Or I just forgot how to sew. Or suffered brain damage somehow.
My co-worker’s daughter had a 4-year birthday party this Saturday. Along with a gift for Riley (the birthday girl), maybe I should have taken along those infant bibs I made when her baby brother Christian was born and I never gave to him? (He’s almost 2 now). The bib tutorial I used can be found here.
a day late and a dollar short
Because Riley’s poor father has to work with me at least 2 days a week…which involves incessant listening to me talk at him, hearing unsolicited advice, and relentless harassing, I decided to take a stab at making it up to him by sewing his precious firstborn a Disney princess dress.
Take it again. I think the thermometer needs more time to warm up.
Riley loves Rapunzel, so I decided to make another version of Simplicity 2065 with sleeves from Simplicity 2817. But, somehow along the way I lost the ability to sew properly. In my defense, I may have had a fever at the time. On the third consecutive trial of taking my temperature (after 2 readings of 98.7), the digital thermometer registered at 99.5. See? Super hot.
this is how I didn't look
So you can all feel better about yourselves by hearing about how much I suck, here is a list of the mistakes I made along the way:
- sewed lining of the over-skirt in the completely wrong position
- sewed on the sleeve lining backwards
- joined the shoulder lining backwards
- sewed the tulle to the wrong side of the ruffle
- eyelets kept falling off
- Cut a chunk out of the bodice lining when trimming the waist seam
- Incorrect bodice construction
But let’s try that again…. Time to have a glass of wine (maybe that’s why I kept messing up?!?), channel my inner cheese, and here goes:
Oh dear little Riley…
It’s not that I made a desperate attempt to patch up the lining I hacked……
It’s that, like a classic Raggedy Ann doll, I added a heart on the chest to serve as a constant reminder that those around you cherish you always.
I meant to do that
It’s not that I banged eyelets into the dress like a crazed woman with a hammer until I ran out of eyelets hoping the ones I put on would at least hold until the end of the party…
It’s that the eyelets on the dress, like your baby teeth, will slowly fall out marking time as you grow
It’s not that I somehow sewed the bodice incorrectly, un-stitched it, tried to fix it and was unable to, purposely redid it the wrong way, and 1hour later desperately tried to make it look like the original mess I had…
It’s that the bodice serves as a reminder that when you embrace imperfections, they themselves can be beautiful
"Beauty always promises, but never gives anything". Simone Weil
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye." Miss Piggy
All in all, it’s a dress… it’s a metaphor… it’s me praying that Penny does not want to be Rapunzel for Halloween because I’d rather sew a hole through my left pointer finger (again) than make another princess dress.
Happy Birthday to Riley!!! (as modeled by Penny) Hopefully you like your Rapunzel dress a bit more than Pascal here did.
"Mommy says if I ask to be Rapunzel for Halloween, I'll never get dinner again"
I love this post. You inspire me. I keep dancing around the idea of sewing something, and if I do pull out the Singer, it will be because of you.
Ha! This made me laugh, I like your sewing style. It’s similar to my own! x