Saturday, July 10, 2010

WWTD - Originally posted 10 May 2007

So, you may have heard of the books, What Would Jesus Do or What Would Buddha Do? Well, hubby was channeling that vein of thinking and pulled the What Would Tempest Do? on me this morning... ;op

I have been struggling with my stupid orange chiffon fabric. I'm really starting to hate that fabric. Well, no, not really.

Anyway, I had started hemming it and doing a regular hem (double folding the fabric) but then I thought, "If only I knew how to make a rolled hem." And then I remembered that this squirrel of information had bought recently a book about couture techniques so I thought that, surely, the technique is described in it. Sure enough, it is. I read it and thought that I knew how to do it.

So I did a full side and it looks okay… It’s just not really that rolled but more like a tiny double fold. So, when I got to the other side, the side that decided to go all chaotic on me, it decided not to fold as its counterpart did earlier. Grrr! So I ended up doing a real roll, rolling the fabric between my fingers. So I realized, Hey, this is how it’s done. Cool! Maybe I’ll redo the other side.

Well, my fabric was not cut straight enough for the roll to go smoothly. So, last night, after being fed up with the thing, I cut it and made it straighter. I started rolling again and it was working okay. I was pretty much done for the night and started folding the fabric to put it away when I noticed that, damn, I started the hem on the wrong side (well, actually on the right side… ah, you get my drift). So I had to undo the little bit that I had done.

I was soooooo frustrated and sooooooo disappointed. I complained to my hubby that I am not good enough for my own good. I would need to be better at sewing to do what I want to do. Actually, one of the issues is that I am good enough to know what I’m supposed to be doing but just good enough to actually create more trouble than solving the problem… Like brilliant enough to light a fire but not brilliant enough to extinguish it.

My hubby was so sweet. He told me that not everyone does their own costume. (I know that he was getting at the fact that it’s cool that I can make my own.) And then, this morning, when I was still sulking, he gently told me, “Well, honey, maybe you should consider not doing something else while sewing.” (I love watching TV while hand-sewing.) He continued, “Can you really focus well enough if you are half-watching a TV show? Do you think that Tempest watches TV while doing her gorgeous costumes?” That brought a smile to my lips. He loves Tempest’s costumes pretty much as much as I do.

Anyway, when I got to my desk at work, I realized a promise (or somewhat of a promise) that I had made myself last September when I was doing my ghawazee coat and that, thankfully to some extent, our TV bulb had burnt and it took forever for Toshiba to finally send the replacement: because there was no TV, I had to sew without TV but I had put on some music from my iPod and I realized how much more focused I was on my sewing so I had somewhat promised myself that, in order to have better results, I should sew with music instead of the TV. Doh!

Actually, here is a quote from the blog that I wrote about sewing said ghawazee coat: “Goth music is awesome for my sewing skills.” Hello, Celeste! Anybody home?

Well, I had remembered that music was fun… and I kind of felt guilty watching TV instead of listening to music… but I didn’t think that it mattered. Obviously, it does.

Comments I had received

From Elisabeth:
For hand sewing, I like to put in a movie that I've seen a tin of times. Something that I could quote and visualize without actually watching the screen. For sewing on my machine, I like music playing. good luck with the orange fabric!

From Akilah:
If you'd ever like me to serge a rolled hem, just let me know!

From Tempest:
ROFLMAO!! My first response was: "ball it up and set it on fire while having a glass of sangria!" But yes, actually, that's exactly what I do--I set up Musicmatch on my computer, usually with Collide, Jill Tracy, and random favorite assorted songs, while I sew...even though I can't even hear my phone ringing directly behind me if I'm using the serger ;) Or I put a Neon DVD on...her voice is very soothing...I need some sort of noise when I'm working.

From me:
Stacy, I may take you up on that offer. I need to give it at least one more try... I'm just silly that way... I gotta conquer it. :s Tempest, It is so tempting to ball it, set it on fire, and drink sangria while watching the flames... I will "splurge" and purchase a little wire to connect my iPod to the stereo receiver. I will have uber cool sound.

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