First Sewing Project

What do the cool kids do on a Saturday night? I wouldn't know. What do Jason and I do? He plays with a toy helicopter that arrived in the mail today and I finish the hem on my first sewing project. Yep, you can be jealous. ;-)

I started the skirt back in February in my sewing class (read HERE) and have just now finished the hem. I already started on my second project, but kept procrastinating that darn hem... well, I finally decided to bite the bullet this weekend and finish it. I started it Friday night while Jason was at our church's Men's Retreat (again, really cool thing to do on a Friday night...). And then I ran out of thread.

So today I stopped at the store and purchased additional thread and have now completed my first project!! :-)

Here is the skirt in progress -

You have to carefully cut your pattern and then iron it. I hardly ever iron. When my mother-in-law was visiting for Christmas and needed to iron, I found mine...still in the box. I'm pretty sure Jason has used it more than me the past 3+ years...Alas, I am becoming a pro at it now in sewing class.

After you've washed and also ironed your fabric, then you have to carefully pin around the entire edge of your pattern making sure to line up the pattern evenly and smoothing it as you pin.

Action shot of me pinning. Let's just say this is the worst part of sewing. It takes a lot of prep work before you actually get to the machines. In fact, it wasn't until the end of February that we actually started sewing. My friend Brittney blogged about our first night actually sewing HERE.

Again with the iron! Every time I sewed two panels together I had to iron the join and then zig-zag each side to prevent fraying. Did I mention that my skirt has like 10 panels? And that I hate ironing? At least my many-paneled dress hides all most of my mistakes.

Bada-bing! It's a skirt! I tried it on before sewing the final panels together. Good thing I did - the skirt was way too big!! And while that made me feel better in terms of sizing it also stunk in terms of modifying. Technically I should have removed every panel, taken 1/2 in off each one, and sewn them back together. Um, second option? Take out 4 in on each of two remaining side panels have and two really skinny panels that I hope aren't too obvious. Which do you think I chose? (Please do not comment on my uneven panels when you see me wearing the skirt...)