Thought I’d go with a bit of a fun post today, and share my top ten sewing disasters with you. I’d love to hear the mistakes that you’ve made along the way, so feel free to comment below and tell me all about them.
My top ten sewing disasters
One: Sewed the right and the wrong side together; I’ve done this a few times, usually when I’m tired or not thinking straight, I’m supposed to be sewing the right sides together, but instead I’ve sewn the right side to the wrong side, or both wrong sides together.
Two: Forgot about seam allowance. The first pair of PJ’s I made for my boys looked great, until they put them on. They were about two sizes too small because I completely forgot the seam allowance. We did get them on once though, and they looked pretty cute.
Three: Used a different colour bobbin thread, because I couldn’t be bothered winding more on. Black threads showing through on a pale fabric? Didn’t help that the tension wasn’t great either. Not a good look.
Four: Not learnt how to sew elastic properly, the first nappy I made I tried to sew the elastic on with a running stitch and didn’t pre-stretch it. It ended up with no stretch at all.
Five: Cut out a pattern with the place against fold bit against the edge of the fabric. I ended up with two smaller pieces instead of one big one…. (As sewing disasters go, this is worse if you have no more of the fabric in question.)
Six: Not fastened off properly. Check out these lovely Christmas stockings, they lasted about five minutes before the blanket stitch at the edge came undone.
Seven: Not exactly a sewing disaster as such, but put the snaps in the wrong place on a nappy; won’t work where they are, big holes if I move them…..
Eight: Not checked my edges are straight, simple net curtain was wonky, tried to alter it, ended up too small.
Nine: Sewed the wrong bits together; I didn’t check that I’d moved the main bit away from what I was sewing, ended up sewing the edge into the centre of what I was making.
Ten: Didn’t measure properly; this doesn’t look like one of my sewing disasters from the picture, but I made the crotch of this fabric high-chair far too long, I had to fold it out of the way to make it work.
Learning from my mistakes
The great thing about making mistakes and having sewing disasters, is that hopefully you learn from them. We all do them, from time to time, and they can be really frustrating when they happen. The only way to become really good at something though is to keep practising, making mistakes and errors and then learning from them and moving on. We should all embrace our sewing disasters.
What has gone wrong with your creations? Are you brave enough to confess to your worst sewing disasters?
When I teach crafting I always let my students know that the reason I’m giving them a tip is because I’ve learnt from experience. It always relaxes them to know I’ve made mistakes too.
Too many to mention… that’s why I leave it up to the pros now:-)
Great post and cheered me up. I’ve made many a mistake and have had to throw some nice fabrics away. Still trying to make minky work grrrr
Glad you enjoyed it. Is there anything specific you’re struggling with, with the minky? We might be able to help.
Actually, I’m fairly new to sewing so maybe this is why. The problem is with stretching. I’m pinning every 1/2″ but still have excess when cut to the correct size. How do you deal with the extra after sewing?
It might be that to begin with you have to pin even more, just to make sure that it really doesn’t move. You could also try a walking foot which should help with the stretch and movement. Don’t go too fast as you sew, and just practice, practice, practice. Some minky stretches more than others too. Other than that, just trim excess after sewing.