Big Blue and The Rescue

Sewing can be humbling. It teaches you to pay attention to details, look before you leap, and think outside the box among many other things. I wanted a Fleece Jacket, found some great Blue Fleece and what I thought was the jacket pattern I wanted. Cut out the pattern, the fabric, sewed up a storm and then, wait, wait this isn't what I wanted. The hem line belled out and there was much to much fabric under the arms. HMMMMM. So muttered about, signs of frustration building, then my sister stopped by while I was walking around in the jacket trying to decide to just pitch it, finish it and donate it, or cut it up it a thousand little pieces!!!! She loved it, understood what I meant but still thought it was good. SO we took a closer look at the pattern, well, in some ways, the good thing was it looked just like the pattern, Why didn't I notice those things before? I think I was to focused on the front seams that I really liked. Hopefully that will teach me to pay closer attention to the WHOLE picture!! 
  Okay, so great, it looked like it was suppose to, I still didn't like the way it looked on me.  Now what??? Well I took a critical,look at the jacket while on trying to determine just what I didn't like. First the belling bottom, Thought about a number of ways to possible fix that. Had I noticed it sooner (like before I put the zipper in and hemmed it) I think I would have changed up the bottom and put in a drawstring (Dee's idea) but I wasn't going to rip out all that work so decided to attach a piece of 5/8 inch black elastic to the inside hemline. It helped!! not perfect but pulled it in just enough to take a bit of the belling out. Something still not right, I haven't the experience to do anything about the underarm but could possibly do something about the long slope of the shoulder. Decided to try a dart across the top front to back, Eureka! it worked and lined up with the great detailing of the front. Hey she good, she's good! LOL That in turned pulled the sleeves up enough that I didn't have to rehem them.
  The jacket still isn't exactly what I was thinking of but definitely wearable at least until I get around to making the one I originally had in mind.

  I probably won't use this pattern again for me, unless just the front with a different sleeve arrangement.  I wasn't happy with the way the directions had you do the pockets, so would do those differently as well. I know as I continue my sewing journey I will gain the confidence to read the pattern and say no I have a better idea and know how to implement it. For now I will value the learning experience gained by this one and glow a bit in being able to save it from the scrap heap!

Also learning how to set up my camera with it's timer so I don't have to wait for someone to be around to take the photos!!

Reading other peoples blogs has help me tremendously in accepting my mistakes. There's comfort in reading about the "Disasters" of those who seem to have so much more experience. I have to remind myself that while I have been sewing most of my life it's been on and off, and some of the sewers in my life were Get Er Dones, not taking the time to take their work past the obviously homemade look. They did fine but didn't grow, I so want to grow and need to relearn many things and undo some bad habits. Also must learn to be patient with myself. That I think will always be a hard lesson for me.