A few thoughts on….UFOs

No, not the alien kind. The whole X Files thing passed me by. I’m talking UnFinished Objects or, as I prefer to call them, Works In Progress. The latter gives me some hope that they might be Finished Objects…..one day. This is the latest of my sewing WIPs. The Date Night Dress by April Rhodes. Before I tell you about that, perhaps I should go back to the beginning.

It all started when I bought the Washi Dress pattern, last February. When I read through the pattern directions and saw the need for several rows of shirring on the bodice, I got cold feet. I also thought it might be a bit shapeless on me. I decided to look for a different style and remembered a cute dress I’d pinned a while ago. Quite by chance I got given a very similar pattern, while I was out shopping with some friends in Salisbury. You might remember me blogging about it. But then again, maybe not, it was just over a year ago now. Surely not? I bought some red polka dot cotton and cut out the pattern pieces. Then I got worried that I wasn’t up to the task of a fitted dress and decided to try something simpler first.

Inspired by the first series of The Great British Sewing Bee, I picked this A line skirt pattern, that they used on the show. I bought the foxy fabric to make it with. But….it is so lovely and at £12 a metre I really didn’t want to mess it up. It was back to the drawing board yet again. GCSE season was almost upon us and my card making classes finally picked up momentum so sewing plans went out of the window for a while. Fast forward to January this year and I was ready to have another go, using some cheap printed cotton from Fabricland. I had issues with darts and needing a lining and suddenly it wasn’t quite as “Quick & Easy” as the pattern envelope promised! What next?

In February I began to make a Lonsdale dress. I’d found a series of online Sew-A-Long posts which were just what I needed. I was going to use the red polka dot cotton, but I only had three metres and this needed four, to accommodate the long ties, which form the halter neck at the front and fasten in a bow at the back, as well as that lovely swishy skirt. I actually got on with it quite quickly, until we hit the holidays and that pesky exam season again. I need some bias binding to finish off the centre back seam. I can’t make a French seam here, because of the zip and I don’t want to zig zag it, when the rest of the inside is so neat.

Which brings us back to the Date Night Dress. The best thing about it? It has no zip. In fact there are no fastenings of any kind. Yay! I foolishly thought that would mean I could get straight on with it. I had the pattern, some lovely fabric and a reel of matching thread. But no, it seems there is always something I haven’t thought of! The fabric is a knit and, although not hugely stretchy, it meant I needed something to stabilise the shoulder seams. I ordered some clear elastic, which came yesterday. Great, I thought, and then realised I needed a stretch needle for my machine. Arrgghh!!!

I am determined, once we get through the next week of exams, that I will have everything I need to finish all of these projects. Now I’ve made myself accountable to all of you, as well as the members of Jo’s Facebook group for hopeless cases like me. Do you have a pile of UFOs or are you the kind of person who likes to finish one thing before beginning another? Please tell me I’m not alone in suffering a sort of paralysis, thinking that I’m just not up to the task ahead, or having too many things I want to make and consequently not getting on with any of them.

Have a lovely weekend. It’s glorious here at the moment, with more of the same promised over the next few days. Hoping it is with you too.