So here I am last night, prepping the top edge of the skirt for cartridge-pleating. I’m using a strip of gingham because (a) I have a boat-load leftover from a previous cartridge-pleated skirt, (b) it makes for super-fast and easy marking, that is, no marking needed, just count off the squares, which is simpler when one plans to sew in a car, and (c) it means I can reduce the bulk of folding over the velvet three times so I just fold once and enclose the raveling velvet edge in the gingham strip, and a little bit of raw cotton edge is waaaay less messy than velvet fuzz (I double-checked the last skirt I did the gingham trick with and yes, I left the gingham strip totally raw and no, it wasn’t a problem at all).
I pinned it all down, measuring the fold carefully. Get it all ready, then I realize, oh fuck, I AM OUT OF BUTTONHOLE TWIST. Y’know, the thread required to cartridge-pleat with. GRRRRRRRRRRR……. I have plenty of brown, I have tons of black, but there is only a tiny scrap of burgundy left on the spool. WTF?!? The skirt is burgundy. I’ve known this for, oh, ever. How did manage to not check for more buttonhole thread? I bought extra regular thread, even though burgundy is one of my “you always have several spools on hand” colors. I always knew cartridge-pleating was in my future, yet I didn’t buy an extra spool of buttonhole twist. I am an eeedeeeot <—Ren from Ren and Stimpy voice.
When Mom came over last night to get the sleeve she’s going to bead (THANK YOU, MOM!!! I LOVE MY MOMMY!!!), I pulled a similarly stupid stunt. The previous night, when I was separating out the materials, I panicked, thinking I didn’t have enough of the big burgundy beads. The extras I found were a slightly different color and size. So I showed them to her and said to start with the same ones I did and hope that she didn’t have to use the extras. Then, while she was there, I was poking thru the bin o’ junk for this costume, and *ta da* there were two more tubes of the original matching beads. Which hadn’t been there before. Crazy. So now we had plenty of beads for both sleeves and probably for the forepart too.
But I’m still back at no cartridge-pleating in the car this weekend. I can’t bead the sleeves because that’s just too complicated to do in my lap. Maybe, just maybe I could pearl the trim in the car. That’s a bit simpler because it’s a straightforward pattern and only one kind of bead, a larger bead at that. Also a less delicate fabric. But I’d have to cut all the trim pieces out tonight.
And tonight, we have to go buy chains for the Prius, plus I have to find and try on my ski clothes, then pack for the weekend. So I’m not thinking that I’ll get my act together for sewing something in the car. Especially something that isn’t crucial. Unlike the cartridge-pleating, which IS crucial. Doh.
Well, as soon as we return on Sunday afternoon, I’ll jump on a bus down to Jo-Ann and buy the thread. I *will* get this thing done in time, I will. I just feel like I’ve mismanaged the damn thing so much, like I’m one of those slacker loser costumers who puts shit off till the last minute. But I have been working on it, just my stupid life and circumstances keep getting in the way, dammit.
Note: After much wise council from the Pin Posse, I ended up using the brown buttonhole twist for the top row of cartridge-pleating — it didn’t show at all — and regular burgundy thread for the bottom row of pleating — it was perfectly strong enough. My gals know their shit! I sewed it all in the car with no problems.
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