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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

An Epic Fail, or why I need a walking foot

I got that big piece of velvet in seafoam green color with all of that free fabric from Alicia. My original thought was "om nom nom" and I knew I would make a jacket out of it, a Cordova jacket! I wanted to do a trial run with the pattern and this fabric would be perfect!

Andrew saw the fabric and said ew. I ignored him. 
 Sadly, he was right. Just for the record, I didn't even finish it. After I put in the zipper, I could tell it was a lost cause. So it is not hemmed at all.

Problem one: Velvet. I was like "No, man, I got this." I made a velvet dress before, it'll be fine... Yeah, thinking back, I rush-made a really shoddy red dress for the last day of school before Xmas break. Seriously, go look at it. Such a turd. So since that was my sum total of velvet experience...

Solution: I need a walking foot for my machine. I tried my best, but the pieces would get fed through at different paces and every. single. piece. was. off. I did find a picture online and looked through all of my miscellaneous feet, but I don't have one. Sooo.....something to buy soon.
Oh lawd!
 Problem two: Style + fabric, use some logic please.

The Cordova pattern is for a nice, slim jacket with some detailing and a zipper front. There have been some very good versions that I have seen around the interwebs. Trisha made nice purple one and Tasia made nice tweed one. Everything about the fabric, color and style is all wrong; the sleeves look absurd. It looks like some poorly done costume for an un-researched movie set in the 1800s, minus the not-yet-invented zipper. I am frowning just looking at the pictures. Sooooo ugly.

Solution: Sometimes it is necessary to sit down and actually think about if a pattern and a fabric will
LOL I know!
 Problem three: the zipper. Seriously, if you can't find a zipper that matches (which was impossible at Jo-Ann, the only place I looked) you should not use a random, white, separating one from your stash. Plus it was a little too long, so I cut an inch off the top. The top. So now there is no metal stopper, and the tab can just shoot off into the atmosphere. When I realized this, after I had sewn it in (unevenly, due to no walking foot), I just quit. We're done here, folks.

Solution: Find a damn zipper that matches!
Saggy McDroopertons
Plus,I think the fit is too baggy in general even though I made my usual size 2. It will definitely need some sizing down if I make it again.

Now that it's finally starting to feel like Spring, who cares about jackets!

Feel free to say whatever mean things you like about this wad of crap! I have zero attachment to it and it will be going in my freecycle fabric scrap bag. Oh no wait, I already did that. Haha!

11 comments:

  1. Oh, that's always so sad when a finished project isn't really to one's liking. For what it counts, I still think it looks cute, even if it's not perfect.

    Also, I'm glad you mentioned your zipper mistake, because cutting it short from the top is totally something that I would do. So I've now learned that lesson vicariously through you. Yay!

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  2. It's kind of you to show the flops as well as the successes. All of us have them, but we can forget that those we admire have them as well.

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  3. Oh no! It's such a pretty color! I remember I once cut a zipper from the top too. Oh well, at least you got something out of it!

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  4. At least you can see the funny side of it! I'm planning to make this jacket as soon as I can find a matching zipper (which is proving quite difficult), but I think I'll do a muslin after seeing your fitting issues. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Yeah, usually all the tops fit in a 2. Maybe I am just picturing more of a close filling blazer rather than a jacket.

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  5. I like the sincerity of sharing the flops as well. I need a walking foot too...

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    1. Yeah, there's no need to pretend like everything I make is a delight. lol

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  6. Ohhh, too bad it is such a pretty color/fabric.

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  7. Think of it as a muslin! And after working with velvet, your next attempt (if you choose) will be so much easier!

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  8. Thanks for sharing and being such a good sport about your wadder, shame really as it's such a lovely colour!! Hey Ho, onwards and upwards ;o)

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  9. Thanks for being brave enough to share this episode of your sewing journey. We live, sew, relate and learn.

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Thanks for your thoughts and feedback!