Impatient Lazy and Happy
When it comes to sewing, I am decidedly impatient, lazy and also happy. Much different than I am with knitting.
Earning The Right To Be Impatient, Lazy and, Yes…Happy
Partly, I blame YouTube for these characteristics as well. These quick and clever sewing techniques they demonstrate set unrealistic expectations. Especially for an inexperienced sewer. Errors are almost always edited out, so you never see how fiddly something can be. Speeding up the video sets a very unrealistic timeframe for how long something should take. And shortcuts that only experienced crafters should really be doing are shown in a way that makes it look easy. When it’s not.
I decided to use a method I saw in a Facebook video. It was to show how to do a sleeve placket. But I thought it would work well for reinforcing a cut slit in my pajamas.
Suffice it to say, I made quite a few mistakes. Some I fixed and some I was just too lazy to undo and redo.
What I Did Right
- Decided I didn’t have enough recovered fabric from shortening the legs to make even one decent sized pocket lining
- Opted to use the recovered fabric for the placket or reinforced edge at the top of the pocket.
- Found some left-over flannel to use as a pocket lining.
- Looked out the typical shape of a pajama pocket lining and basic instructions on sewing one in.
- Started with the left side first. I didn’t care much if the left pocket sucked. So I made the left one first.
What I Did Wrong
- I always underestimate the amount of fabric needed for anything. My first pocket lining was smaller than I preferred.
- Forgetting to take into account that I had to have the pocket opening wide enough to go around the base of my sewing machine. The first pocket was JUST big enough.
- The first two mistakes made for the left pocket being smaller than I like. I fixed that on the right-side pocket.
- Sewed the placket/edging on the first pocket first and then sewed in the pocket lining. Doing them together on the second pocket was much faster and easier.
- Impatiently, I cut, sewed, finger-pressed and short-cutted my way through the first pocket. I’m not talented enough to do any of those things. Turns out the second pocket was much faster by not taking short-cuts.
- The final pockets have pleats and folds sewn into the edging that are uneven and not very well done. Suffice it to say, I wouldn’t have passed Mrs. Flaherty’s sewing class in Home Ec with this job. But it was good enough for me.
Suffice it to say, if I really wanted to be a sewer, I’d work much harder on fixing mistakes. Or trying to avoid making them in the first place. But for now, I’ll stick to knitting.
Current Knitting
A while ago I ordered some Patons bulky Shetland yarn to try it out on my Knitted Cross-Body Bag pattern. Turns out I’m lazy and impatient when it comes to sourcing yarn for my projects too.
The original Knitted Cross-Body Bag design was made with 100% Shetland in bulky weight. It made a very sturdy fabric. When I started knitting the same bag design in this yarn, it was “squishier”…softer, more plastic feeling. When I looked more closely, I realized it’s 72% acrylic. No wonder.
I will finish this bag and see how I like it. But as of right now, I’m thinking this yarn will be better off made into hats or something other than tightly-knit bags.
Yikes. That is exactly the yarn I bought to knit my bag, however in a green colour. I didn’t look at the label either but am sure it used to be wool. I will follow your progress before I start mine. I do have some access to local wool from Patzcuaro that I can use.
“Speeding up the video sets a very unrealistic timeframe for how long something should take.” –>> ROFL That is something I would totally do: speed up the video, then be annoyed it took me 3x as long to do the project! (There are great reasons why I mostly do not even sew. Having just turned 50, I am still likely to take pants home to Mom to be shortened!)