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Friday,
April 11, 2008
Sewing sewing...
I would love to post some sort of fascinating report about the day's doings, or perhaps a pithy rant on the state of the world, or hell, just something funny. As it is, all I did today was work on my friend's dress jacket -- when last I looked up, it was 2:00 AM. Oh, dear.
However, I have learned the following things about brocade and the art of sewing:
- What you pin out and cut is not what you will wind up with after
you remove the pattern. Despite what it may look like, brocade is apparently
made out of the same material as Constable Odo, and is just as difficult
to handle.
- When fusing brocade to fusible interlining, it is entirely likely
that the outline of the brocade will not perfectly match the outline
of the interlining. Don't worry about it -- as long as the brocade
ends within the seam allowance, go with the interlining as your sewing
pattern.
- Be careful when fusing brocade to interlining, because the brocade
does NOT like a certain amount of heat and will shrink like a set of
testicles faced with a poolful of cold water. Put the iron on
a lower heat setting and just let it sit on the interlining for 20
seconds or so -- it will eventually fuse, trust me.
- When modifying a pattern that doesn't actually include lining instructions,
remember to sew the lining inside out; otherwise you may wind up
having to snip out the sleeve lining because it's effectively backwards.
- There is nothing wrong with the occasional bout of cursing while
sewing. This is a natural and wholly expected activity. However, make
sure that the window directly in front of your sewing machine is closed
before you let fly with a couple of F-bombs. Shocking
the neighbors isn't really nice at all.
- You will never have enough pins.
- Listening to humorous podcasts can help your mood immensely, particularly
when the black and white cat jumps up to see what you're doing, as
always, and knocks your glass of water into the pin container, under
the machine, and into your lap.
- Take the occasional break -- your back will thank you for it.
The jackets, however, are things of beauty, and their new mistress has promised pictures when she wears the blue brocade as a presenter at the Nebula Awards this month. She has also stated that she will inform everyone they are custom creations of Belaurient Designs (royal clothiers, by special appointment to Her Majesty, the Queen of the SFWA Musketeers). So that's all good.
Better yet, I now have a very nice jacket pattern for myself. After all, I need something swish to wear to the Hugos, right?