30 Oct 2012 7 Comments
The Over-sized Sweater Dress I Ruined
So, when I was buying this fabric and writing this post I thought making over-sized jumpers would be as easy as the 5 minutes pillowcase. Well, it wasn’t.
I mean, I made the freakin’ over-sized sweater all right but it fitted me in a very very wrong way. The sleeves looked weird and the ruffled collar I designed was making me look at least 5 sizes bigger. The “smart” curves I designed looked sloppy in this soft wool fabric that I bought and later discovered I was allergic to.
Moreover, I think the design doesn’t even fit this monk-grey fabric with fine white stripes. I should have designed something more textured, with cleaner lines and angles, not curves.
I wish I took a photo to show you what a mess I’ve made of this fabric, but the illustration above pretty much explains it.
How do I save this? Do I even want to?
Nothing ruins my day better than a ruined or ill-fitting garment.
I took it the sleeves, which gave the garment a more feminine look (noted for future reference!) and removed the collar, which left me with a boat neck cleavage. I don’t love it, but I can live with it.
For now, I just let it to “marinate” for a while in my unfinished projects box. This helps me get back to it at a moment in which I am patient and inspired enough to deal with it. I will update you on its status (and if I don’t bug me over twitter @skyturtle :)
How to you deal with ruined fabric or projects? Do you just get rid of it and start something new? Do you try to save it?
Oct 30, 2012 @ 19:07:20
this is how most of my sewing project end up: unfitted or unfinished or plain ugly :)) I usually pile them up in the hope of altering them, but the failure makes me so disappointed that I usually don’t :)
Oct 30, 2012 @ 19:09:31
Oh I’m so curious, wish you had saved a photo! Surely it’s not so bad as you’re telling.
I never keep fail projects, I’m actually rushing to dump them into the closest bin. The last one was a pyjama for Sean. It had one sleeve (much) tighter than the other :)) Was funny, though.
Big kiss and thanks for sharing.
Nov 01, 2012 @ 18:41:47
Maybe he was just growing – one arm at a time? :D
Kisses back :)
Nov 01, 2012 @ 16:18:39
I am curious about the result, aswell! I am currently thinking about doing some oversize top, too and it would have been a great help to see what exactly are possible problems. Let us know whether you will have the motivation to rescue it someday!!! By the way, I have a pile with ‘turned out different than my imagination’ projects, too. Hopefully, I will get in the mood to rescue all of them in the future!
Nov 01, 2012 @ 18:40:56
Ah, so I am not alone :)
I think the cut is very important. I thought I just needed to cut a basic garment a few sizes bigger, but guess what – that’s exactly what you get, and not in a pretty way :)
One of the things I learned is that having fitted sleeves helps make the overall oversizeness more wearable. And intentional as opposed to just wearing clothes that are not your size :)
Nov 01, 2012 @ 16:45:08
Ohh but your drawing is so cute! ;-) Hmm at least you managed to alter it for it to be wearable. I once made really ill-fitting shorts and gave up trying to save it after a few attempts, so I put it into my scrap bin rather than let it taunt me and demoralize me haha. I usually use the scraps for smaller craft projects, but lately I realized that my scrap bin is getting bigger and bigger, so I plan to use them as filling for an ottoman perhaps :P
Thursday, the First of November | Sky Turtle
Nov 01, 2012 @ 18:35:09
[...] darts. However, these garments seem to look nice only on tall, supper skinny, boyish frames. After ruining an oversized sweater I am asking myself if there’s any way to make oversized garments look good on shorter, more [...]