Today you bought some Liberty of London cotton voile. Congratulations! You had some sort of brain aneurysm in the fabric store which resulted in you thinking that $50 a meter was perfectly reasonable. Yes i’ll take two thank you.
You’re probably wondering how you should use your prized possession now that you’ve managed to get it safely home without anyone seeing the receipt. You may be wondering how you could ever cut into something so beautiful. Various scenarios flow through your mind in which you destroy said fabric with your poor cutting or terrible sewing pattern choice.
Never fear. We’re always here to help. Follow our steps and everything will be just fine.
Step 1// Leave the fabric to acclimatise to your home. This may take time. I’ve found that some Liberty prints need to settle into my home for many years before i feel they are ready to be cut. Also this will give you ample time to freak out about all the ways you may destroy the fabric when you finally decide to cut into it. It will also give you the opportunity to forget you bought it so it can be a delightful surprise in 5 years time. Score.
Step 2// Choose the right project. Something sensible. You better get yourself a Fashionary and sketch lots of ideas. Obviously you don’t want to waste your precious Liberty by using it in a garment that may get ruined easily – so making some culottes for your messy 7 year old who somehow always ends up in a muddy puddle is perfect.
Step 3// Clean up. I don’t mean prewash (though you really should do that too, unless you are insane). I mean wash your home, your dog your family. Basically anything that may come into contact with your fabric. Do it twice. Peanut butter is the enemy. Also the Nutella has to go.
Step 4// Now that you’re ready to cut, go make yourself a cup of tea. This sh*t is about to get real, tea will fortify you.
Step 5// I lied. You will also need chocolate.
Step 6// Before you do anything make sure that you instagram it. It’s a rule. If you don’t instagram it didn’t happen. It’s important that everyone knows that you value beauty and perfectly crafted fibres over your bank balance. Also you’ll need the support.
Step 7// Breath into a paper bag to prevent hyperventillation. Then cut.
Protip: You may need to repeat steps 4-7 multiple times.
Step 8// Make sure you keep the tea, chocolate and paper bag handy as you construct your garment. You will need them all again. About half way through you’ll have a panic attack and question your sanity and sewing pattern choice. You may even start questioning the Liberty, thinking, was this print a good idea?! Don’t be ridiculous. Keep going till you’ve made something that resembles something. Step away from the pile of half completed projects. Next step please.
Step 9// DO NOT LET ANYONE WEAR IT UNTIL YOU HAVE BLOGGED OR INSTAGRAMMED IT!!!!! This is very important. Garment sewing has nothing to do with creating a wardrobe you can actually wear, it’s all about blogging and social media YO. Bad photos? Do it again. Doesn’t matter how many people suffer, we’re talking handmade awesomeness here. If you don’t get a good photo of your finished project you might as well die.
Step 10// Make sure you carefully squirrel away all the fabric scraps. You just KNOW that all those postcard size pieces will be useful one day. You’re sure. You’ll make a quilt or something. You’re great at following through with half finished projects!
Step 11// Do not under any circumstances calculate how much the end garment cost. This bears repeating. Do not. 1m fabric @ $50 + elastic @ $2 + matching thread because duh @ $7 + ballpoint needles @ $4 + 5 hours of my time @ $…. = FRICK. I warned you.
Step 11// Instagram again. Just to be safe.
Note 1// The above steps also apply to silk, Nani Iro and anything remotely japanese.
Note 2 // any resemblance this story holds to any of my life experiences or anything i may or may not have recently instagrammed is purely coincidental.
