It is just as difficult making clothing as it is purchasing it. Petites are made for those way-taller-than-me women at 5'3" or 5'4". And my shortness is all in my torso so it isn't like I can hem everything an extra inch and call it a day. Take for instance my first project: Butterick 5030 (view A). A simple wrap dress with 3/4 length sleeves (as one who is constantly washing dishes or elbow deep in raw meatloaf, 3/4 length sleeves are my favorite).
At first I thought it would be a simple alteration. Mistake #1. You know those little lines that say "lengthen or shorten here"? Well, it turns out they don't really mean for you to use those handy-dandy adjustment lines if you plan on whacking off 8 inches. Trust me, the smooth, straight curve of the wrap around front ended up looking like a drunken "W". Oh well, onto plan B, or what I like to call "eyeing in the pattern lines".
This seemed to be the easiest fix. I took my pencil and gently floated along the points from the "8 inch hack job drunken W" until it was nice and smooth. Done! Mistake #2. I cut generously around my lines and held it up to my body. A pencil nip here, and warble fix there, and viola! My pattern piece was complete and apparently fit just nicely. I craned my neck around and twisted and everything to make sure it looked right. Mistake #3.
Now, the only muslin I can find in this area is an astonishing €10 a meter. Let's see, at today's exchange rate, that comes to about $14.40 a yard. Not what I call cheap enough to use to make a mock-up, so I bit the bullet and just went for it on the actual material. Mistake #4.
The pattern was incredibly easy to follow, and all my adjustment markings line up just nicely. It went together like a breeze. I was so thrilled to find things were going so smoothly. Mistake #5. I fully lined the dress instead of doing the typical interfacing, and once all the steps were completed except the hem, (Mistake #6) I tried it on. Well, tried to try it on. I couldn't get the sleeves on- I had made them too tight. Of course, I have zero spare fabric to re-cut sleeves, so I decided to take the easy route and make it short sleeved. Because in my world, that would be easier than trying to solve the real problem. Mistake #7. With my trusty scissors I hacked off a few inches and hemmed. I tried the dress on again and discovered that as long as I didn't plan on raising my arms, ever, it was a perfect fit! So off came the sleeves and the dress was now a sleeveless wrap dress.
Sigh.
I let the dress hang for a few weeks until the next time I was able to face it, and I tried it on again. I didn't notice before, what with the sleeve fiasco and all, how the bottom of the wrap pooched out a little. Ok, it pooched out a lot. And the crossover came below my breast line. Pretty below. Ok, ok, it crossed somewhere near my belly button. I thought with some creative darts I could fix it. Mistake #8.
After 2 months of on-again-off-again darting and re-darting (mistakes #9-187) I had to force myself to admit that nothing was going to fix the fact the top was just cut wrong. I was frustrated. I did the most logical thing when you are frustrated and have a laundry list of errors that you still can't admit to yourself were totally your fault: I hacked the entire top off, finished the hem and now I have a fully lined almost circular wrap skirt. Win #1.
Now, if only I can figure out how to iron the darn thing around all that beading (mistake #188).....
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