So What?

I got a really interesting comment from Xan this morning on the McCardell Update I posted a while back:

First, it has been with great difficulty that I have found time to finally comment on this post.

A real travesty indeed-silk charmeuse sprayed with sizing for this Claire McCardell dress? Not only does it give me the willies, I bet the fine designer of the pattern is rolling over in her grave.

I have had the gut-wrenching experience time and again seeing sewing projects online over the last couple of years borne from people sewing something just to sew something rather than do it in a respectable if not correct manner.

Yours here is obviously such a project. I understand wanting to sew from one’s stash of fabric, but first to mutilate charmeuse with spray sizing and then to do so in order to ‘shoehorn’ it into a Claire McCardell dress pattern for which limp, draping fabrics were never meant, what’s the point? What happened to taste? Do you go anyplace wearing this dress? Is it usable as a garment?

Never mind the fact that the print was not matched along the centerline of the front as San Antonio Sue pointed out on Nov.13-it is simply awful.

As always, I totally support anyone's right to be appalled by what I wear, and to be vocal in their disapproval. De gustibus, and all that, but I did want to respond to this comment, and not just in the comment thread.

(First, I wanted to clarify one thing -- the silk was not sprayed with sizing, it was treated with Sullivan's Fabric Stabilizer Spray, which is washed out before wearing. The Sullivan's makes the fabric easier to cut and sew, but doesn't affect the fabric's "hand" after washing.)

This is the part I really wanted to respond to:

I have had the gut-wrenching experience time and again seeing sewing projects online over the last couple of years borne from people sewing something just to sew something rather than do it in a respectable if not correct manner.

It is the fear of encountering this snobby attitude that I think keeps so many people from sewing, and I think that's such a shame. Yeah, that dress was not the best I ever made, but -- so what? I did wear the dress (to a wedding) and I got some nice compliments on it (from people who didn't know I made it, btw).

More importantly, I learned something from making that dress. It was an experiment. It was an exploration. You learn a lot more from trying something new than from doing everything in the "respectable if not correct" way.

I'm not saying "throw all the rules out the window!" (I wouldn't have made that dress out of plastic grocery bags or polyester double-knit) but I'd rather live my life trying new things (which are not always guaranteed to work) than making sure I only did exactly what's been done before, what's "respectable and correct," and nothing else. If you're only going to follow a recipe, why not invest in a few paint-by-number kits? (This is why I always ignore those "Copy Ready-To-Wear!" articles in sewing magazines. If I wanted "ready-to-wear", I'd BUY "ready-to-wear," people.)

It's the garments I make from weird fabrics, in fact, that have made me the happiest. Camouflage and stripey skirts, and curtain-fabric dresses, and on and on.

But, really -- "gut-wrenching"? If seeing other people's not-quite-right (by your standards) efforts gives you actual intestinal pain, you might want to take some deep breaths and repeat "This isn't my problem" until it goes away.

The designer of the pattern, Claire McCardell, was herself an innovator. She pioneered ballet slippers as shoes, which would have been neither respectable nor correct in some people's eyes when she first did it -- but she didn't let that stop her.

If you're just starting to learn to sew, and you're worried about attitudes like Xan's, think for a minute about what you want more: Making something that's "perfect" by someone else's standards? Or the experience and pleasure of planning, sewing, and ultimately wearing something that's a reflection of you, and not the equivalent of packaged cake mix? I know what my answer is.

The Last Duro Jr of Summer 2008

So this is the last iteration of Simplicity 3875, at least for Summer 2008. This is (if you don't recognize it) some of the fabric I bought at Tomato in Japan.

Here's the bodice, close-up:



There's a little white speck at the vee of the neck where I need to either clip the threads better, or color over the thread with a marker (I'm not fussy!). I used white thread for this, because I didn't really have any red or orange that looked right.

Here's the back:



I altered the pattern to add a back waist seam for ease of construction, but (as you can see) I put it in the wrong place! It's right for my Actual Waist, but wrong for the waist of the dress. I'll raise it next time, if I remember.

Here's the back, close-up:



I actually forgot that the entire back was two pieces, and not one on the fold (and so I cut it on the fold). I didn't want to have a center back seam in the skirt, though, so I left that part on the fold, and just eased it into the bodice. Worked fine. (I didn't want to leave the back bodice on the fold, because that would have screwed up the neck facing, possibly.)

I do this sort of stuff ALL THE TIME (especially if I'm in a hurry) and it's almost always recoverable. A slightly smaller or bigger seam allowance here, a few unplanned gathers there, and everything works out okay. You can do a lot of "fixing" if you just think about it for a few minutes before you give up. (Of course, I wouldn't have to do so much "fixing" if I spent those few minutes thinking before I cut out the pattern pieces, but I suppose that's why they're called "mistakes", and not "happy fun time jitterbug sparkles".)

Despite the mistakes, though, I was really happy with this dress. The fabric is beautiful; smooth and light, and I love the colors. I got a lot of compliments on this dress ... I wish we still had another month of summer for me to wear it in!

But anyway, speaking of "happy fun time jitterbug sparkles", Penny at Antique Dollhouse of Patterns is offering this pattern free to whoever clicks on it first. Go!

And Ingrid is giving away patterns here -- but you have tell her what you like most about Spring (guess what hemisphere Ingrid is in)?