I love sewing. But I can’t pretend I enjoy every single minute of it. There are a handful of tasks that I put off…dodge or duck. I’m curious to find out who else has the same nemeses as me and if there’s anyone out that there actually enjoys these things.
‘1. Putting a zip into the back of a lined dress.
My sewing brain can’t seem to work out how to get an unwrinkled, unpuckered seam when sewing two different fabrics. And somehow I always feel as though I’m fudging that bit at the bottom of the zip.
‘2. Curtains
I don’t have any new makes to show you at the moment, because I’ve spent the last three weeks making lined curtains. Grappling with 30m of fabric in huge pieces and stitching mile-long seams has not been fun in any shape or form.
‘3. Finishing off anything with corners
Mitred corners, corners where linings meet jackets, sharp corners that need turning out. I sneakily dread all of these because this seems to be the spot where all your tiny inaccuracies are compounded into one giant squelchy mish-mash that will haunt your garment forever. Pattern instructions never cover off what to do when this happens, do they?
‘4. Folding knits for cutting
Until I get my dream cutting table (for which I definitely need a larger house…) I won’t be cutting anything except childrenswear in just one layer. Wovens usually fold along the grainline fairly easily, but I can spend hours wrestling with a slinky jersey trying to fold it neatly and evenly along the grain.
What are your least favourite sewing tasks, and do you tackle them head on, or try to find a way around them?
