I'm going through a bit of a sewing dip at the moment - everything I attempt seems to be going wrong! Do you ever get times like that? It's a real knock to the confidence and it's getting me kind of down. I make all these fab plans for my projects and dive straight in, but then get to a problem and just can't face trying to fix it!
Sunni from A Fashionable Stitch wrote a really poignant post the other day about choosing the right fabric for your project, and it really hit a chord with me. I have been sewing for quite a few years now, but I still struggle with pairing the right fabric with a pattern. I really believe that having the right fabric takes a garment from looking 'homemade' to looking professional, and I find that if something looks 'homemade' I have a lot less desire to wear it - which probably explains why I actually hardly ever wear my 'me made' clothes.
Take that pile in the photo above. The black denim was sewn up into a pleated skirt. I thought it was going to look awesome - but it just looks so awful and unflattering on me, so I haven't bothered to finished it (all it needs is hemming and sewing the inside waistband). I'm hoping I can rescue the fabric - perhaps it would be more suited for a short a-line skirt, maybe a Moss Mini?
And the plain maroon fabric - that was going to be a classic gathered skirt - but somehow I have made the waistband far too tight. And the fabric is rather stiff. I actually thought that would give the skirt a lovely crisp drape and look quite dramatic - which it does…but boy does that not suit my body shape!!!
Finally the fabric on the top is my attempt at salvaging another bad fabric choice. It used to be a lovely shirred maxi dress (that I blog about here) - but the jersey was to heavy for that style and I risked exposing myself whenever I wore it (!!!), so I thought I would try and turn it into a Plantain dress (tutorial here). The top part was going great, but I have attached the skirt on too low so it sits lower than my waist. It needs unpicking but I'm just not feeling the love for it as a dress to be honest! I'm tempted to turn it into a bit of a cropped t-shirt instead.
I hope I can get out of this funk and get back to loving sewing. Anyone else get disheartened when things go wrong? How do you get yourself back on track again?