11.07.2013

in another life


i am often amazed at myself, and not always for the right reasons.


it would not be quite so stupefying if oona circa 2012 hadn't repeated the same instruction to futureoona on back bodice as well.

(you do see that i corrected 8/8ths to 9/8ths, right?  riiiiiiiiiight.)


when i dug this cynthia rowley pattern out and found what horror i had wreaked upon it (lopped shoulder seams diagonally, took an inch tuck out of the pattern at bust level, made new darts that pointed anywhere but said bust) i thought, wow, i must've done this craziness, like, WAY early in my sewing career.  silly young oona, how far i've come!  but nope, i made this shining example of pattern adjusting up just over a year ago.

you can see more of it here on kollabora.  in real life, who knows where you can see it.  it went out to goodwill in The Second Great Escape From LA, during my purge of Things That Did Not Fit And/Or Looked CrazyFace On Me.  

looking at the shots, i do tend to don my rose colored glasses.  it wasn't that bad.  but no.  this pink lady hung unworn that summer, which is truth enough. 

do you hang onto such creatures?   have you abused patterns?

28 comments:

  1. I'm certain the intention of this post is not to get twenty plus comments raving about how gorgeous this dress is, but since I see no other comments as of yet, I will say it. This dress is gorgeous, and I'm sad that she didn't speak to you the entire time she hung out in your closet. I popped over to kollabora, and didn't see any issues with the fit either. But I digress...she's done, she's gone...and bravo to you for saying Adieu. I have zero, nada, no problemo with letting go of my thrifty treasures that languish, but when I've put blood, sweat, and tears {I often poke myself with a pin at least once while sewing} into a garment, I have found it harder to say goodbye. I have to be ruthless, put it on, and talk the bad talk to it, then quickly put it in the goodwill bag.

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    1. she felt BAD. truly!

      i like "talk the bad talk." i'm going to use that next time i need to let go of a clunker.

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  2. It looks so cute! I can't see any issues, but I totally understand. MOST of what I made even up to a year ago has been given away or thrifted. I had a lot of pieces that didn't fit or weren't my style. I think it's good to purge and to learn from mistakes.

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  3. Hahaha! I seem to agree with everyone else so far. This dress actually looks quite stunning on you in the photos. But, I think you have to go with how you feel about it in reality. A great photo shoot means nothing if the garment goes unworn. My problem with handmade garments is that I'd rather cut them up in to tiny pieces and turn them into pillows than give them away. I guess maybe part of it is because the garment was meant to fit me that it's hard for me to say it'll fit someone else better? Plus, there's something about trying to eek something out of the fabric that I so lovingly picked out and so laboriously slaved over already?

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    1. the slaving part, that's what makes it hard. all too easy to throw a trendy RTW piece out, but a ten dollar "handmade" disco dress? HEIRLOOM.

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  4. this one picture makes it seem amazing. hopping on to kollabora now to see the rest of the pictures but will probably agree wth everyone else.

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  5. I never even knew you made up that pattern. I was just looking at it and thinking it would make an awfully cute Christmas dress. I don't have anywhere close to the amount of wild child in me that you do, so if something is not working in a pattern I tend to just finish it and then not wear it. I don't dare alter things.

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  6. I don't have the wardrobe space to keep things that don't fit/don't work. It took me a while to be able to let go of things I've made but I'm past that now.

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  7. Ohhhhh, I'm sad that this dress didn't work out-- I thought the hot pink one was ADORABLE! If I'm remembering correctly, I cut a muslin of this dress, but it was all kinds of terrible and I didn't have the heart to whack at the bodice for hours on end (multiple muslins aren't for me... nope). BUT. I'm really excited to see your new version! Bet it's going to be great!

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  8. Well, this picture looks amazing and you look fanastic as always. Send some of the picture beautifulness my way will you? I would hop over to Kollabora but my silly internet is working at a snail pace. Good for you sending it to another home, someone will love it. I find it hard to part with things I make, at least now. Years ago, I could pass things on very easily and then I regretted some of my decisions, so I keep things longer now. On another note, sometimes we just have to hack and hack away to get things to work.

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  9. Hmmm. I have this pattern and I can get very similar fabric and i think you may have inadvertently inspired me to make my own version. :) It really does look gorgeous! One thing I always change on that pattern though is to lower the neckline- I can't stand things pressing on my neck!

    I must say though that because I trace my patterns (onto plastic book wrap, because I'm a philistine) If something is majorly deranged or just *wrong* I just tend to toss it afterwards- sometimes I'll retrace the pattern piece with any corrections straight ways so that the next time I make it I have the "correct" piece, and don't have to try to remember what worked or didn't work.

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    1. plastic book wrap! intriguing... but doesn't it slip around when cutting fabric?

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    2. Actually, for most fabrics it's not too bad as long as you pin fairly securely, although anything light or slippery it starts getting a bit annoying. I recently found a supply store that sells something called Polytrace which is a bit like traceable interfacing, so I'm going to buy a couple of metres of that and see how it goes.

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  10. I do as you do. If something isn't right in my eyes, and I don't intend to wear it... I give it away or give it to charity. No sense in using up closet space, and every time I swear I'm going to up-cycle something it just ends up in a bag in my studio.

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  11. One of mine is sitting in the closet....just staring at me. I know I'll never wear it. It's far too tight and not my style. But I can't let 'er go just yet.

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  12. This was the FIRST dress I ever made! I loved it for a few wears, but she too went to the goodwill over the summer :)

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  13. I was just looking at my closet this morning thinking, "I need to get rid of some of this crazy shit..." Just because I MADE it doesn't mean I'll wear and and doesn't mean that I have to deal with it giving me the sad side-eye every time I open my closet! Thankfully, most of my bat shit crazy makes were some of my first pattern drafting attempts, before I reconciled myself to the fact that, in fact, I CAN'T do everything...(harumph)!

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  14. Oh yes! I ended up having to buy another version of Simplicity 3833 when I went to sew it for the second time, nearly 2 years after the first time. I had completely mangled the bejeezus out of that pattern because I didn't understand how to trace darts using tracing paper yet!

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  15. I am trying hard to not hang on to the me mades that I don't wear. It's sometime hard to let them go.
    You remember the glorious dreams you had for the fabric and pattern when you ventured to start with it.

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  16. What a super cute dress!!!!!! The color is truly fantastic too. :)

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  17. Aw, I think the pink dress is really cute. But, as other people said, good for you giving it away - I'm hoarding all the things I've made even if I went off them in the course of making them (though I don't have enough me-made things yet to get rid of any!). I'm looking forward to the new version!

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  18. I think sometimes I'm channeling McGyver more than Lagerfeld....but it gets better everytime! I hang onto the patterns, but the victims get buried or dumped quickly!!!

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  19. I gotta do a clean on my handmade wardrobe. so many things don't fit me now.

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  20. I think this dress is crazy pretty! I love the colour!! and that skirt! Damn woman!! The only thing I can see that looks NQR are the wrinkles on the back, but meh, I'D STILL WEAR IT!!

    I did a clean of my patterns the other day and threw out ALL the patterns I've traced out prior to last month. Everything I've traced out in the past had the wrong WAIST size (deluded or what, kept tracing out 6-8, when I need a 10... not wonder those dresses kept riding up!)

    Was wondering the same thing about my dresses - whether I should throw them out since they don't fit/too short/weird drag lines/dodgy technique (ahem, no under-stitching) but I way too sentimental. Will probably hoard them till I'm 100!

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  21. You give me courage to throw out my busts. (No pun intended, argh.) I hold on to everything. It's funny looking at how I used to cut out patterns in my younger years, cutting lines all over the place. How in the world I ever found the stitching line....

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  22. Sometimes the point of the project is the process rather than the finished garment. I make beautiful things that just hang in my closet, overlooked in favor jeans and a tshirt. I am actually thinking of doing a sample sale on etsy.

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i thankya truly for taking the time to comment, i love a good conversation-- and hope you know my thanks are always implied, if not always written!