today is DOday!: DOday #7 - Sew Something that can be Worn

For Monday, August 16, 2010

Because a troll ate our modem yesterday, I’ll be posting 2 DOday Challenges today – in an internet cafe.

Yesterday, my challenge is to sew something that can be worn. I tried this challenge maybe two times in the past but both times I gave up halfway. It’s just too hard to make something fit you.

The first time I cut up an old skirt and I planned on turning it into an asymmetrical blouse. I cut the skirt in the wrong places and the blouse ended up too asymmetrical that I could no longer wear it. It was a waste of good cloth. The prints on the skirt would have been the perfect blouse.

The second time, I got an old tank top and the plan was to turn it into a shirt fully covered with leaves. The plan for the leaves is to get canvas cloth, cut it up into leaf shaped pieces and then paint it with fabric paint. The tank top will serve as the base for the leaf covered blouse.

Why did the second try fail?

Laziness.

I was and still am fat and there would just be too much leaves to cut, paint, and sew into the top.

So yesterday I wanted to finally finish an unfinished business.

I have a sewing machine that you can carry around since it is very compact and lightweight. Thanks to the Manila South Harbor “Shopping Center”, I am now a proud owner of a sewing machine for only PHP 1,500.

Then I scoured the house for scrap cloth from my previous projects and found that I did not have a lot. All I have are bits and pieces of various printed cloth. I thought that it was going to be a disaster since I am no Barbie doll in built and all I have are scrap cloth. But is was a good thing that when I patched them all together it did fit me.

I made a tube top! *smiles*

When I started sewing, the machine was still in chill mode and did not want to start working. So I gave her time to warm up and I sewed on paper, just to give her some time to get her groove.

Then she was finally up!

Sewing together the first part together really pumped my blood. I was going to make something I can use! Everything fell in place perfectly well. This is the first time I tried to sew on a zipper and it is surprisingly easy. Piece by piece, the tube top started to build up together. I was totally in the zone, I did not notice the time, the noise around me, the white noise called the TV, people talking around me. Nothing and no one else was there – just me, the cloth, the machine. I was totally absorbed!

Three hours later.

And more than 10 pin pricks.