Thursday, February 9, 2012

Beware the Hubris

Because it really hurts when it bites you in the ass.  Ask me how I know.

In my month-end review, I mentioned a dress that was almost done.  The key word there, if you were listening, was almost.  I had hems to do, and I needed to finish off the neckline. 

Alice - not totally gratuitous photo
- her 8th anniversary is this weekend.
The neckline is asymmetric, and my favorite part of the dress.  When I turned the dress from a woven to a knit, I ran into the evil facing issue.  I didn't want to do a binding, because I didn't think I could get the square corners clean enough.  I ironed a strip of interfacing around the neck edge to keep it from stretching, and I used the right interfacing there and on the facings.  I sewed them on, clipped my corners, trimmed my seam allowances, everything. 

It looked okay, but of course knit facings are going to flip up at every opportunity, so it couldn't end there.  And instead of putting it aside until my head was clearer, I kept going.  I knew I could make it work

Hubris told me it was okay to topstitch the neck with a stretch stitch which is impossible to pick out, and to continue stitching around the entire neckline even when my instincts were telling me something horribly wrong, and then to look at the lumpy, misshapen result and throw it on the floor until I recovered sufficiently to pick up the seam ripper.

It took three nights of ripping, but the lumpy stretch stitches are gone.  Of course now there are picks in the knit and a few small holes (thankfully on the underside), and the pristine newness of my fabric is shot to shit.

What's a recovering know-it-all to do?  I pressed my facing down again, used a little Steam-a-Seam this time to keep it from flipping (which I didn't need to do the first time because - repeat after me - I knew what I was doing.  I ran a line of non-stretch basting stitches around the neck, because I really don't need it to stretch anyway.  Then I decided the best thing to do to cover the wear and tear I inflicted on the area was to add some trim.

I'd considered trim when I first started the dress but vetoed it because the fabric was busy enough.  But now it's necessary and I'm glad I was for it before I was against it.  I'll think about it tomorrow.  Right now I'm just happy that I've worked myself back out of the mess I made, and I know that some answer will present itself as regards to the trim.  Enough.

Beware.  When you're absolutely certain you know what you're doing, think again.  Hubris might be lurking behind you, waiting for its chance to bite.

6 comments:

renee said...

So sorry you ran into problems. I'm looking forward to the final result, though.

annie said...

Your observations remind me of another trap-directions. My husband is ocd - obsessive compulsive directions reader. Moi, not so much. It does get me in trouble. Experience tells me you will sort out this problem and produce a lovely finished dress!

Kitty Couture said...

Argh - unpicking stretch stitches is the worst! Glad you could work out a solution.

Kitty Couture said...

Oh - and happy birthday, Alice! P'tite Mignonne celebrated her 9th a couple of weeks ago :)

Clio said...

Oh, we've all been there! THank goodness for trim. It can hide a multitude of sins!

Marjie said...

You'd make a great politician, knowing everything and being for trim before you were against it. Too bad this dress tried to get the better of you, but I'm sure Alice was great company to you, maybe even resisting the urge to meow "I told you so"? Can't wait to see the final project. Happy Birthday, sweet Alice.