(no subject)

[darchildre]

Progress on the dress I'm making:

- I finished the muslin, which fit properly and everything! I mean, I need to make a couple adjustments - the skirt needs to be a few inches longer and the pocket bags need to be bigger - but those are easy changes to make.

- I bought the actual fabric to make the dress with. And then yesterday I dyed the fabric, because buying it in white is cheaper and dyeing is fun. (I also dyed the thread so it would match properly.)

- I had to go back to the store to buy interfacing, because I forgot it, and was chatting with the cashier about my project. I mentioned that I was handsewing the dress and she looked super impressed. It's funny, because I think of handsewing as certainly weirder but actually much easier in a lot of ways. It just takes longer. But I imagine people who are more familiar and comfortable with a sewing machine might not think of it that way.

- And today I have to cut out the dress, which is the worst part.

- But then I get to actually start sewing!

Comments

[brideoffrankenstein]

I totally agree on handsewing! I do sew by machine sometimes, but I default to handsewing because I do find it a lot easier often. Including, and I know a lot of people will disagree with this, going in a straight line.

Your dress sounds like it will be lovely!

[darchildre]

Thank you! I'm very excited about wearing it.

I am not great at sewing in a straight line but honestly, I'm not that good at it with a sewing machine either. When I'm handsewing, it's easier to mark my seam allowance with chalk or whatever as I go along, though.

[sfred]

This is very exciting!

[frenchroast]

Yeah, as someone who mostly uses a sewing machine, I am pretty amazed that you're handsewing. I do not have the patience for that. I pretty much only hand sew when I do very curvy quilting.

[darchildre]

That totally makes sense. Sewing with a sewing machine is much faster, absolutely, and if I was already a person who did that a lot, I don't know that I'd switch to handsewing. But I've never enjoyed using a sewing machine - they make too much noise and I don't like being so stuck in one place. Using one makes the actual process of sewing unpleasant for me, whereas I enjoy the process of handsewing.

Add to that the fact that I've always been a very slow crafter - most of my knitting or spinning projects are on a scale of months to years - and the pace of sewing by hand feels less like patience and more like an extension of my status quo. Handsewing a garment in a couple weeks actually feels extremely fast considering that knitting even a pair of socks usually takes me about three months.