JEEPERS CREEPERS

Have you ever been working on a project and thought you had made a mistake and then went about redoing or fixing what it was only to find out you had done it the correct way in the first place?  That's what I call a JEEPERS CREEPERS moment.  I had drafted the stand collar for the top and thought I had taken the measurements from the cutting edge of the pattern instead of the seam line.  So went and remeasured from the seam line and then drafted a second set of patterns.  After doing so I compared the new with the old patterns and saw they were the same, ACK!  So apparently I had measured correctly in the first place.  So then I decided to pin the collar into the neck opening and check things out.  I'm happy with the results although I should have stay stitched the collar opening at the get-go.  I only decided to stay stitch the collar opening after I had tried on the top a BA-GILLION times.  So I'm sure there is some stretching that has happened and plus the top is pinned and not sewn on the accurate seam line.  Here's a pic of the collar test fitting.

This is the collar with the top collar and facing all in one.  Still at the front there is a gap of 3/8 ".  Which may be due to the collar partly stretching a bit before stay stitching as well as improper seam allowance pinned at the sholders . Once I actually decide on how I'm going to treat the neck opening Then I can decided on the final collar.

Here is a pair of pants that I've been hemming for quite some time now.  For what ever reason I had no problem volunteering at the opera and hemming loads of pants, hems and petticoats but when it comes to hemming my own jeans I'm a slacker, Ha.  These are being hemmed by hand with an orange thread.  I think its cool to use a contrasting thread on the hem of some pants.  I'm not sure what it is but when volunteering at the opera I really enjoyed being given a set of tasks to do (such as hemming several pants etc) and then taking the challenge to get it all done by the end of the day.  I think what I enjoyed the most was the social aspect of it as well as the having to meet a deadline.  For what ever reason I'm a slacker when it comes to my own sewing.  There are several times when I've worn things I've made that were either just basted, pinned or glued just because I couldn't wait to wear it.   Nobody knew the difference at least I hope they didn't.  A friend once commented that it was charming at how i'd leave the tails hanging from the crochet projects I had sitting around.  Funny I could see that I had left the tails hanging off these things but for some reason I didn't sew them in and it wasn't until he had said something that I thought maybe i should get around to that.  I guess i'm a bit of a sampler sorta guy trying this and that here and there.  Curiosity gets the best of me then I throw myself into something and then I sometimes find myself loosing steam.  I think what it is for me I've found community in the things I've learned and have been curious about and that for me its the high point of it all.  Wether I always come away with something that has been completed isn't always the case.  Now that I think of it, the first time I ever felt like someone really payed attention to me or encouraged me to be myself and try things out was in art class.  I remember when very young in art class we had all this big fluffy yarn and were supposed to pick a picture out of the colouring book and then glue on the yarn to make a yarn picture.  I chose an elephant with spots and then the yarn I wanted to use was this soft pink yarn and fushia coloured for the spots and blue for his eyes.  I heard several comments about me wanting to use pink.  Boys don't use pink, is what another student said.  Probably because someone told him that.  I still liked it and my teacher was the one who came over and encouraged me to do what I was doing and that there was nothing wrong with it.  I loved her for that.  Then there was the time we were in music class and our teacher had asked us to ask our moms for a scarf to bring.  My mom kept asking me what do you need a scarf for.  I wasn't sure but I said the teacher wanted us to bring one so she gave me one to bring.  One of those sheer scarfs with some sort of floral print on it was what she gave me to take.  So the day arrived and there we were in music class with our scarfs.  The teacher put on some music and we were supposed to all go around in a circle holding onto two ends of the scarf and let it float in the air behind us as we all danced around in a circle.  We were supposed to be butterflies.  All the girls didn't hesitate.  They all fell into formation and started fluttering around to the music.  I started to fall into formation but hesitated because I noticed none of the other boys were going along with it.  I stopped and looked back at my teacher.  She said go on be the butterfly.  So there I went into the circle with all the other butterflies. It was fun!  Just for that moment I wasn't being told that I'm not being who I should be or I don't fit what other people think I should be.  I felt so free :  ).  I haven't thought of that in years.  Perhaps its because all the things I've been learning and working on are all just part of a process.  A process of becoming who we are an evolution of the self.  I never thought that art/crafts could teach me something like that.  Every time I work on something or learn some new project I learn something about myself and the people I'm with.  That's what I like about blogs you can see the story behind the picture.  Every project, finished or not has a story behind it  :  )