A Pattern of Failure

Ever since Ingrid, my sewing machine, came into my life I have been diligently attempting to learn how to use her. I’m trying to learn to be self-sufficient when it comes to my sewing and create my own projects. How is it going, you want to know? Well, thank you so much for asking. I’ll let Mr. Rogers answer for me.

It really is the fun of doing it. And I’m having a lot of fun learning. However, practice stitching can only take you so far and I want to be able to make my own stuff. So I decided to see if I could follow a simple pattern to make a clutch bag. If there’s one thing I love, it’s a nice clutch bag. I don’t really go out enough to warrant how many I have but oh well. I like what I like and I’m too old to start apologizing for it. I found a free pattern from the amazing website See Kate Sew I figured that a bag would be a simple foray into working with a pattern...after all, it’s just two pieces of fabric and a button. Even I couldn’t screw that up too badly, right?

Are you laughing at me? You’re totally laughing, aren’t you? I’m not saying you’re right, but I am saying that you should keep reading to see just how right you are. Take a walk with me, won’t you, through the exciting world of patterns!

Normally this is the part where I’d list supplies and detail the step by step process of completing this project but, dear reader, I’m not sure you want to follow my example on this one. I’ve linked See Kate Sew above and their pattern and tutorial is the way to go if you want this done right. If you want it done funny...well, keep reading.

I started out well enough. I printed the pattern, laid out all of my supplies, poured myself a drink, and said a prayer.

Then I started to cut. First, I cut the pattern and then I cut the fabric. I was able to use fat quarters for fabric, so I only had to purchase some fusible interfacing. I was also able to use the rotary cutter that my husband gave me for my birthday and I’m pleased to announce that it is awesome. Maybe not so awesome? My cutting skills.

Consider this image to be a portent of what is to come

Now, I’m not sure how sharp your eyes are. Hopefully better than mine. Do you notice anything amiss with what’s been posted? Let me break it down for you. Here is the pattern that See Kate Sew used:

And here is what my pattern looked like:

For all of my meticulous tutorial reading, my careful planning, and my phone calls to my mom...I CUT THE PATTERN WRONG. I thought that the dotted line indicates where to cut and not the size of the finished product.

Of course, I didn’t figure this out until I moved on to the part in the tutorial where it instructed me to fold the fabric in a certain way to create the envelope shape. My fabric would not fold in that shape, Because I cut it wrong. Because I apparently cannot read a pattern.

Once I realised what I’d done, I sat, stunned, for a few minutes. How on earth was I going to fix this? I looked at my fabric, looked at the pattern I’d cut, and then I did the reasonable thing: I poured myself a drink and began to work out how I was going to salvage this project.

After studying my fabric, I decided to stick to the original plan of a button closure bag. Only mine would be less of a bag and more of a glasses case. And it wouldn’t be shaped like an envelope. Basically, I was chucking the pattern and tutorial out the window. I was on my own from here on out.

This will be...fine.

I decided to start by sewing the pieces of material together. I had already attached the fusible interfacing, so adding some seams wasn’t a huge deal.

After I sewed the seams, I folded the material up to create the pocket for my little bag/case. I began to feel more confident. I may have messed up the pattern, but I was still creating something. I was just using my imagination to produce something out of thin air (fabric?). I could totally do this!

I was a fool.

For, you see, dear reader, the next step involved something slightly more treacherous than a mere seam. Now I had to attack...a buttonhole.

In theory, this should not have been that difficult. Ingrid came to me with a buttonhole setting and a buttonhole foot. I should have been able to attach the foot, hit the setting and go on my merry way. Right? Right?

Well, sure. If only I had, you know, attached the presser foot the right way the first time. Yes, your plucky heroine managed to put the damn thing on backwards and then wonder why it wasn’t working. I consulted the manual, I consulted YouTube, I asked Reddit. I spent way too much time trying to find a solution to my problem. The problem that had been created by me attaching a piece of plastic incorrectly.

Sigh.

I know we’re supposed to learn from our mistakes, and all that, but it would be nice to attempt a project that didn’t require having so many learning experiences.

Once I figured out the whole pressure foot debacle, I decided that I needed to practice on some sample fabric because...well, there was no way I was going to get this right on the first try. It just wasn’t going to happen. And it didn’t. But somewhere around the fifth try I got this:

An actual buttonhole! I’m not embarrassed to admit that I was overjoyed. I ran into the living room, waving it at my husband’s face. He smiled and praised me before nudging me aside and going back to watching MSNBC.

Even though my practice buttonhole came out okay, I was still terrified to try it on my actual project. Then I realised that if I messed up I could just rip the thread out and start again. There’s something very freeing in that realisation. And, thus, I began to sew.

And I did it! I sewed a real buttonhole in the right spot and it fit the button that I had selected! Okay, Ingrid did most of the work, but I definitely helped.

Even though Ingrid technically has a setting that would allow her to sew buttons onto fabric, I decided not to risk it. Hand sewing a button would take me 1/100th of the amount of time that figuring out a new machine setting would.

Seriously. Way easier.

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with the final product. It’s not the envelope clutch that I set out to make, but it is something and I was able to take a problem and turn it into something useable.

My goal is still to learn to use a pattern (cut all the lines, not just the dotted ones!) but at least I figured out the buttonhole. I’ll take that small win. Lots of small victories will eventually add up to a big one.

Have you ever had a project go terribly awry? Did you try to salvage it? Let me know!