The results of temptation in the face of pretty fabric

I should know better than to buy fabric just because I think it's pretty. It's just that when I see a piece of fabric that's interesting to me, I have this idea in my mind that I need to buy it to tell the designer and producer that I appreciated their efforts. I suspect I also feel that way about books - consequently, I end up with too many (not always read) books and too much (stored away) fabric.

I'm on a program to tame my need to acquire (just to show some misplaced honor or something), and in the meantime, I have some lovely pieces of fabric that I am determined to do something with.

A spinoff goal from my program is to waste as little as possible. Thus, at least in the matter of the fabric, that may mean sewing and ripping, adjusting, re-sewing, and maybe even re-ripping and re-sewing again. It's kind of an incentive for me to be a more prudent shopper (or steward).

Take this lovely piece of fabric, for example. I love the ribbon of embroideried flowers woven right into the fabric, and the color is so bright. With the perma-crinkle effect, the fabric is soft and interesting. So (some time ago) I grabbed what was on the bolt - a little short of three yards - because it was on sale. That should be sufficient for a sun dress, I thought.

But I should have known better. With the perma-crinkle, the fabric isn't a standard 42" to 44" wide. It's more like 32" to 36" wide. One wouldn't want to iron this flat (even if it were possible) because the delicious crinkle would be gone.

The first problem I ran into was when I tried to lay out the front and the back of a sundress and realized that I would have to lay them end to end because the width wasn't sufficient for side-by-side pattern pieces. But, golly gee, the length wasn't sufficient for a sun dress. Oh well, Plan B is always part of my thinking, so I quickly converted my sundress idea to a blouse. There was certainly sufficient length for the front and back of a blouse.

While I was cutting the blouse, a little gnawing was going on in my mind - what to do about those crinkles with the arm and neck facing - particularly the neck. They would stretch all over the place if I wasn't careful. So I decided I would fully line the blouse with some beautiful matching poly silkessence - a very light-weight lining fabric. Then I would top stitch the neck carefully and that would take care of that problem.

So far, so good, and I proceeded to cut and carefully sew, with 1-3/4 mm length stitches (shorter than normal) and a size 70 needle so that the needle would sew and not cut the threads of the fabric.

I knew when I tried the blouse on, as I was making it, that the neck was a little large, but I figured I could live with it. I generally like loose clothes. Besides that, the neck opening needed to be sufficiently large to get my head through it since the blouse doesn't have a zipper or placket opening anywhere. So I quickly and carefully finished the blouse and wore it to the movie yesterday afternoon.

I liked the feel of the double layers. Together, they are light weight, and you can't see through the fabric. That's a good feeling - nice and modest. But the neck. Oh, that drat neck. Why didn't I spend more time thinking through my reaction to that. Much, much too big. It almost slid off my shoulders.

So today, my task is to take out those tiny little stitches around shoulder seams (both at the neck and the armholes) and take up about an inch of slack on either side. At the same time, I have to be sure the neck opening is large enough for my head. But the blouse is worth saving, and the act of having to carefully undo these spots and then redo them might be a good reminder to me to take a little more care on my next projects.

Here's the blouse in its current condition. The picture on the left shows the undoing at one shoulder seam. I think it's going to work. It would be nice if this were to become one of my favorites. And it will be even nicer if I learn to be a little more careful before I do all those little stitches!