10,000 hours of dreaming

So they say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. If that's true, I have to be an expert dressmaking dreamer. I've always loved looking at patterns, fingering fabrics and picking up sale bargains because I can see the potential for an elaborate refashion. Trouble is I'm terrible at making these dreams a reality. I tend to find that a few confusing hours into any project, I'm frustrated and disheartened.

I completed a project like this recently. A few years ago I brought a 70s kimono back from Japan, to wear as a summer dressing gown. But since it's meant to be wrapped and obi belted by practiced hands it was too long and too large to simply throw on in the morning. 

Then my mother in law gave me a 1950s dressing gown pattern and an idea started to form. Put the 2 together and I'd have a beautiful, bespoke and, crucially, wearable item. Simple, right?

Wrong! First I made a couple of choices which made it harder. Instead of just unpicking the kimono to flat fabric, I wanted to preserve the collar and the sleeves. Then it turned out the straight cut kimono didn't have enough width for my full skirted 50s pattern (who could've guessed, right?). It took hours of placing and replacing pattern pieces, head-scratching, pinning and repinning sleeves, more head scratching, cursing and making such a mess of 'neatening' the seams I resorted to covering them with bias binding. All of which made it really clear to me that I don't really understand patterns or fabric at all. The pattern is so beautifully drafted it's obvious the front and back bodice darts are meant to run seamlessly into the pleat below them, but I just couldn't make them line up perfectly. The fraction they're out makes me sad every time I look at them. 

The end result is actually pretty wearable, bearing in mind all the issues. The sleeves don't hang perfectly, but it's comfortable enough and will do the job for hanging round the house. But it's not the thing of beauty I had in mind. 

Which led to another idea and this blog. Why not try to clock up 10,000 hours of sewing practice? And document it all? And start at the beginning, with basic patterns? So eventually I'll be able to realise my dreams perfectly...