The coolest mistakes I've made last decade

"You have your first set of build plans, and then you have the plans from after you've built (it) "
You make a thing, and then you make it right.

December 2019 Popular Mechanics, page 8

I cut the sleeve too short because I used the lining pattern piece rather than the fabric pattern piece.

I have made this V1664 Miyake as a shirt to great happiness, using a totally traced off pattern (so no original landmarks). As a completely finished moleskin jacket, it really would like full length sleeves. To resolve this expensive and time-intensive jacket, I inserted extra purchased moleskin fabric.

Is it a bug or a feature?

 Inserted upside down. Very subtle error here, which I cannot stop myself from pointing out. Must stop doing that. Is here the place to start? No. You aren't strangers in a crowded elevator (or maybe that's what this blog really is).

I cut one piece cross grain, for visual interest. Yes, I preshrank. It still has a lot of shrink left in it. Shrinks and  fights with itself.  The point where the hem is slanting up is the seam where the fight is happening the most.

Now, these pants look really cool. They feel great, but you can see where this is going. Keeping them out of the dryer does not prevent them from shrinking. 

I cut the pants out of  overly lycra'd stretch woven fabric that won't stop shrinking.

Found this photo, aren't they great? SO GAUDY.

I got this fabric from Fabric Mart, there were no fiber contents listed on the website besides cotton. Came in with 8% lycra, and DAMN. I no longer have these pants, as they moved from "too short with too much elastic in the fabric" to "every time I wear these, I don't need to shave my legs and OW that hurts". Which is a shame because that print was WILD.

It was made of silver grey cotton with a silvery leaf pattern woven in. Yes, I dream about this fabric.

(sorry, no photo)

I cut a Burda without adding seam allowances.

This one stings. 1980. One of the first things I ever made of a Burda magazine traced pattern, with some super spendy Italian shirt cotton I purchased at  The Stitch, a lovely fabric store on University Way. I had made this shirt once -  perfectly - out of a bedsheet. And the next time, I forgot to add the seam allowance. Now, I hung onto this, and yes, I did fit into it some years later. I had been ill and lost a bucket of weight. But I did wear it. Once. Just once. In 1995. And I did let it go, so it would stop laughing at me, my mistakes, my chubb arms....

Stay safe, kids