Is there anything scarier than a really bad sewing mishap? Okay, there are a few things, but this episode is about the sewing moments that made our listeners’ hearts drop. We share their funny and harrowing stories, plus answer a listener question about getting a flat bias tape-finished neckline. Happy Spooky Season!
The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.
From the listener questions section:
- “Bias Binding Tips for Smooth Installation” at the Pattern Scout blog
Listener photos:
- The wedding gown Alicia (SewLish) made for her daughter!
- Anne’s chiffon wedding dress!
- Annabell’s lipstick-free wedding dress!
Other mentions:
Transcript:
Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.
Caroline: Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.
Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.
Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.
Helen: Join us for today’s topic: Sewing Horror Stories.
Caroline: Hi, Helen.
Helen: Hi, Caroline.
Caroline: I mean, hi, Helen.
Helen: Hello, Caroline.
Caroline: How are you on this spooky day?
Helen: I’m doing well, thanks. I love Spooktober. Big fan.
Caroline: Ooh. Me, too. Me, too. I like all the things that go along with it, like…
Helen: Mhm.
Caroline: Like, pumpkins.
Helen: Love a pumpkin.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: Love carving a pumpkin. Love eating a pumpkin.
Caroline: Love eating a pumpkin. Yeah. Yeah. Love pumpkin flavoured things.
Helen: Love a skeleton.
Caroline: Mhm. Mhm.
Helen: Not a huge horror movie fan, but I do like a cheesy horror movie, you know?
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: Something that’s not, not too intense. Yeah, that I can laugh at.
Caroline: I’m on the same page. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we have some horror stories today.
Helen: We do. We reached out to y’all for horror stories. You definitely delivered. But before we get started, we wanted to do a follow up on something that we posted about. On Instagram this summer, we shared about bias tape and asked you if you love it or hate it. And it turns out a lot of our listeners have mixed feelings and also very strong feelings.
Caroline: Yes.
Helen: The post got, I think, over a hundred comments.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: It was quite the debate. Um, but here’s one of the comments: “Hate making bias tape and also struggle with keeping neck lines flat. I feel like I have tried everything.”
Caroline: Aw. So we wanna be here for you and help you. And we have some tips to make necklines finished with bias tape lay flat.
Helen: Yes. A very common issue, I might add, so you are not alone. Make sure to stay stitch your neck line before you do anything else. This should be your first sewing step after cutting out your pieces. It’s a good idea to stay stitch your armscyes, too. It’s simple. You use a long stitch to stitch a quarter inch from the edge. You don’t even have to lock the stitch at the beginning or end. The reason for this is your first step is that the more you handle your pieces, the more likely it is that you’re gonna stretch out and distort your neckline. So if you stay stitch right away, it’s gonna hold its shape and help it to be more flat in the end.
Caroline: Yeah, and some patterns include pieces for the bias tape, but if yours doesn’t, you’re gonna want to measure your neckline at the seam line. You can draw it onto your pattern piece. And then, make your bias tape piece an eighth of an inch shorter than your neckline measurement.
Helen: After you sew your bias binding to the neckline, you’re gonna grade and clip the seam allowances. Grading will make the seam less bulky, and clipping is gonna allow it to curve better. This is essential, especially if you have a very curved piece. You wanna clip to about a quarter to and eighth of an inch from the stitches.
Caroline: And under stitch that baby. Stitching the seam allowance to the binding close to the seam line is gonna make it so that the binding stays on the underside of the garment and stays nice and flat.
Helen: You’re gonna wanna press your binding flat before you sew it down. It’s tempting just to fold it over and stitch it down, but pressing it first and pinning it down ensures that everything will be in the right place. Definitely have skipped this in the past. And it does make a huge difference to take this step because the steam from your iron is gonna help to shape that piece.
Caroline: Totally. And then make sure your bias binding is the right weight for your fabric. It should be the same weight or lighter than the fabric of your garment. And if your bias binding fabric is too stiff, it can keep a neckline from lying flat. The Wrights bias binding in packets that you might find at Jo-Ann’s is best suited to quilting cottons or heavier fabrics. But there are lots of lovely options for garment bias binding on Etsy, and you can always make your own.
Helen: Yes. I love making my own. I mean, matching it to the garment, I think, is the best way to ensure success.
Caroline: Oh, yeah. And if you have one of those cool Simplicity bias tape makers, it’s really fast and easy.
Helen: It’s a breeze. If you usually do the method of bias binding where you fold the binding in half and then stitch both raw edges to the neckline, you might wanna try a different method. Sometimes this method doesn’t stretch quite as much as a single layer, just something to consider, especially, again, if it’s really a curved area.
Caroline: Yeah, and you can also pre-curve your bias tape. Some sewists swear by this method for a clean finish. So to do this, you’re gonna use a steamy iron at the hottest temperature for your garment and press the tape as you pull it into a curved direction. Let it cool completely before you pick it up. And if you wanna see how this is done, we’ll link an article of bias binding tips by Pattern Scout.
Helen: Yes, and I have one more tip to add, and that is when you’re going around a curve like a neckline, you wanna leave some slack in the tape so that when you turn it over onto the inside, the tape is not having to stretch quite as much and causing your neckline to stick out. Leave a little bit of slack in there, and then, it will have more room to stretch out when you turn it over to the other side. It does just take practice. It’s one of those things that you will learn, um, exactly how it should feel and look when you’re pinning and sewing it on.
Caroline: Mhm.
Helen: And eventually it will become easier to just do it by muscle memory.
Caroline: Yeah, totally. But try these, and hopefully, this helps. Okay, it’s time to get to the spooky stuff.
Helen: Okay. So for as long as sewing has been around, it has been a part of scary stories. Like, for example, In the Disney Halloween movie classic Hocus Pocus, the character Billy Butcherson’s mouth is sewn shut. Apparently, he cheated on Winifred Sanderson with her sister, and that was Winifred’s punishment. I wonder if she used a thimble?
Caroline: Ooh. And then Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Frankenstein-ed doll – she can take her limbs off and sew them back on whenever she wants. A spooky sewing queen!
Helen: Yes! Sally’s also a great choice for a Halloween costume for sewists because you just need a bunch of scraps.
Caroline: Love it.
Helen: Speaking of dolls, you know those Annabelle movies about the creepy doll? The original, allegedly haunted, Annabelle was a hand-sewn Raggedy Ann doll! She sat behind glass in the (now closed) museum of Ed and Lorraine Warren. We’ll post a pic of her – she doesn’t actually look that scary. Maybe that’s why they changed her for the movies to make her even spookier. But it’s cool that it came from an actual, real doll.
Caroline: Yeah, and there’s also a famous haunted house in upstate New York called Burn Brae Mansion, formerly owned by George Ross McKenzie, the third president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. And there have been sightings of an old-timey woman in white and a new-timey man in overalls. People have heard organ music playing, animal sounds, and have seen doors slamming and whatnot. It’s been featured on a couple of paranormal investigation shows. And you can stay there overnight, too! Anyone wanna go on a sewing retreat?
Helen: I think we could make friends with the old-timey woman and the new-timey man.
Caroline: Yeah. Maybe they just want some friends.
Helen: He’s wearing overalls, so I feel like we’re immediately gonna have a connection.
Caroline: Yeah, exactly. We have so much in common. Okay, but today’s show isn’t about scary stories in the wider world. It’s about your sewing horror stories. Thank you to all of our listeners who sent in their spooky tales. I can’t wait to get into these.
Helen: Oh, me, too. Okay, the first one is from Lauren in England. “A couple years ago, my boys, then 5 and 7, decided I, their Mama, would like fabric for my birthday! They (assisted by my wife, their other mum) bought me the cutest Liberty lawn fabric full of zoo animals. How well they know me and my sewing addiction.
“I worked super hard on the shirt, princess seamed and flat felled throughout. It took ages.
“When I was done, I hurriedly buttoned it up, the hem still hot, and shouted ‘fashion show’ to summon my family to see. I paraded round only to hear the giant gulping sobs of my youngest. ‘Mama, why are the animals dead?’
“Yes, I had sewn the back with the animals upside down, legs sticking up in the air. Like a zoo massacre.
“They have never forgiven me for that mistake, and they have never bought me fabric again. Perhaps that’s the real tragedy of this story!!”
Caroline: Oh, my gosh. What a gruesome scene. That is too funny. Um, I would say you’re right, though. The worst part is not getting any more Liberty lawn.
Helen: Truly.
Caroline: I think we’ve all had that experience of cutting a directional print upside down and then possibly even finishing a project before we realised. But this, kind of, takes it to another level ‘cause the animals, they’re just upside down. I wan-, I don’t wanna say dead ‘cause they aren’t actually dead, but that’s really sad.
Helen: No, they’re sleeping. They’re sleeping.
Caroline: Yeah. They’re just taking a nap. Okay. Our next story is from Anna. “When I first starting sewing, I was going to a St Patrick’s Day bar crawl and I had a pair of green chequered pants I wanted to wear. They had a rip on the seam in the crotch area. I thought, ‘no problem, I’m a sewist!’ and attempted to sew the rip in the pants back up. It worked well enough to hold for the first hour or so of the day. During lunch I looked down to realise that there was a giant hole in the crotch of my pants, and I’m still not sure when it reopened. Luckily, I had a friend who lived nearby who had more sewing skills than I did who sewed my pants back together. I am now much more careful about attempting alterations on my clothes without a trial run!”
Helen: Oh, no, Anna. This is, kind of, a nightmare, but at the same time, I’m sure you were not the sloppiest one in the bar on St. Patrick’s Day.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: I’ve never had my pants split, like, in the crotch or butt throughout the day. I’ve definitely had them wear out, but I haven’t had that moment, you know, where you bend over or squat down and it’s, like… rip!
Caroline: You mean you’ve never just, like, done the splits for somebody and then had your pants split down the bum? Me, neither.
Helen: We’ve been lucky.
Caroline: Yeah. Our next story is from Hayley from a small, sleepy town near Jerusalem, Israel. Warning: this story does contain bodily injury and blood, so if you don’t wanna hear it, you can skip ahead of it.
“I am a high school teacher who loves to sew but never really finds enough time. Late one afternoon, I was hurrying to finish the hem on a skirt to wear to a Parent-Teacher conference when I literally sewed through my finger!! Needless to say that the needle broke in half. One half remained securely in the machine and the other half was wedged in my first finger, coming out of both sides. Of course no one was home when I needed help. As I began to feel very dizzy and faint, not to mention the mess from the blood, I phoned around the neighbourhood for help. In the end one of my good friend’s husbands came to the rescue. How embarrassing is that!! With blood everywhere he pulled the broken needle out with a tweezers. To cut a long story short: No, I didn’t finish the skirt to wear that evening to the Parent-Teacher conference. I ended up arriving late with a stitched up finger!!”
Caroline: Oh, every time I read this story, I shiver, like, full body shiver at the thought of a needle going completely through my finger. I feel like this is the scary, cautionary tale every sewist needs to hear. Like, do I really need to be rushing this hard. I think I need to hear this ‘cause I always sew last minute. What is more important though, having this skirt done in the next hour or having an intact finger?
Helen: Oh, my gosh. I just, I, I imagine it must hurt so much.
Caroline: Oh, yeah. And, like, the, the, I have this, like, visual of the neighbour coming in and, like, pulling…
Helen: Oh, I can’t.
Caroline: I can’t. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing. Now, I will be more careful forever.
Helen: Also, this is, like, a, a point in favour of using an awl or a stiletto to help get your pieces under your machine without having to put your fingers so close.
Caroline: Totally. Okay, next up we have a story from Alexandra. “My sewing horror story: it was my first time trying to make pants. I chose an elastic waist pair since I thought those would be best for a rookie. For some reason the finished garment measurements on the envelope only gave the circumference of the pant leg and then the length. I had NO IDEA how to pick a size. So I picked one as a guess. To this day I still can’t tell you the logic behind my decision because I decided to pick a size that was four sizes larger than what I wore in RTW at the time. Needless to say, when I went to try them on to fit the elastic at the waist, they were much too big on me. No big deal, I took in the sides a bit and checked the fit again. And again. And again! It took me multiple tries to get these things to fit me, to the point where I had cut off the pockets in the process! Though I eventually got them to fit. Thankfully, I’ve gotten much better at fitting pants since.”
Helen: Oh, man. Yeah. These must have been way above your size. This really wasn’t your fault though. I have no idea why the pattern company would list leg circumference and not waist measurement. I think that’s a villain move right there, like…
Caroline: Oh, yeah.
Helen: That’s, that’s the true horror.
Caroline: Agreed.
Helen: This next story comes from Christine. “I was so excited to make my first non-pajama garment, a jumpsuit. I meticulously followed the instructions and was so pleased… until I tried it on and it was WAY too small.”
Ooh. Counter story.
“I had used the pattern that matched my hip measurement but had looked at the finished garment measurement chart, not the size chart!”
No!
Caroline: No! Oh, my gosh. Yeah. That finished measurement chart was lying in wait, ready to pounce on you and ruin your project. I would say this one was really relatable though. That moment when you go to check the fit, and you’re like, no, the world stands still.
Helen: Yes! Definitely a cautionary tale. You wanna take your time reading those charts, over and over again. Make sure.
Caroline: Okay, now we have a story from Claudia. “In high school I was hand embroidering a beautiful and detailed piece. At the end of the class I stood to pack up, only to realise I had stitched the whole thing to my skirt! Lots of tears and unpicking later, I am still haunted by the ghost of sewing to my skirt.”
Helen: I think this is the worst one so far. I mean, having to unpick so much detailed embroidery, that’s a lot more time and effort than machine sewing. And if this had happened to me, I don’t know if I’d be able to even talk about it, honestly.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: You’re a hero, Claudia.
Caroline: Yeah, I can, like, feel the disappointment that, I don’t know, like, spending all that time embroidering something beautiful. And then you get up and you’re like, oh, oh, what?
Helen: I mean, if you don’t like the skirt that much, you could just cut the skirt chunk out of the skirt, and it’s, like, actually your facing for your embroidery. Or maybe you turn it into appliqué on your skirt.
Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are, there are ways to fix it, but still just, like, so horrific.
Helen: Right?
Caroline: Horrific.
Helen: I know. I feel like Claudia is looking for sympathy, not solutions, so, I’m sorry. Alright. Here’s a short, sweet, and relatable story from Lalu. “What’s my sewing horror story? Every. Single. Time. Someone. Asks. Me. To. Sew. Them. Something. Or. Hem. Their. Pants. WHY.”
Caroline: This reminds me of a horror movie that came out this summer.
Helen: Nope.
Caroline: Oh, my gosh. It’s so true. I’m gonna be thinking of that every time someone asks me this.
Helen: Nope. Nope. Nope.
Caroline: But I want more info from Lalu because is it, like, horrific that someone is asking you? Just the idea of someone asking? Or is it that every time you help someone sew something or hem their pants something goes horribly wrong? Like, I need more details.
Helen: I think it’s the first one because I relate to that.
Caroline: Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, because wouldn’t that be, like, really terrible if you were like, I’m a selfless sewist, and I’m gonna help sew things for people. But then, like, it always goes terribly.
Helen: Yeah, you’re cursed, and you can never do it, but you wanna do it.
Caroline: Oh, the curse of the selfless sewist. Is this you? Okay, so we’ve all seen scary brides in horror stories, but what about scary wedding dresses? Now, that is terrifying, especially for me because I’m planning my wedding right now, and I’m planning on making my dress, so I’m a little worried about how I’m gonna feel about these next few stories. But they’re all about wedding sewing gone wrong.
Helen: We’ll have to touch base after and see how you feel. How do you feel about sewing your wedding dress right now? You feeling good, feeling confident?
Caroline: I am. I’m feeling excited. I think, yeah, I’m still full of ideas. I haven’t locked down exactly what I wanna do. I’m actually gonna go dress shopping to, sort of, like, scope out different styles and peek at the construction of wedding dresses and fabrics up close and just really do a little bit of research before I make any decisions about exactly what I’m gonna make. But knowing myself it’s gonna be something that’s, like, simple, nothing too frilly or complicated, but I do wanna, like, level up a little bit and make, try to use some, like, more couture techniques and make it really special in my own way. So, yeah, I, I feel good about it now, but let’s, let’s talk after we read these stories.
Helen: Okay. Our first scary gown story is from Alicia, aka “SewLish,” in Portland, Maine.
“My story is about making my daughter‘s wedding gown in 2009.
“I will consolidate my story for your purposes and start by saying: she’s my only daughter, and I’ve been sewing my entire life, so it was my ultimate project, and I wanted it to, of course, be as perfect as possible. We shopped for fabric in New York City and a friend of hers from college was a fashion design student and created the pattern pieces and mailed me the pattern pieces and the fabric. I made this gown in one month! At each stage of the process I stood back in wonder and amazement at how beautiful it was. It was made from shantung silk, and I quickly learned that every iron crease was permanent, so I had to be extremely careful about how I was ironing out the seams. That was disaster #1. But easy to live with.
“Since she lived in another state, every time I needed to do a fitting on her we would arrange to meet halfway. It just so happened that one of her cousins was getting married about a month before her, so, during the reception, we ran up to our hotel room to do the first fitting. I made all the necessary adjustments, and I brought it home to work on it further.
I had just finished the major part of the bodice and I wanted to show it off to my friends at work, so I brought it into the office. Of course, I got lots of ‘ooh’s and ahh’s’ and then all of a sudden somebody says, ‘What’s that little stain right there on the front?’ Oh, my god! It was a blood stain! I hadn’t noticed it, and then, I remembered that I had pricked my finger several times while I was fitting it to her in the hotel room the week before.
“Since she couldn’t meet me halfway, I agreed to fly down to New York for the final fitting, and I had to get that stain out before I went! I only had one day! In a panic I called a friend who knew a specialist at a dry cleaners. I called him, and he told me to come right away. I literally drove over there in my nightgown, practically in tears, and he was so confident that he could get it out he told me not to worry. He literally got it out for me in about five minutes and didn’t charge me any money. So The Dress and I flew down to New York City just for the day for the fitting and I brought it back and finished it just in time for the wedding.
“I sewed a row of rhinestone ball shaped buttons with loop closures above the zipper in the back, and it was very difficult to loop those buttons into the loops once it was on her. Of course, it had been easy without her in it, and I really struggled to get those looped on. Then, I learned that when she and her new husband were finally alone at the end of the evening, and it was time to get undressed, he couldn’t get those buttons out of the loops and ended up cutting the loops with his jackknife!
All I can say is I’m glad I only have one daughter, and I would never do this again. The stress of it all was just too much. But boy, it was gorgeous, and she was stunning in it.”
Caroline: Okay. This one is very fairytale-esque. She pricked her finger and left a drop of blood on the white gown! The magical dry cleaner saved her! The new husband cut off the button loops! It’s like a movie. Alicia also sent a picture of her daughter in the gown, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. She looks like a vintage femme fatal. We’ll post it in the show notes if anyone wants to check it out, and I’m so glad everything turned out okay. But the process sounds like a lot of stress. Like, also just starting only one month before the wedding is wild. Like, please, Helen, don’t let me do that ‘cause I will be the person that bleeds on my white dress.
Helen: I mean, apparently your own spit gets out your own blood, so, if you prick your own finger, you should be okay.
Caroline: I still think I would just…
Helen: Cry?
Caroline: …completely spiral.
Helen: Yeah.
Caroline: Yeah. Oh, my gosh.
Helen: Do your own tears get out your own blood is the real question?
Caroline: Right? I’ll just cry onto the stain and hope for the best.
Helen: Um, my favourite part of this story is the jack knife cutting out of the wedding dress.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: Like, that’s very dramatic and, like, kind of, hot.
Caroline: Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Wedding night, just… You’re not ripping the clothes off, you’re cutting them off.
Okay, our next story is from Anne in Germany. “In 2014, I got married and decided to sew my own wedding dress. Both me and my husband were still studying at university and money was tight. Furthermore, I wanted a really simple dress. Nothing too fancy. I had some experience in sewing, but mainly simple knit garments and bags. I hadn’t yet found the indie pattern community and was still figuring out how to use Burda patterns, the only online patterns I knew back then. So what did I do? I decided to freestyle the whole thing as I went along. Reasonable, right? I had a vision of a dress in my mind, just a simple high waisted maxi skirt and two long sashes that tied around the back. I think it‘s called an eternity dress. I don’t really remember why I didn’t use any pattern – but not only did I just draft everything myself as I went along, I also had never before sewn any type of lining or a zipper in anything other than a bag. And, of course, I had zero experience sewing with chiffon.
“First, it went quite well. After a long battle with my inherited overlocker I finally figured out how to make a rolled hem and how to handle this unspeakable fabric. The skirt was coming along nicely and I was happy.
“Times were busy. It was the Friday of the week before the wedding. I still had to insert the zipper and had planned to get a friend to mark the hemline afterwards. So zipper, hemming, done. Doable, right? I made a little mistake while inserting the zipper, used my seam ripper – and ripped a hole in the chiffon.
“It was right on my hip, very present and at a place with slight tension – there was NO WAY I would be able to mend it. Panic-struck, I put the skirt on to inspect the damage and could see the fabric fraying away on me. That’s when the tears came.
“How did it end? Well, after several HOURS of crying, my fiancé drove me to the fabric store (I was in no condition to drive), I bought new fabric and sewed for the whole weekend. At least I knew all the steps and tricks now. Sunday evening, my friend came over to mark the hemline and by the end of the weekend, I was finished.
“My husband used the whole episode in our wedding toast: ‘How do you know your marriage has the potential to get through everything life throws at you? Imagine your bride ripping a hole in her wedding dress the weekend before the wedding…’
“But you know what? In the end, all was good, I loved it and I am so proud to have sewn my own wedding dress. Twice.”
Helen: First one was a practice.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: I mean, chiffon is a demon fabric in the first place, but having to deal with accidentally ripping a hole in it, that’s definitely horrifying. But Anne sent us a pic of the final dress, and it turned out amazing. She absolutely pulled it off. So again, go and check out our show notes.
Caroline: Okay. She, like, more than pulled it off. This dress is so chic. I have no idea how someone with little experience sewing chiffon managed to make this dress look so professional and beautiful. Like, honestly, I’m in awe.
Helen: It really is stunning. I really love this simple design, and yeah, that’s not something you hear very often. Like, oh yeah, I made a bag, and now, I’m gonna make a wedding dress.
Caroline: Yeah, I know. Sewists are brave and, like, is this a theme? I get busy, and then, I sew this dress a month before my wedding? Is this my fate?
Helen: You need to make a list of all the steps and make sure you’re, like, doing one every month.
Caroline: I need a schedule.
Helen: Yeah, you need to schedule it.
Caroline: I need a deadline. Oh, my gosh. My wedding’s a year away, and I’m, like, already nervous. Okay. You read this one, Helen.
Helen: Okay. Our last wedding horror story comes from Annabell – human Annabell, not doll Annabell! “Once upon a time there was a princess who decided to make her own wedding dress. She spent hours, days, weeks and months shrouded in tulle and duchess satin – embroidering hundreds of leaves in golden thread on her train and determined to use 100% silk including the thread and organza corset inside… the day was set and it was time for her to step into her magical moment. She looks down as her maids zip her in… and just like that… a kiss of pink lands right on the front of her irreplaceable gown. Luckily, the Princess was clever and calm and ready for disaster. The bardot neckline was rescued and the secret kiss hidden forever in the new folds of her sweetheart.”
Caroline: Oh. This is a sweet story.
Helen: I love this one.
Caroline: Also, kind of, a scary moment, like, you’ve spent months sewing and embroidering on this super, elaborate gown, and then, at the last moment, you get lipstick on it. I’m scared just thinking about it, much less living it, but I’m so glad you were able to get it out, and we need your stain removal tips, Annabell. The gown looks amazing. We’re gonna post a pic in the show notes, but yes, please do share your stain removal tips because if this happens to me, I’ll just, I’ll freak, freak out.
Helen: I was interpreting this, like, they changed the neckline from bardot to sweetheart, somehow, like…
Caroline: Oh!
Helen: …and, like, covered it maybe.
Caroline: Oh, okay.
Helen: Right? So, like, if the bardot neckline is straight across and then they got lipstick right on the front, maybe they, kind of, like, tucked it in to create that sweetheart dip?
Caroline: Mhm.
Helen: So you don’t even need to remove the stain. You just, like, cut it out.
Caroline: Yeah. Or, or, like, fold it in.
Helen: Fold it in. Yeah.
Caroline: Yeah. No, it’s true. I’m looking at the picture now, and I can totally see that.
Helen: Yeah. Very calm, cool, and collected. Annabell, well done.
Caroline: I would never be that calm in a situation like that.
Helen: Again, tears. Caroline, maybe what you need to do is make, like, several wedding dresses so that you’ve got…
Caroline: Just take the pressure off.
Helen: …backups.
Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have thought about doing an outfit change, but…
Helen: Oh, yes!
Caroline: I don’t know. We’ll see.
Helen: Love an outfit change.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: Like, for the dance party portion?
Caroline: Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Something more swingy or something. But…
Helen: Yeah.
Caroline: I do love dancing.
Helen: My friend changed into a gold sequin jumpsuit for the dance portion of her wedding.
Caroline: Amazing.
Helen: When she walked out in it, like, I was floored. It was so incredible. And I really just, like, unforgettable moment. So, I don’t know, consider, like, metallic Zadie Jumpsuit perhaps.
Caroline: I do think a jumpsuit is so fun. Like, I’ve seen folks wear jumpsuits just, like, to their entire wedding, like, as their outfit.
Helen: Yeah.
Caroline: And I’m like, I, I feel like that would be so cool. I don’t know if I’m, like, brave enough to make that decision, but maybe if it’s an outfit change.
Helen: I mean, I do think a wedding dress suits you because you do love a maxi dress.
Caroline: I love a dress. Yeah. Yeah, I do.
Helen: So I think it actually works well with your personal style.
Caroline: But I also love a jumpsuit, but then…
Helen: True.
Caroline: …I also, like, have to pee a lot when I drink wine. So as the evening progresses, if I’m wearing a jumpsuit, is it gonna be super annoying?
Helen: Uh, yes.
Caroline: Yes, yes, but also probably annoying regardless of what I’m wearing ‘cause all wedding attire is, kind of, annoying to go to the bathroom in. Yeah. Anyways, I’m still feeling good.
Helen: If anything, this is showing me, like, what, what are the worst things that could happen…
Helen: Yeah.
Caroline: …on my wedding dress sewing journey, now I feel more prepared. I feel, like, desensitised.
Helen: Put the lipstick on after the dress.
Caroline: Put the lipstick on after. Yeah. Yeah.
Helen: Don’t make it out of chiffon.
Caroline: Yeah. Or don’t bleed. Or if you do, step away from the white dress.
Helen: Yes.
Caroline: Find yourself a hero dry cleaner that will open for you in the middle of the night.
Helen: And make sure Shea has a knife on him.
Caroline: Yes. Perfect. Just in case. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, wish me luck, Helen. I’ll keep everyone posted. Hopefully, it’s not gonna end up…
Helen: You don’t even need…
Caroline: …in our next…
Helen: …luck.
Caroline: horror episode.
Helen: It’s gonna be great.
Caroline: Our next horror stories episode won’t include my, my dress story, hopefully.
Helen: I think this spring, in our spring season, we should do a wedding dress episode and maybe we can get some more advice from folks who have, uh, gone through the process.
Caroline: Oh, I would love that ‘cause I think that’ll be when I really start getting into sewing my dress is, like, this spring and, and throughout the early summer hopefully, so…
Helen: Yeah, and I’d love to explore…
Caroline: That’d be perfect.
Helen: …other wedding attire options, too.
Caroline: Yes.
Helen: So people who have made their own suits or, uh, alternate outfit choices for weddings.
Caroline: Yes!
Helen: That would be fun.
Caroline: Yeah, we could even talk about wedding guest outfits ‘cause I absolutely love making dresses to wear to weddings as a guest, so…
Helen: Me, too. It’s such a good excuse to make those patterns that you’ve been hoarding but never making.
Alright. Our final story for today is from Lisa. “My partner and I got a fabulous deal on a cutie Victorian fixer-upper back in 2010. He and his dad worked super hard to repair crumbling plaster, replace and refinish flooring, and update the kitchen and bathroom. It was the first time we’ve had a second bedroom, so I was thrilled to set it up as a combo sewing space and office.
“I painted it a lovely lavender. I hung art prints on the walls, organised my sewing supplies in a chest of drawers, and stacked my fabric stash on shelves in a little closet. Well, the first time I went to sit down at my machine, I noticed that one of my pictures had fallen down. The frame didn’t break, thanks to the rug. But how could it have fallen off the wall? The nail was firmly secured to the stud, so that wasn’t the problem. We live in California, so maybe it was an earthquake? Yeah, an earthquake that budged absolutely nothing else. And we don’t even have pets or kids.
“It was puzzling, but I had sewing to do. So I just hung it back up, and I got started. It was so nice to stitch away and not have to worry about getting the dining table back in order afterward.
“You know how they say to have a sewing curfew? I wish I had heard about that before the next thing happened. A few weeks after I started using the sewing room, I was finishing up the hem on a gathered skirt. It was probably, like, 1 AM. You know how it is when you’re almost done – you have to keep going, even if the hem is like a mile long! I was stitching down the hem when I heard something fall to the ground behind me. My partner had been asleep for a while, so it was pretty spooky. Especially when I saw what had fallen – the same picture as before! I checked it and the nail – both were still intact. There was absolutely no reason why it should have fallen!
“I talked to my partner about it, but he had a million explanations for it – none of which made any sense. He just didn’t want to believe it. And I couldn’t really blame him – there’s nothing sinister about a painting of flowers falling down. And yet, I couldn’t really shake the feeling that something weird was going on.
“Weirder things continued to happen. It fell down several more times. I thought I could hear scratching from the wall behind it sometimes – maybe that was just the house settling?
“Finally, one night, I was sewing up some jersey hats for a friend’s new baby, when I swear I heard someone say ‘Here!’ I swivelled around so fast I’m surprised I didn’t get whiplash. But there was no one there. Just the frame, lying face down on the floor.
“This time, I couldn’t let it go. I had to know once and for all what was back there. I went out and got a hammer and started pulling away the plaster. I don’t know what I expected to find, but it definitely wasn’t what was there.
“There was a tin box sitting on a block between the studs. It looked old. Super dusty. My heart was racing at this point. But I couldn’t NOT open it.
“It took some elbow grease, but I finally got the lid loose. The only thing in there was a folded-up piece of yellowed paper. I carefully unfolded it. And this is what it said:
Caroline: “‘We made this story up. Happy Halloween from Love to Sew!’”
That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at spooky HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording in beautiful, sunny British Columbia, Canada.
Helen: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can send us an email at hello@LoveToSewPodcast.com
Caroline: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode – we have a lot of fun in these episodes – and weekly behind-the-scenes pictures. For $10 a month, you’ll get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content, so go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.
Helen: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant, and the one who wrote that brilliant story at the end of today’s show. Thank you, Lisa. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll see you next week.
Caroline: Bbye.
Helen: Buh-bye.
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Thank you so much for your tips on bias tape because I, too, have the “flatness syndrome”..pain in the neck….lol….But you ghals are always great listening too. The only thing I wish is that I were a millionaire to be able to afford some of your lovely fabrics.
Thanks so much for listening, Mary!
Loved this episode !!
Thank you so much, Debbie!
This was a really good episode. I loved that final story! Lisa did a great job and has a very promising career as a fiction writer. Keep up the great work, ladies!
Hi Rita! Thanks so much. Lisa had a lot of fun with it, and we were on the edge of our seats, too! 😂
You’re so very welcome!