A few weekends ago I found some lovely Mardi Gras mask fabric that I wanted to make a dress out of. I wanted the simplest possible dress I could find (second one from the left) and got this "one hour" pattern. But as I said to someone else as I started this thing, a "one hour" dress DOES NOT TAKE ONE HOUR. Want to know why? Here's how much time I spent on this puppy today:
- 10:10-10:50 a.m.: Cut out pattern pieces.
- 10:50-11:05: Pin pattern pieces to fabric.
- 11:05-11:20: Cut pattern pieces and unpin pattern paper from pieces of fabric.
- 11:20-11:50: Pin and cut pattern pieces to interfacing fabric, unpin pattern paper from pieces of fabric. (Note that I got through watching an entire documentary while this was happening.)
- 11:50-12:10 p.m.: Trim down interfacing edges.
- 12:10-12:20: Pin dress sides and shoulders together.
- 12:20-12:30: Iron on the interfacing to the pieces that need it, remove the pins.
- 12:30-12:40: Sew shoulder and side seams on dress.
- 12:40-12:45: Try the dress on.
- 12:45-1:05: Attempt to make slight alterations to the fit of the dress (i.e. taking it in at the waist), which turns out not to work. Remove alterations.
- 1:05-1:15: Sew facing pieces together, finish the edge.
- 1:15-1:40: Sew facing to dress. Then realize I fucked it up because I apparently shouldn't have had sewn the shoulders together in the first place to do this, and now I can't flip the facing pieces to go inside the dress.
- 1:40-1:55: Take out the shoulder seams, flip the facing the right way, resew the shoulder seams.
- 1:55-2:10: Pin, iron, and sew the hem. Done!
So basically it takes about two hours just to get to the point of sewing the thing. I had the occasional fuckup here and there, which happens when sewing even when you've done it for umpteen years.
I generally find that four hours is a good estimate to make well, anything that should be super simple. Sad but true. That's a word to the wise, and the newbie sewers. Hell, the oldbie sewers. It always takes a lot more time to sew anything than you think it's going to. Also, never sew angry.
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