. build feet onto the end. sew steady!
Hope that helps.