Has this ever happened to you? You get a pattern and fabric to make a handmade purse. You look over the directions, cut out all the pieces and once you’ve begun sewing you find the directions are not clear at all. Now what do you do? I usually wonder if I’ve just wasted my fabric and if I’ll ever be able to complete the purse without pulling my hair out. Lets face it we have all run into patterns that just are not written in a way that we totally understand them.
Here are five tips that you can use to help when you get stuck with bad directions.
- Read the directions before beginning a new project. If you’re still stuck, re-read the directions, read them out loud or to someone else. Sometimes just saying things out loud helps me understand it better.
- Use the pattern pieces and pin them together along the seam lines so you can see how it is supposed to go together.
- Make a mock up of the purse out of any cheap fabric you have to make sure it is going to go together like I want it to. Sometimes, pinning the pattern pieces doesn’t quite do the trick but I must admit I only do this if the handmade purse I am trying to make is for a special occasion or I really want to learn how it is done. (In dressmaking, this is called making a muslin and is often done when you have expensive fabric or you want to make sure the pattern fits properly.)
- Find directions for a similar pattern either online, from a pattern you already have or from a book of patterns and use those directions instead.
- Get creative and alter the construction of the pattern to get the look you want or sometimes you might surprise yourself and turn a potential disaster into a masterpiece or at least a cute handbag.
Leave me a comment and tell me what direction problems have you run into when making a handmade purse from a pattern and how did you over come them? I would love to hear from you.
