Sewing!

One of the older women I met a steampunk meet and greey last weekend, at the new fancy-ass Baltimore House, offered me sewing lessons, for absolutely free. And apparently I'm the first person in a long time who's taken her up on it.

I already had a pattern for this split skirt, and some basic idea of how my new sewing machine works. The problem is that even with tutorials, I don't necessarily understand or know terms like the grain of fabric or the different kind of seams, so I haven't started at all.

So she came over this morning and spent some four hours teaching me about basic fabric stuff, like grain and weft, how to cut out patterns, what patterns mean, and stuff. She had some 6 yards of fabric which she picked up at Value Village for $4 (gah, so cheap) which, as it turns out, is perfect for a bicycle-length version of this skirt. It's also a dark brown so it's perfectly steampunk :P So we've cut out the main big pieces.

We went out for lunch, worked a bit more, then headed out to a sewing machine shop, the one I bought my machine yet, which is a lot less troublesome to get to, so she could get tracing paper, but apparently tracing paper doesn't work the same way anymore, so we got pencils instead. And she and the shopowner spent some time talking about how sewing guides assume some knowledge of terms and whatnot, stuff which USED to be taught in schools, but aren't offered everywhere anymore.

Anyway, I have homework tonight XD I'm to mark the pleats and there's still some stuff to cut up (just waistband and placket stuff), and I can start pinning. Tomorrow she'll come over again, and we'll probably start sewing it up! :D And if it's not done by tomorrow, she's coming into town for a sewing course on Saturday and Sunday so she can pop in and check on me then.

So! If all goes well, I shall have a new self-sewn skirt by next week! And free knowledge, to boot. Yay!