Monday, November 4, 2013

Fighting with Fabric

I'm sharing these from the Etsy shop because I know that sewists everywhere can feel my pain.

These 5 bears were a custom order.  The buyer said that her mother had recently passed away, after being housebound for over a year.

While housebound, she wore what the buyer called "polyester loungers."  I don't know if everyone thinks the same thing when they hear those words, but an elderly, housebound woman in my family would have been wearing pink or butter yellow spongy polyester with little flowers or bunnies on it.

When she said that, I quaked.  When a very small package arrived in the mail, I was puzzled.  Then I opened it.  Her mom was not that polyester lounger lady.  She wore polyester charmeuse caftans - the box contained one with a blocky, jewel-toned animal print, another in turquoise with red, gold and magenta peacocks, and a third in emerald green and bright blue with gold scrolls, cherubs and leaves.

Beautiful for scarves.  Pretty for blouses.  Pretty damned glamorous for a housebound woman.  But to sew with?  Slippery as hell, let me tell you.  And every seam that had to be stitched shut after stuffing had to be interfaced first so it wouldn't self-destruct.

But in the end, I'm really happy with them.  Not as happy as the buyer will be - I sent her a photo and she's literally jumping up and down to get her hands on them - but happy that I survived working with such a tricky fabric.

It really makes me appreciate wool.

6 comments:

Vicki said...

Very cute. Well done with the tricky fabric.

Virginia at A Sewing Life said...

Those are some mighty awesome little bears. What happiness you have brought to your customer! But I can only imagine what a trick it would be to sew that fabric into all those curving seams.

Janet said...

Brava!

The Slapdash Sewist said...

You are a saint to work with that fabric. I would have given up. The bears are adorable and will be a wonderful memory for the family.

meredithp said...

I know they were a real PITA to sew, but Wow, they really turned out beautifully. What a wonderful memento for the recipients!

Lorinda said...

You definately won this fight with the fabric, the little bears are adorable.