First off, BRAVO to Joe for his blog last week! This is what I learned from Joe: You should practice before you actually start to sew and you should make mock projects before the real deal. Brilliant. However, too much work, so I will stick to my philosophy of, “It’s okay if it’s not perfect!!” I seem to be surrounded by perfectionists!
This week is a shout out to my lovely friend Stephanie. Stephanie approached me with a project that seemed like a piece of cake. I feel like a broken record when I say that.
Here is what she asked of me. “Could you take these pants with gobs of “fashion rips” and back them with flannel?” Seriously, these rips were put there on purpose. AND she bought them for a lot of money. Now she would like me to back them with flannel so she doesn’t freeze in the winter. If you do not want to freeze in the winter then don’t buy pants with holes in them. I do not say this. I just think it.
What I do say is “SURE, NO PROBLEM”. Which is what I am thinking. Like I said, seems like a piece of cake.
Step one: Serger the flannel so it does not fray. Check.
Step two: Place fabric in pants and sew. No check. This went badly.
It would have been a piece of cake, if the fabric was flat. But skinny jeans are not flat. They are skinny. Very skinny. Very, very, very, skinny.
I have only itty bitty amounts of room to manipulate the fabric. It’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Did I mention that pant legs are skinny? Did I mention I broke 2 needles? Did I mention I swore about 8 million times? Did I mention that I actually started sweating trying to force the fabric in ways it was unwilling to move? I did not give up.
After a bit of ripping with my very helpful friend. By “very helpful friend” I mean my seam ripper, Harry. Not my dog. My dog is annoying. Not ever helpful. But he is cute, so I keep him. Anyway, eventually I figured out the perfect technique. At least perfect ENOUGH.
When I call Stephanie and tell her, her jeans are done, she says “How did it go?”
I say, “I learned a lot. I will have lots of blog material. Truly, it was no big deal.”
If you were to read between the lines it would sound more like this, “It sucked. I almost broke down in tears. But because I like you so much, I will do anything you ask, and not tell you the truth about how much of a pain in the ass it was”.
Stephanie does not read between the lines. Whew! And she looks super fabulous in her super ripped flannel back expensive jeans.
Cheers!
Andrea
P.S. Stephanie if you are reading this…TRULY, no big deal. xoxoxoxoxoxo
