On (not) sewing for Pennsic
Jul. 26th, 2010 10:31 amIf you read a lot of my friends' pages right now, you'll find people in a flurry of last-minute Pennsic sewing activity. I, too, sewed two new tunics for Pennsic (well, Viking apron dresses actually, but who's counting?) and really should have done a third one, but I got lazy.
My big annoyance with my wardrobe right now are the 8 chemises/t-tunics I use as a base layer. (At Pennsic, sometimes the only layer.) I got a great deal on linen just before my first Pennsic (2003) and sewed them all up. At the time, I wasn't a particularly good seamstress. (To be fair, I'm still not a particularly good seamstress.) When I did all my measurements and cutting, I decided to err on the side of too much seam allowance instead of too little, so all my chemises are quite baggy. The arm seams fall, not on the shoulder as I'd like them, but about four inches down my upper arm. The gussets are completely superfluous and look a bit silly. The chemises look *okay,* but they don't look great, and it's been bugging more year after year, especially now that I just sewed these two new apron-dresses.
That said, I really don't feel like sewing more. I suppose I *could* retrofit the tunics I have (undo the offending seams, cut fabric, and re-sew). I *could* just buy more fabric and make new ones. But I don't particularly like sewing. Machine sewing leaves me a bundle of rage and frustration; hand sewing is better for my sanity but worse for my spare time.
I *could* buy new clothes, but I always feel weird knowing that the quality is generally worse than something I would have made myself (or commissioned a friend to make). When I buy something, even at Pennsic, I'm generally getting cotton instead of linen, and generally getting something made for someone bigger than me anyway.
I'd far rather pay a friend who *does* like sewing to make me new tunics than make new ones myself. I think it would make everyone happier, quite frankly.
I don't know where I'm going with this post. I think I'm mostly just ranting. One of these days, though, I'll figure out a solution to this particular problem, and then I'll be happy.
My big annoyance with my wardrobe right now are the 8 chemises/t-tunics I use as a base layer. (At Pennsic, sometimes the only layer.) I got a great deal on linen just before my first Pennsic (2003) and sewed them all up. At the time, I wasn't a particularly good seamstress. (To be fair, I'm still not a particularly good seamstress.) When I did all my measurements and cutting, I decided to err on the side of too much seam allowance instead of too little, so all my chemises are quite baggy. The arm seams fall, not on the shoulder as I'd like them, but about four inches down my upper arm. The gussets are completely superfluous and look a bit silly. The chemises look *okay,* but they don't look great, and it's been bugging more year after year, especially now that I just sewed these two new apron-dresses.
That said, I really don't feel like sewing more. I suppose I *could* retrofit the tunics I have (undo the offending seams, cut fabric, and re-sew). I *could* just buy more fabric and make new ones. But I don't particularly like sewing. Machine sewing leaves me a bundle of rage and frustration; hand sewing is better for my sanity but worse for my spare time.
I *could* buy new clothes, but I always feel weird knowing that the quality is generally worse than something I would have made myself (or commissioned a friend to make). When I buy something, even at Pennsic, I'm generally getting cotton instead of linen, and generally getting something made for someone bigger than me anyway.
I'd far rather pay a friend who *does* like sewing to make me new tunics than make new ones myself. I think it would make everyone happier, quite frankly.
I don't know where I'm going with this post. I think I'm mostly just ranting. One of these days, though, I'll figure out a solution to this particular problem, and then I'll be happy.