Sunday, September 23, 2007

Procrastination Is the Thief of Jackets

Jalie 2559 Women's Jacket pattern

I'm attempting to make myself a well-fitting suit jacket. I've got a pattern, Jalie 2559, in a style I like, and I've had pretty good luck altering Jalie shirt and tee-shirt patterns to fit, but I've been procrastinating, dreading the iterative process of altering the pattern, sewing a muslin, and repeating as necessary. In an attempt to build my enthusiasm (or perhaps to procrastinate further), I've searched the Web for tips and techniques for tailoring womens' wear. I've listed some helpful resources below.

Most of my Web search results turned up this advice to novice tailors--"Don't even try! It's too hard!" Now, it's been several years since I sewed a nice blazer, but I've made a couple of dozen of them, and it's really not hard. The process just has more steps than most sewing projects, and it's easy to get discouraged. That's why I'm trying for that ideal state of mind--engaged with the process, not the product. That means no rushing to make a jacket for a specific event, and also learning at least one technique I've not used before. I think I'll go for bound buttonholes.

4 comments:

Reya Mellicker said...

Rebecca you are amazing. Is there anything you can't do?

Wow!!! I salute you!

Rebecca Clayton said...

Gosh, Reya, you'll give me a big head.

I learned to sew as a teenager, and in those days, I had time to invest compulsively. I wanted complicated projects, and lots of them.

There are so many wonderful crafts and skills and ways of knowing--I wish there was time in a lifetime to learn more of them. You're someone who has delved deeply into lots of things, and it seems like you're going after new things now. Who knows what we'll learn next?

Sherry said...

I have, many and many a year ago, done bound buttonholes and didn't find them too hard. But then stitched buttonholes have always been my nemesis.

Lori Witzel said...

I hold anyone who can sew in awe. I tried to make a one-piece skirt way back when and it was the most awful, embarrassing, lopsided tragedy imaginable.

Jackets!!! Shirts!!! OMG, brilliant!