Brendan & Tiffany Sullivan

I finished my fleur de lis skirt and wore it on the last day of school.

TYS

I celebrated the beginning of my summer freedom in style.

Love,

Tiff

After my two sewing classes with my good friend, Lelia, I wanted to tackle a pattern. However, I was very intimidated to attempt one. After much encouragement from Mom and Brendan (who liked to say, “If you mess up, we can always buy more fabric”), I finally bought a skirt pattern for $5 at Wal-Mart. Mom said I should start with a skirt as it would be simpler than something with armholes.

My first pattern.

As some of you may know, my first skirt was a disaster. I chose a satiny red fabric that was entirely too slick to keep aligned for cutting and sewing (at least for a newbie like me). I also read the back of the pattern incorrectly and did not buy enough fabric for the skirt design I wanted and had to make the option with less material. My zipper stops about two inches from the waistline  which allows for a tantalizing glimpse of flesh before my little hook and eye closes the gap. The zipper is also an appallingly different shade of red from the material. In the store, the slight discrepancy between the shades of red was barely noticeable, but now it seems garish in our apartment’s light. Not only was the fabric impossible to cut and hold steady, it did not take well to the iron. I’m almost certain that my hemline is not even since I struggled so much with pressing the fabric. In addition to the aforementioned battles in sewing my skirt, the thread tension seemed to be off and the fabric appears to pucker on certain seams. <sigh>

Despite all of my griping, I have some pride mixed in with the embarrassment concerning  my Frankenstein skirt. I’m proud of myself for trying a real pattern. The experience also filled me with confidence that I could do it better and I think I learned quite a bit. Bonus: I wore my skirt to school today and no one pointed and laughed. I don’t think anyone noticed it was homemade.

Now, for the real sewing triumph!

On Sunday, October 11th, 2009, my Kenmore 15408 and I created a garment of beauty. I learn from my mistakes and thus chose cotton as the material for trial #2. I also bought way too much material for the design I originally wanted. Oh well, maybe the third trial will be a charm. The cotton was wonderful to work with. I was able to cut my pattern out perfectly and best of all, the material could be pressed! My hem was a cinch, thanks to natural fibers and the power of steam. I am so happy that this skirt is so much better. I still had issues, one side of the closure is a little longer than the other and the “flounce” was very tricky to line up with the sheath of the skirt, but I’m very pleased with the results. I think this little gem will make its debut at Tania’s wedding.

My 2nd attempt.