I’m taking another crack at this ‘learning to sew’ thing.
I tried to be a good knitter about it. I looked at the pattern, bought enough fabric, looked into the notions, saw things like ‘piping’ and ‘zipper’ and bought those too.
Buying a sewing pattern is like opening an envelope written in a foreign language, by someone who was a bit nutty, and who didn’t like you. At least… this is how I felt.
And it’s like pandora’s box. You pull out all these mysterious symbols, on crepe paper, and you can’t get them back in!
Armed with tenacity and Tito (who can actually sew, and that means it’s extra frightening when even he doesn’t get the pattern..) I took a crack at it.
And step after step, like your first raglan sweater, the thing started to take shape and resemble a skirt. I was so excited, but then -
Then the pattern went and called for ‘interfacing’ whatever the heck that is. I know what it isn’t though… and it ISN’T in the ‘notions’ list.
The skirt is shelved until I can find interfacing and time to finish it.
In the meantime I took lots of photos… because there’s no better way to take the sting off something you suck at than by documenting it with something you’re good at ;)
Your patience and persistence is commendable. As you described, remember your early days of learning to knit and you’ll soon be finishing that lovely skirt.
I feel the exact same way about patterns! I tried learning to sew a few weeks ago, I even went to a couple of classes, and I still have no idea…
“Buying a sewing pattern is like opening an envelope written in a foreign language, by someone who was a bit nutty, and who didn’t like you.”
I actually laughed out loud at reading that. Since I don’t sew, but have seen patterns before, I know exactly what you mean. But for the record, I am betting most non-knitters think that about knitting patterns ;-)