Honestly, sometimes I wonder if I'm really as good as the pictures look or am I just getting by? I wonder if I'm actually skilled or if I've just walked this road so many times, that my experience pulls a rabbit out of a hat when I'm in a sticky situation?
I wonder...do you ever wonder?
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Have you ever thought about about how many items you touch during the making of a garment? I mean besides your sewing machine and your iron? I was finishing up the Red Cotton Eyelet Dress and while reaching for the hem to press a tricky area of the dress, realized it was the third pressing tool that I'd used. So I stopped to count and this was what I came up with...
4 pressing tools - my clapper, my sleeve board, my medium pressing ham, silk organza pressing cloth
3 pairs of scissors - my duckbill, my 8" gingher shears, my paper cutting scissors
3 spools of thread - red for the dress shell, tan for the lining, a blue that I used for the basting
2 measuring tools - my clear 18" ruler and my 6" seam gauge
2 tracing tools - yellow carbon paper for darts and tracing wheel
2 pinning tools - needle to baste with and pins, pins and more pins
That's 16 tools to make one dress and that's not including the sewing machine, the serger, the iron & ironing board and my computer.
So have you ever counted? It's definitely eye-opening!
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Hand sewing ~
I used to think of it as a four letter word. I avoided it whenever I could. But lately I've come to think of it as a soothing exercise, something that gives me control over areas of my garment and also allows me to connect with the garment in a tactile way.
There's actually quite a bit of hand sewing in all of my garments now.
- If an embellishment is added, it's hand basted in...giving me not only control but acccuracy in placing the embellishment on the garment.
- All linings are hand stitched to the zipper tape. I know there are other methods of machine stitching the lining to the garment, I just like the control and effect that hand stitching provides.
- My hems are all hand stitched. I can actually work the blind hem feature on my sewing machine. I just like hand stitching them down.
- I've done more hand sewing/stitching this year. It feels very "couture" to be stitching pieces of my garments using a needle and thread.
These are just a few of the thoughts running through my mind this past weekend as I immersed myself in my latest garments. So these are the Questions of the Day. Talk back to me...answer one, two, all or none of the questions above. Because I was just wondering if others think the same thoughts that I think when I'm in the midst of a project...trying to get to the other side!
...as always more later!