Well, I thought that I wouldn’t bother with Black Friday ever again, but 70% off of fleece for a newly addicted sewing junky is just too hard to resist. First, I traveled back to Somerville and filled my arms with fabric from Sewfisticated. Then I immediately drove to Joann’s and picked up some of the ‘door buster-riffic’ fleece. I also picked up Simplicity pattern 1520.
My poor husband had a nasty cold and so I had to keep my distance from him. He had the couch to himself.. and I had, you know, .. a mountain of new fabric to wash, iron, and sew. I took a quick peek at Simplicity 1520 and it seemed ridiculously easy. I mean.. laughably easy compared to the other patterns I’d been experimenting with. 4 pieces? Really? REALLY?
You know what, for the most part, the pj pants were that easy. However, the instructions were difficult to follow and, as with the patterns I’ve made before, I found myself wasting a lot of time trying to decipher a handful of the steps. I can’t help but notice that I continue to run into poorly written instructions in these patterns. It always catches me off guard and I’m forced to take to the internet and search for a YouTube savior to rescue me from wasted hours of trial and error. It’s like when someone with a thick accent is really drunk at a night club… and they keep trying to tell you something or ask you something and you don’t understand so you try saying ‘excuse me?’ asking them to repeat themselves, but then they just say the same thing, in the same way, only louder. It starts to get awkward because they’re not making any sense and they’re getting closer and louder to you. You’re starting to think maybe you should just pretend to wave over their shoulder at an imaginary friend, and then you can excuse yourself because you’re needed elsewhere for something. Just as your about to falsifying an attempt to disengage from them someone next to you chimes in, ‘she wants to know if you’re waiting to use the bathroom’. ‘OOOHH!!! No, go right ahead.’ (gestures with arms to the bathroom door). Then you realize you’re embarrassed by how difficult that situation was when it didn’t need to be. Plus, you STILL don’t know exactly what words she was using.
I’m becoming more and more interested in how these sewing patterns are created and produced. What is the process? Who is involved? As a designer who has designed consumer directions for everything from shampoo to step-by-step assembly directions to giant, industrial tubs; I’ve often has to work with copywriters on communicating instructions. (Actually my husband freelances as a copywriter during the summer.) I’m baffled by how difficult the written instructions in these sewing patterns make the project appear and then I’m continuously surprised with how simple and obvious the solution really is. I’m so eager to learn and I’m hoping, someday, I can know how to create the project just from the instructions and not having to try, fail, try, fail, go to youtube, succeed.
My husband wore his new PJ pants to bed that night. Despite the set back from trying to follow the overcomplicated directions, they only took a couple hours to make. Thank you Youtube.
Sew & Pattern 