When it comes to learning from your mistakes in sewing there is one golden rule. It’s just fabric and nobody dies. No one likes to make mistakes, but it’s all in how you solve the problem that makes the difference. It also comes in knowing some basic sewing rules that you need to follow. One of which I broke that resulted in a huge mistake with my second Pinterest remake project.

Rule #1: You always need to start with a mock up first. This way you can get all of the fitting kinks out before cutting your real fabric. I broke this rule making the assumption that the size pattern I cut was going to fit.  I did cut a muslin mock up of the bodice but never put it together to see if it actually fit. It did not.

Rule #2: You must understand the medium you are working with. Not all fabric is the same. I decided to use upholstery swatches to recreate the dress below that was made from story book cover fabric. Upholstery swatches come with paper descriptions glued to the back which has to be pealed off and run through the washer to remove the glue residue.

Notice all of the neat rows of books on the dress. My first thoughts were to sew the swatches together in a random pattern. So not only did I waist a good portion of my swatches on a garment that didn’t fit but it came out looking like a bad craft project.

 

Due to these simple mistakes I had to go back to the person I had purchased the swatch books from to buy more. Then go through the process a second time.  My mistakes were simple and fortunately I was able to fix them. In some strange way I am thankful for those mistakes. They just confirmed to me that I am still learning when it comes to sewing. I do love the final result in the way my dress turned out. If you would like to see my process then click the video below to follow along on my learning journey of this very inspiring dress I made.