Let me preface this by saying, I know the techniques for fashion sewing; I’ve employed them with some success in the past. But my first love is and always will be quilting. I am likely never to give Ralph Lauren a run for his money in fashion design. That said, however, I have, in the past, done a fairly good job of making clothes following patterns.

The thing is, it’s probably been at least five years since I made anything to wear. It’s possible that it’s been even longer than that. But armed with the knowledge that I once possessed the skills to make some pretty decent clothes, a four day weekend and a pretty good sale at a major fabric store, I was ready to try my hand at a few blouses. I started by taking my measurements (which were far from where I would have liked them to be) and determining that most of the patterns I had in my boxes were not going to fit. Off to the fabric store I went, armed with my coupons and sales flyer, a few pattern envelopes and a debit card.

After going through the McCall’s pattern books (they were on sale for 99 cents, limit 10), choosing a few, and retrieving the ones they had in stock, I was ready to hit the fabric area. I walked around feeling fabrics, checking sales prices, and looking for yardage requirements on the pattern envelopes. I chose peach, tan and seafoam green colors from the georgette that was on sale, and a very pretty navy blue silky solid. I was flying high when I walked out after spending less than $40, which included some new Gingher scissors and threads to match each fabric.

Once home, however, I realized that I was missing thread for my serger that would somewhat match the fabrics I had purchased. A little wheedling and I was able to talk my husband into riding with me back to Joann’s where he would wait in the car while I ran in for the thread I needed, and to return the scissors – I had accidentally purchased knife edge instead of pinking shears. I jumped out of the car, found the scissors I wanted quickly and then looked around. I couldn’t find the serger thread! I asked someone, thinking it had been moved to some obscure location. No, they no longer carry the Maxi-Lock brand I was searching for; all they had was some Gutterman, which was twice as expensive and less than half the thread. When I mentioned it to the girl at the register, she said they were told their store “doesn’t fit the profile” in order to carry the serger thread anymore.

(Insert a look of incredulity here)

So off I go in search of serger thread. I knew there was another major chain in the next town over, so I figured I would try there. Sure enough, they had it, and I was back on the road after waiting in line for an eternity.

Back at home, I iron my first piece of freshly-laundered fabric and laid out the pieces of the pattern. But the pins didn’t want to go through the fabric! I managed to get it all pinned down and cut out and got ready to assemble the top when I read the first line of the instructions. “Unfold bias tape and … ” Bias tape? I didn’t have that, and I wasn’t going back out, so I gathered up the pieces of the top and took them out to the game room to lay them on the pool table to wait. I went back and laid out another top on the same fabric (I had bought this fabric originally intending to make a dress but changed my mind). I cut out the front piece and the two smaller pieces, but when I laid out the back, I didn’t notice that I had pinned down the pattern in such a way that it was over a part of the already-cut fabric.

Did I mention I was making the blouse to wear to a wedding on Saturday? Yeah. So I ran down to my closet to see what I could find that I could wear to the wedding, because it was obvious I wouldn’t finish my top in time.

Finding something suitable there, I waited until this morning to return to my studio, where I unpinned the back and repinned it correctly. I cut it out and started to assemble it. All I can say at this point is, I really need to do more fashion sewing, if only to keep my skill level at an acceptable threshold. Sewing is definitely a skill one needs to practice regularly in order to stay sharp, so to speak.

I started the weekend with the idea I could get at least three tops made, four if I was lucky. Now I’ll be happy to get one done!