Wadder report

The last ten days or so have been a very busy time for me. Lots of time in the air and on the road, then recovering from jetlag, and visiting with a friend… Fun times. But let me bring you up to speed on my sewing ventures.

The weekend before I left, I was sewing up a storm. Well, so I thought anyway. I made the red tank top and red dress but they ended up in the trash can instead of in my closet. I had a funny feeling when I prewashed the red ponte and its hand changed significantly. It seemed very liquid-y, if that makes sense, and not anything like the stable fabrics I like to sew. But I pressed on anyway, figuring that it was better to sew it up and find out it’s wrong now than to postpone sewing it until the end of SWAP when there would be no time to find a replacement.

Well, next time a fabric changes like that, it will be going to a new home. The dress was a good three inches longer when I put it on and looked like it would only continue to grow. Even in the short distance between the shoulder seam and bottom of the armhole, on the relatively lighter weight top, the stretching was obvious – turning in the edge of the armhole to hem it would have exposed my bra band. It was a rather expensive lesson (the ponte was from Marcy Tilton so the quality was lovely, just not well suited to my purpose) and I’m glad I figured it out early on in the SWAP. Today I ordered some red Sophia double knit so I can remake those two pieces.

In the meantime, I started sewing the black pants. They are almost finished. They just need the waistband and the hems.

I must say there is something very comforting in following the plan. I can keep moving forward, learning from setbacks like the growing red ponte, but not letting them stop my momentum.