Sometimes when i’m sewing everything goes perfectly, it’s like magic, and everything falls into place and i wonder how anything could ever be hard. Sometimes, its a fight. For reasons i can’t explain i will have the opposite of the Midas touch. Have you been there?
The first time i made these culottes it was a fight. Like this dress, i used fabric i had been “saving” for many years – and it was just a disaster. Like a bone head i didn’t bother pattern matching the pleat seams. I’m not nutty about pattern matching or anything, sometimes i think it’s really worth it (like here and here) and sometimes i just really couldn’t care less (like here or here). This time, it just ended up looking like a hot mess. Those perfect little rows of flowers looked ridiculous when they were off kilter. Then hemming became this big thing, and no matter what i did the fabric just kept slipping, and as soon as i’d think i had it straight i’d leave it another day, and bam! wonky again. I cut off so much it ended up knee length. And as the final straw, i hadn’t secured the zipper enough and it started coming loose at the end.
So. Deep breath. I decided to call it quits. I started again.
This isn’t something i will do very often, but this time, it was really worth it. I carefully and painstakingly matched those silly little flowers on that silly slippery fabric. When it came time to hem, i left it for weeks on my dress form before evening it out.
And here is the final centre front pleat. (Here’s a close up). As much as it was frustrating to completely throw away a garment and start all over, i’m really happy that i did. These have quickly become my favourite pair of culottes. I think the lesson here is that it pays to be careful from the very beginning of a project. Taking the time to lay out and cut your pattern pieces properly sets you up to win for the rest of the project. Now here is hoping i have that much wisdom next time Birdie goes down for a nap and i think OOOOOH time to make some culottes! hehee
[photography by Sabatomic]
[Make this look]
Culottes: Megan Nielsen Tania // get the pattern
Blouse: Banana Republic // similar pattern + similar fabric
Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens // T strap sky high in natural
Sunnies: Rayban // RB3025 in red
