My Daughter has Decided that She Isn’t a Ruffly Girl Anymore.

Should she be allowed to do that! 

All on her own. Without any say-so from her mother.  :-0

Here is a pile of patterns ready to donate to the thrift store that are no longer “her”.  “Those aren’t my style, Mommy.  I’m not a ruffly girl anymore.” 

What is wrong with a little ruffle?

And when did she get old enough to have a style?!

 I am not ready to go from this . . .

         to this. . . .

 

 What am I going to sew her now?  The dresses I made her last autumn to fit her this summer – she won’t wear.  Too ruffly, I suppose.

It also means she is growing up.  I love the family years and already feel nostaglic when I see signs she is no longer my itty-bitty girl.

What is a mother to do?

I guess hit a sale at the fabric store and buy more patterns!  Proof that every cloud has a silver lining. 🙂

Sewing Snit:Crushed Snaps

Where have all the jean snaps gone?

I made my daughter a little cord skirt like my brown one.  I decided on snaps for both of us, but mainly for her as she can handle a snap easily.  I went looking for those jeans snaps that I used to find at Jo’s or Hancocks but I couldn’t find any super heavy-duty snaps. So I went with their heaviest snap which I was familiar with and had success with before.

 

The inside working portions kept crushing! 

I used the correct implement and half of the snaps did not work.  They look fine but the female and male parts do not lock together.  I can’t find any reason for this.  It is like the couple you thought to be happy for years who suddenly announce a split and each party moves 3000 miles away from the other.  Why the sudden incompatibility?

Here is a photo of the snap insides where you can see they look fine.

Male portion of heavy duty snap.

Female portion of heavy duty snap.

What happened? 

Has snap quality deteriorated when I wasn’t looking?  Or was this too little snap for such a thick fabric? Have others a similar experience?  And where do you find your snaps since selection at merchants has winnowed over the years? 

 

Now I have to oh-so-carefully pull this old snap from the skirt and reinsert a new one.  Aargh!  That activity vaguely resembles mending, and my mending pile being what it is, my daughter will be in junior high before the skirt is wearable. 

On a side note – my summer cold has worsened into a terrible ear infection.  The doctor has prescribed meds but they make me drowsy and absentminded.  I thought today was Wednesday and so I am behind on getting this Thursday post out.   Given my fatigue and my sad mental state I am begging off my usual Saturday post and will return next week on Tuesday, July 13^th.

Sewing Snit:The Back Neckline Sticks Out Way Far From My Neck

Apparently sewing projects are like thawing frozen food-wait too long to use and you have a stinky situation.

Several weeks ago I cut out this t-shirt pattern, Kwik Sew  3242, and then left it in the basket waiting until I began sewing a skirt in the same bright pink color so I didn’t have to rethread my serger for just one project.  (I know-lazy!  I tell myself it doesn’t really take that long to change up serger thread, but still I resist.)

Well, either the sewing machine I am using on loan, since mine needs repair,

is stretching the necklines as it sews,

As you can see, it's from awhile back. It is a workhorse of a machine and I am grateful for the loan, yet it has its quirks and I am beginning to greatly admire home sewers who in the past managed to be precisionists using these old machines.

or,

and I am a bit skeptical here,

but it could be that the weave of those edges like necklines and armholes that end up as bias edges when you cut them, that the threads now loosened from their moorings, begin to relax away from each other.  That is how we get fringe right?

 

 Either way the end result is that I have narrowed this neckline in back and front several times and it is AlWAYS too large on the finished piece.

I have made tees before and I could not imagine that I could be bested by this simple little thing.  Hence I persisted in now what appears to be folly.  After two fitting muslins, several paper pattern alterations, and already testy because my topstitching was off, I tried on my finished top and I got this:

What did I do?  First, I explored the most sensible avenue. I complained to my husband. 

He would have been more sympathetic had he understood what the hell I was carrying on about.

Anger unappeased I grabbed a pair of shears and did it!  I slashed a giant dart down the back of the shirt taking out a good three inches at top. 

When that shorter dart left a bulge between my shoulders blade I continued the dart all the way to my waistline.

And you know what?  That shirt now fits! 

And the back dart is barely noticeable.  It looks like a back seam and most viewers will not notice that the seam does not continue down the full length.

The finished tee. I gathered the front neckline though that isn't part of the pattern.

The fit is now the best it has ever been and the top will hold up for this spring and summer wearing.  Sometimes it pays to just get a little mad.

Next Post: Tuesday, May 4, 2010: Summer Tops-Sewing Challenges