Worth the struggle

    To be honest, I'm not one of those girls who enjoy shopping but as everyone else I need some new clothes from time to time. The problem with shopping is that I usually can't find what I like or want and thus spend hours in the mall and end up with empty hands anyway. Even my parents agree that I'm extremely picky. Funny to say, but that's exactly how the idea of creating something myself popped into my head. Luckily, long time ago my mom used to sew curtains, bed sheets and clothes, so we still had a sewing machine at home. I decided since it's winter and jeans almost became my second skin I should make a dress suitable for this cold season to include some variety into my closet. My old, if you can call it, dream was to own a pinafore dress and I figured why not to actually sew it myself, the way I want it to be.  Easier to say than to implement. 

Here's the material I planned to use initially

   So, I set a plan and the first step was to find a pattern that could serve me as a starting point of the whole project. After a solid hour of searching I was lucky to stumble across this pattern. It was closest to my wishes, however, still far from perfect. 

   The second step was to cut out the template on a tick cardboard. It wasn't that easy as it might sound. First of all, measurements needed to be taken, then all the dress pieces were drawn on a large garbage bag to see if any changes need to be done. I had to make some major improvements on the length and wideness. I wasn't even sure what will look good on me so intuition was my best adviser at that point. I moved on transferring the final lines on the cardboard and cutting out the real pattern. It took me at least half an hour because it required extreme accuracy. Unfortunately, after that I came to the realization that it might be too narrow and too short for my liking. So I had to change the whole measurements and recut it from the new piece of cardboard. Finally, I was able to use it as a template for cropping the dress from the actual material. And that's where I stumbled across the fact, that there's not enough material I was planning to use. I was really frustrated but the next day came and I quickly headed off to the shop to pick new material. Surprisingly, I found just what I wanted, even better one than the initial. Back to the cutting, I was extremely nervous about it but took the risk anyway. Funny enough, but after lots of tacking and numerous try-ons I had to narrow it even more that it already was before the previous widening. So, as you can see it was a long journey toward the satisfactory result.

   The third step, using the sewing machine, had to be the most entertaining one. That's what I initially thought  and was absolutely wrong about. I planned to easily sew everything into a beautiful pinafore dress but my plans got ruined as after sewing the sides it didn't fit me as well as I wanted to. So I was forced to change the direction of seems (you can see it one of the pictures). After this I was extremely exhausted physically and mentally so the remaining work was left for the next weekend. It was yet to come even more struggles I wasn't aware of...
    When I tried on the unfinished dress it appeared that I placed the fabric incorrectly and the cut outs on the sides didn't sit as they had to. For the millionth time I had to do everything again. It was a real struggle to dismantle the seams and, thank God, my mum helped me a little with the right placing of fabric to get the appropriate result. The sewing process went surprisingly smoothly until I faced the buttons. I am not a fan of sewing buttons. It's just not my thing. So of course, I failed at first and sew them on the wrong side of dress. Honestly, I was devastated but they needed to be redone. I accumulated the rest bits of my patience and did it all over. You won't believe it, but it wasn't right AGAIN. The middle button on both sides was a little lower than it initially had to be and as much as I tried to convince myself that it wasn't noticeable, even from the far unevenness was eye-catching. I was done with handling the needle so left the rest of crafting for future.
   Now, when the pinafore dress is finished I still feel that there were things I could have done better. Yet the result does not disappoint me at all. I had hundreds of obstacles, changed the dress at least ten times and faced several mental breakdowns, but it was worth it. I do quite like the result more and more each time I look at it. At least the material I do really love. 
   I'm proud of my efforts and patience and hope that I'll find enough courage to wear the dress in public one day.