I was raised Catholic in the sixties. For me, this meant a lot of standing, kneeling and genuflecting - something my sister and I came to later refer to as Holy Aerobics.* For some reason I am reminded of this every time I cut sewing patterns. HUH?
I am fortunate enough to have a small sewing room. Somehow, even though I have a room of my own, there's just no room in there to cut. So, I have two options. The first is to spread my fabric and pattern out on the dining room table, and use it as a cutting table. This works ok quite a bit of the time, but it does mean removing the table cloth (so as not to cut through) and shoo-ing cats from the work surface about every thirty seconds. My second choice is to lay out the fabric on my bedroom floor. This option requires crawling around the floor and assuming positions a nice lady of my age has no business getting into (and has a really hard time getting out of). Today, I used option two. Ow. I'm really coveting a cutting table at this moment. Like this one:
I set out to cut three patterns. Generally, if I'm going to cut, I try to cut two or three patterns, because of the effort involved. The first, the commissioned clergy robe I mentioned; the second, a Colette Meringue; and the third, the Armistice blouse from folkwear patterns (as you'll recall I wanted to do some Edwardian sewing). One and two went fine, though I worked up quite a sweat. It is very unseasonably warm here on the edge of the Adirondacks right now, but I am NOT complaining about an early spring! When I got to the third pattern, I had an unfortunate discovery. The pretty calico print was now sun damaged! I'm not sure how that happened because it was folded in a box until I pre-washed it yesterday. So, now I have to consider how to save the project. Have any of you ever tried overdying? I was thinking I could still use the fabric if I tried it. Any suggestions?
* No disrespect intended to my Catholic readers.
