A Long Story

Once upon a time there was a girl who liked to sew. Everyday she thought about the clothes that would someday fill her closet. On this particular day the girl decided to think about pants. Hmmmm, she thought, my pants don’t seem to fit well anymore. I’m going to take my measurements again. Maybe it will help solve this mystery. AAAARRRRRGGGH! She could not believe her eyes! Never in her life had a mere 10-15 pounds changed her measurements so drastically (and not in a good way). She sighed a heavy sigh and decided to think some more.

The very next day she began searching her sewing resources for a solution. She found a book about pants that looked like it might have an answer – Pants For The Mature Figure. (The book was Fashion Your Own Pants The Simple Way by Connie Amaden Crawford. I wouldn't spend any time trying to find this one.) This sounded promising. Off to the drafting table she went. Measure – draw, measure – draw, measure – draw, for four evenings she worked on the new pattern. Finally, the day arrived to test the pattern with a muslin. Excitedly she cut the fabric and sewed as quickly as she could. (At this point it gets a little sketchy. The muslin stage happened Labor Day weekend and the author has a very weak memory.) Adjust – fix, adjust – fix, adjust – fix. She was frustrated. At the end of the day she decided to take a chance and apply her new sloper to a real pants pattern. This took many nights of deep concentration. She was exhausted! But the dream of new pants was strong and finally the fabric was cut and the new pants were ready to be sewn.

Soon something happened and she was very, very busy. But not busy sewing. Everyday she thought about when the new pants would be done. As time passed the memory of all the changes she had made to the muslin began to dim. Dimmer, and dimmer, and dimmer until she was not sure she would remember how to put the pants together. Even worse than that she began to think, “What if I make them and they fit really well and I don’t remember how I got them to fit, and I won’t be able to make sense of my new sloper ever again? And then I’ll have to draft an entirely new pattern. Oh, the time, the time, the time.”

And then it was time to sew for Halloween. And after that it will be time to sew for Christmas. And everyday the girl will think about all the lovely clothes that will someday fill her closet.

THE END

Happy weekend sewing to everyone that finds the time to sew!!

Dana

Comments

Sew Brilliant said…
Oh yes, I share your pain.
Gail said…
We think our mothers fat, so old we grow our slimmer daughters will think us so. (With apologies to TS Elliot)
Kathi said…
What a cute story!! I feel your pain. I recently had something happen within my family that kept me from sewing for a few weeks. It was an extremely stressful time and all I could think was how badly I wanted to just sit and sew for a little while!!
Good luck with those pants!!
debbie said…
The EXACT same thing happened to me with pants making. What ended up working for me was to make notes on the pattern indicating every single alteration I did along with dating the pattern and also indicating which fabric I used. After testing for wearability I was able to note any further alterations that needed to be done in a notebook for the next pair.

But really, I feel you pain.
Sharon Sews said…
Oh yes, I believe I've lived that little girl's story before :-)
Marji said…
LOL, yup! I think several of us might have written that story.
Funny, but I teach a pant fitting class, and it's easier for me to send a student home with a pant pattern that fits that they can reproduce than it is for me to find the time to finish one of my own.