Plan ahead! It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark!

[XCashier]

What is it about fabric stores that make people lose whatever sense they had?! Not all of my customers are like this, thankfully, but the ones that are make me want to on the cutting counter.

ME:
CC: clueless customer

ME: Hi, how may I help you?
CC: I need to cover a table with this.
ME: How big is the table?
CC: Um, I don't know. I think it's about this big. (holds hands an indeterminate width apart)

You didn't think to measure the table to figure out how much cloth you needed?! It's not like a measuring tape, or even a ruler, is that difficult to come by! Hell, take a piece of string, pull it across the table and put a knot in it to show how long it is, and bring that in if you have to! It's better than a vague "about this big".

Then there's the "sewing expert":

ME: Hi, how may I help you?
CC: Um, I need to make a dress. How much fabric would I need for a dress?
ME: Do you have a pattern?
CC: Oh no, I'm just going to whip it together, how hard can it be?

Heh. Heh, heh. AHAHAHAHAH!!! Seriously, these clueless newbies make me want to duck into the break room and laugh like the Joker. "How hard can it be?" I'm no expert, but I have done enough sewing to know that you can't just "whip it together" and have it look good, or at least presentable. And what kind of dress are you making? Mini, midi, maxi, medieval, wedding gown, shift, A-line? Different dresses call for different amounts of fabric. Are you cutting on the bias, do you need to match stripes? Hell, do you even know how to use a sewing machine?!?!

I'm no sewing expert, and I sure don't pretend to be. I follow directions thoroughly, always use a pattern, and never expect to have it done in an hour. Most importantly, I plan ahead. That's why the clothes I sew look decent, and yours look like a bolt of fabric went through a woodchipper. Try it sometime, you'd be astonished at how good the results are.

[South Texan]

CC: Oh no, I'm just going to whip it together, how hard can it be?

But all those designers on Project Runway just run into a store with no idea of what they are going to make, grab some fabric, then run around the sewing room a few times, pin a bunch of swatches on a mannequin, gossip about each other, sew for a little bit while complaining that the machine isn't working, and put out a dress. And they don't buy a pattern either, so making a dress HAS to be easy, doesn't it?

[Kristev]

Yeah, if you've been doing it for a decade or two.

Most people haven't done that.

[Teskeria]

Lol, My mom sure made it look easy. Buy a pattern and the material. The weekend before Easter, cut out the boy's suit, , pin it together, set aside, cut out the girls in the largest size, pin together, repeat for each size for the other 4 girls (yeah, same pattern cut down for all 5 of us), pin each set together.

Night before Easter, run all of the clothes up on the sewing machine. She never basted and those suits lasted us a year, she left a little growing room to let down as needed.

Me? I almost failed sewing in high school. Teacher only passed me cause she didn't want to have me again next semester. Shorts are hard to sew IMO

[XCashier]

It's true that some people can sew without a pattern. Like Kristev said, they've been doing it for ages, they usually have a very good idea of how much fabric they need (and tend to overestimate, as it's better to have too much than too little). And they never, ever say, "I'll just whip it together, how hard can it be?" They know how hard it can be! They know what can happen if the fabric snags, runs or shrinks in the wash, if the machine jams up, any of several scenarios.

That's how you can tell a true expert from a poser: they don't make assumptions.

(Oh yeah, and they also don't have editors who edit out the long hours of measuring, cutting, sewing, fitting it to the mannequin, taking it down and resewing, etc. Isn't Television Land wonderful?)

[Amina516]

If someone walks in asking you how much fabric they need for a dress....then they definately arent going to be able to "whip it together"...

That being said....I once made a pillow out of old shorts....Thats the extent of my sewing experience.

[RayvenQ]

But all those designers on Project Runway just run into a store with no idea of what they are going to make, grab some fabric, then run around the sewing room a few times, pin a bunch of swatches on a mannequin, gossip about each other, sew for a little bit while complaining that the machine isn't working, and put out a dress. And they don't buy a pattern either, so making a dress HAS to be easy, doesn't it?

Making one sure, making a good one? Not so much so. and given what I've seen "fashion" designers spew out, I don't think I'd want to do anything even remotely related to what they do.

[LadyAndreca]

I made a dress ONCE, for a Halloween costume. It didn't fit quite right, one of the sleeves wasn't on straight, the other was too tight to bend my arm all the way, the hem was uneven, I was dumb enough to work with a slippery cloth on my first project, and it wasn't very durable. I KNEW it was going to be hard. Oh, and I worked from a pattern AND had someone who knew how to make clothes on hand giving me pointers, and it STILL took me a couple days to do. I'm sure we drove the people at JoAnn's nuts trying to decide whether to get extra cloth or not (we decided on not, with a 'we can come back for more if we need to').

Still, it turned out 'not too bad' for a first try (the cape turned out SO much better):

[XCashier]

I made a dress ONCE, for a Halloween costume....it turned out 'not too bad' for a first try (the cape turned out SO much better):

It did turn out very nice. Undoubtedly you read the pattern instructions and knew how much fabric to get. (That's more than the customer I spoke of in the OP did!)

Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't experiment. That's how you learn. All the sewing classes in the world don't teach you as much as experimenting on your own does.

What I am saying is figure out how much fabric you need before you get in line at the cut counter. Do your measurements and figure out the sizes before you get to the store (bring along a notepad, it's very helpful). If you have a pattern, read it; the back usually tells you how much fabric and which notions you'll need. You may want to bring in the empty envelope and refer to it in the store. Read the labels on the bolts of fabric; they'll have fabric width, fabric content and washing instructions written there. Select what you need before you get in line; please don't dump off your bolts, say, "I'll be right back" and hunt down more fabric, as you'll be holding up the line and it's rude to the employees and your fellow customers (even if there was nobody in line behind you, there most likely will be within a few minutes). We have plenty of shopping carts; please use them, don't try to carry twelve heavy bolts of fabric in your arms. And for the love of all things that don't suck, if you have coupons, bring them! There's no guarantee that we'll have any, and we can't just give you x% off "just because".

In other words, plan ahead!!!

[Andara Bledin]

I got an F on the one sewing project I ever did at school. It's the teacher's fault, too.

It was some elective and part of the class was to make an item of clothing. I chose a very nice dress pattern and some attractive (and cheap) fabric and had all the notions. The teacher would never answer questions and was completely unavailable the entire time.

I ended up not being able to finish the dress because I cut the second sleeve the same as the first, as I didn't know to reverse the sleeve pattern for the other side. A silly mistake, but I was 12 and had never used a pattern before.

But then, sewing is really not one of my talents. I can put on a patch or patch up a seam just fine, but I'm lousy with a machine. Although, thinking about it, I'd probably do really well with a foot-powered treadle machine.

This, however, was a perfect example of why you buy extra cloth; you never know why you might need more, and the store won't always have the same cloth available. Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

^-.-^

[wolfie]

On occasion, I've sewn something of my own design, but even though it was a technically simple item (a backpack - all right angles) I made a pattern first.

[XCashier]

The teacher would never answer questions and was completely unavailable the entire time.

That is a shame. A good sewing teacher can teach a skill that can turn into a lifetime hobby. A bad one can turn a student off more thoroughly than anything else.

[CiggyStoreClerk]

I actually had a fairly good experience with my first major sewing project. I made the pattern for my Halloween costume myself and sewed it all using a sewing machine that can literally fit in a square foot. Not the most flattering picture of myself, but it's the only one I have that shows off the costume.



(I'm the Silk Spectre btw, not Leatherface )

Aaaand one that's a much better angle to make myself feel better

[Food Lady]

Ciggy, you're so cute! I love the 40s hair in that pic. Great that you made that costune yourself.

[CiggyStoreClerk]

Would you believe that that's actually a wig?! Amazingly enough, it's actually the same color and approximate length of my real hair, without all the hassle of fixing it myself