kcwc days 5-7, a shirr fire disaster.

i understand the premise of this challenge is simply to sew one hour PER DAY for your kids.  but that is not as fun as sewing in every possible spare moment at the expense of your parenting and housekeeping responsibilities to complete roughly 1.5 pieces of wearable clothing per day, now is it?  i have kept my projects simple enough that this is possible while still keeping my children fed and somewhat hygienic (david and the cat are 100% neglected as they can fend for themselves), and that should have been the case three days ago.  alas, a shirr disaster thwarted me from my pace and has me working overtime to compensate.  but i shan't be deterred.  shan't has an apostrophe?  

have you ever started a project, any sort, not just sewing, where all the signs are pointing you away from it?  as in, run far, far away and leave this behind?  but you stick with it, because you don't want to be a quitter, or you've already invested time, or you're hopeful or naive or just plain stubborn, or some horrible concoction of all three?  that is this project.  

a few nights into kcwc (which seems like it has gone on for one year at this point) i found myself childless close to a joann fabric.  what a luxury!  so, i dragged my husband functioning on 4 hours of sleep (see paragraph 1) back and forth through the aisles shopping all the discounts, and came across this cute flower patterned calico with a color pallet i'm really into these days.  i thought it would be a great tunic top for bean, and had an "easy" pattern in one of my books that requires minimal cutting and simple shirring around the collar to fit it.  an easy one nighter.  i'd never shirred before, but i'd never done much of anything before this week, and the idea is to challenge myself, right?  besides, it seems to be everyone's go-to easy technique.

perhaps the first red flag was taking this fabric out of the wash after responsibly preshrinking it to find it looking like somebody mopped the floor of a frat house with it.  what nuclear bomb exploded in our washing machine, and why was this the only item affected?!  maybe somebody who knows how to properly sort and launder textiles can explain this to me.  covered in grayish, brownish amoebas, i told myself children's clothing is always dirty anyway and it sort of blends in with the pattern.  press on!  so many other times i probably should have trusted my gut, that it just didn't look right, but i've had beginner's luck before in cooking and in knitting, so why not sewing?

and so i kept going.  i dutifully cut the size 1/2 pieces, pinned them, pressed them, hemmed them, seamed them together just so, and read and reread the explanation of shirring.  and had a whirl.  and failed.  and carefully picked out every last one of the thousand stitches to preserve the precious elastic thread.  and read and reread again.  and researched online.  and watched videos.  and shirred again.  and failed again.  and repeated the process until the shirt was so full of holes, snags, and millions of thread bits that i couldn't even see what i was doing.  it was around this time that my husband cautiously asked me if this is "still fun."

i followed with frantic artistic redirection...i have a huge, shapeless frock and really no skill to make it into something wearable for a 2 year old...i started crazily combining little techniques i have glossed over here and there in the craftblogosphere but really have no business executing.  um, huge sleeves need to be smaller....ruffles?  tons of extra fabric in the neckline...pleats?  and doesn't piping make everything look nice?  how the hell do you apply piping?  after ironing, pinning, marking, measuring, sewing, ripping, pulling, and a fair amount of hand sewing, i finally reshaped this wretched frock into something decent looking (that will probably unravel into a million pieces on first washing).  i didn't want to just use the fabric, i really wanted it to be something attractive and utile.  i can't say the integrity is excellent...steve jobs is posthumously frowning at me as the parts unseen are definitely not beautiful, but i did what i could.

so, it looks fine sitting on a table, but, what would it look like on the ever glamorous bean?  i thought we'd not manage a photo shoot until tomorrow, because i had to soothe my fragile, bruised sewing ego with a quick pair of pants to match this horrid shirt, which of course i had to embellish with matching pleated pockets.  i think it's subtle enough that she can still wear the pants with other tops.  anyhow, the whole ensemble wasn't done until dad left for work with the phone/camera. 

but, when bean woke up crabby from her nap, not improved by me picking her up and promptly ramming her into the door frame en route to reese's room, a bright smile curled her lips at the mention of a "surprise."  she knows what that means now, and immediately said, "should we put it on?!"  no sooner did i concede (in spite of her poopy diaper) than she demanded a photo shoot.  not the best quality photos since i don't know how to use our fancy camera, but you'll get the idea:

"mom, this is falling off!"

                                        

"MOM, MY SHIRT IS FALLING OFF!"

                       

"bean, can you please stop touching your shirt and put your hands at your sides?"

           

                                      

"at your sides bean, not picking your nose.  reese, can you sit over here?"

 "mom, where are my pockets?  i can't find my pockets!"

                                               

wearable shirt?  sort of.  it might actually fit her when she's 4, at which point i might know enough about sewing to fix it into something a little more sturdy.  i had a strange moment today when i finished the pants and had no next project in mind, and reese surprised me with a long nap (we have enlisted him in daily morning boot camp and make him walk a mile under the hot davis sun to try and exhaust him beyond napping protest).  i felt all this pressure, like i HAVE to be sewing if the kids are sleeping, because i can't when they're awake and that's all i've been doing!  instead i regrouped a bit about how to conclude this adventurous week.  i'm bringing it back to basics and including the boy, since he's both so very precious and far more interested in this whole process than his sister (very difficult to keep him out of the photo shoot).  i'll be back for a concluding post in the next few days, but for now, i've got more cutting, pinning, and pressing to do!