May 1, 2011

Seam ripper induced anger...

I have to say that generally I can pick up a pattern or look a tutorial online and create a nice finished product. There may at times be a few small user errors or minor adjustments needed to the pattern which the creator overlooked, but all in all my experience has been good.

Well, that certainly changed today!  (**Editing this to keep my ranting and raving to a minimum.**)
Suffice it to say the pattern testers missed A LOT before this book went to publication, the diagrams were awful and insufficient, and my finished product turned out so bad I attacked it before even taking a picture!

After some major seam ripper induced rage....


... I was able to turn it into a useable and cute-enough finished product.



The top is a little floppy because after my seam-ripper rage on the side triangles, I just attacked the top ties with scissors. Those things made me so annoyed while creating them, it was almost gratifying to attack them with the scissors after they proved unnecessary for this re-design.


I KNOW not every project will turn out perfect the first time but this was a really uncomplicated project made complicated by poor instructions and the entire process just annoyed the junk out of me. I think its time for me to leave my sewing machine alone for a while today and go iron that ginormous pile of coin-pairs waiting for me from my "top secret project."


7 comments:

The Sunflower Patch said...

Know all about seam ripper rage myself! But I just love how your basket turned out in the end :)
My DD recently asked for a basket like this, hopefully I wont end up with seam ripper rage before the project is finished! Found you through Sew Many Ways, Sew Darn Crafty party!

Impera Magna said...

Writing pattern directions takes time and I've been subjected to baffling instructions too many times... *grrr*

Love your fabrics and I'm sure the basket will be useful.

I did a little tutorial on fabric bins/baskets... perhaps you could adapt those and have an easier time of it.

http://imperamagna.blogspot.com/2011/01/fabric-storage-bin-for-baby-gift.html


Visiting from Sew Darn Crafty!

Millie Motts said...

Put the seam ripper down and step away from the fabric. ;)

Millie Motts said...

p.s. my word verification was "becidful" - which is CLOSE TO beautiful - just like this project. ;)

Gwen @ Gwenny Penny said...

I hate it when this happens. I keep my seam ripper in a little drawer by my sewing machine. I judge the success of a project by whether or not I have to open the drawer. The drawer ended up staying open on my latest project. It was a rough one.

Danielle Renee said...

Did you get this pattern from a independent pattern seller or a magazine? I'm wondering if the pattern was even tested at all. Pattern writing can be time consuming, and I tend to lean on a moderate amount of pictures to help me learn visually. You did a great job despite the challenges.

Tiffany said...

The pattern does not look anything like this bag. It was supposed to be one of those cute boxes that are flat and have the ties at the top when you make it into a box... if that makes any sense. Mine just would not stay up properly and was a saggy pile of fabric, instead of a squarish fabric box. I took out the side triangles, cut off the top ties, and just sewed the sides together quickly to salvage something out of the wreck.

It was actually a pattern in a book, which surprised me very much because I really like the author's work. However, I did notice on another pattern of theirs on their blog that some things were wrong... so maybe they just need to get new pattern testers! Just seems strange to me that no one would notice that the pictures say one thing, and the text another, or sometimes the text mentions a picture that does not seem to exist. O well... it happens... maybe I'll try it again some day... or maybe not haha.