Hello again, Jelly here. Week 5 was a bit of a fuzz because of another task I had to do. Let's just say that I haven't manage time well yet especially after moving units. God, I felt so tired and my whole body was sore. Sleep is also barely managed but I'm getting the hang of it. Oh, but I finally received the bendy ruler, so I don't have to bring the steel L-ruler because 1. I'm afraid of hitting someone with it (I think I might've at some point), 2. It's really heavy. So I'm really happy about that :D. That was one of the good things I've received this week, haha, so thank you very much for ordering that for us Ms. Melina!
Okay so last week I mentioned that we're going to sew a life-size-12 skirt. Well... I think I'm inching towards it. When class started, Ms Melina told us to bring out our mahjong papers... which I had to go back earlier to get it from my apartment because of course I had to miss it in the group chat haha. Not to self, always read everything twice, because sometimes my brain would skip information like it is a game tutorial with a skip button. And so I did, enjoyed the walk as well even though I do feel like the heat was worse than home sometimes.
Ms Melina showed us that the first step to attempt making the skirt block is to trace our plastic blocks into the mahjong paper. We were told to draw a 5 (vertically on both sides) x10 cm border on the paper. Then, trace the block perpendicularly on each vertical borders while also drawing the darts and hip line. After that, we have to label the blocks for identification: whether it's center front/back, the notches, the additional seams, where it should follow the grain line, where the zipper would be, and where the fabric should fold (if it has to, just like for the front skirt). She also told us to use the notch puncher (yeah, that's what I'm going to call it) for the notches, which I would then forgot to do after cutting.
(Front)
(Back)
To be completely honest, I think I would completely flabbergasted by the grain line but thank the god that my calico still has selvage, haha. Oh, we also used the tracing wheel to trace the darts and mark it. After we are done with the tracing, we were then told to cut the papers so that we can pin it to the fabric. I was a bit struggling with the paper cutting because I do not know how to do it that day. I want to do it neatly so I was kinda in a weird pose while doing it. Our classmate, Xiaoyue, was right though. It was easier to cut using a cutter (I've tried before) but I'm afraid my shaky fingers won't be able to do that and I'm not risking the ruler either :"D. Though, the little perfectionist in me kinda dislike that my paper cutting is not as fine as I want it to be.
(Attempting to cut because my brain wasn't translating well, haha)
Then, Ms Melina showed us how to pin the papers onto the calico fabric. You have to adjust the paper blocks to the fabric, make sure that it is aligned well and then you just have to prick the needle in at a maybe 30 or 45 degrees acute angle and pin it by 0.5 cm immediately (God, I'm bad at describing things).
(Finished Product on Ms Melina's Demonstration)
(How-To-Pin Tutorial by Ms Melina)
It looks easy, right? It kinda was, except I had to pin it on the selvage so it was a bit harder to do than others. I also had a bit of almost a panic moment because my calico doesn't actually look like it's long enough for 2 sides, especially since we have to make basically 2 blocks each (2x back and 1 folded front). But Ms Melina said it's fine as long as it doesn't surpass the allowance, I think. Not to mention, the length was already shortened by Miss because it was too long to save fabric, haha. Then I have to cut the fabric with the guidance of the paper.
(My Finished Product)
(Not me in a bit of an awkward position to cut the fabric)
Right after that, Ms Melina showed us how to mark the darts and hipline using chalk, tracing paper and tracing wheels, or by pin. She folded the lines and drew mark them with chalk. For some she traced using a tracing wheel with a tracing paper underneath the fabric (dotted line will appear on traced part).
(Marking using chalk, sorry it's blurry :"D)
(Marking Notches using Pencil)
Right after, she taught us how to sew the darts of the skirt before showing how to properly iron the fabric. She used the circular stool (I don't know what it is called) to iron the hip and the already sewn dart area. Then, she straightened the skirt and it's done. Oh she also gave us interfacing because it is needed to strengthen/harden the area of fabric for the zipper to be sewn on.
(Ironed interfacing on fabric)
(Curved because it is ironed on the circular stool; Ms Melina ironing the fabric)
Though, Miss had difficulties with the interfacing as it won't stick on the fabric at all. Which reminds me, she gave me new interfacing, given by a kind upperclassman... and told me to cut but I haven't because I totally forgot about it. Time flew by so fast and I was still busy chalking the fabric when time ran out. I have no idea why, but I felt like I was progressing slower than my classmates... should have not wondered a lot, though. I do know that I work slow haha.
As I wasn't able to complete the sewing part, me and Josephine went to the studio on Thursday to complete it. We were dilly-dallying a bit, went to the mall to eat, before eventually going back to class to get things done.
After retrieving our toolboxes from the other studio, we immediately sew the darts, well, not without technicalities, of course. The thread kept on snapping on Josephine's machine, while I have to fill up the bobbin, and since there was no spare communal thread, I used my own bobbin and fill it in myself. We were struggling a little bit with the machine but we both managed. In the end, we finished sewing in less than 10 minutes.
(Sewn front skirt block, kinda neat work if I say so myself :3)
Since we had time left, we also continued sewing the sewing exercise. I did mention last week that I was going to do it on Monday, but instead I just checked out books that day, accompanying Yumna sewing her sewing exercise because I don't know what else to do as my brain wasn't braining that day haha. So yes, we sewn it completely and finished it as well. It wasn't as fine as I would like it to be, but I'm still proud of it because at the end of the day, I completed sewing and I was'nt doing it half-heartedly. I realised then that I truly enjoy sewing, despite the technicalities. I will attempt a third when I have time. Hopefully, it would look as fine as Yumna's because hers was very neat :3.
I skipped the ironing part because I'm afraid it would be for naught as I would fold it again and put it inside the studio alongside my toolbox. So yes, everything is done in my part for the week (except for ironing) and it was an enjoyable activity for me. Overall, the week is calm (?) for me. Kind of like the calm before the storm because I can sense something is about to happen, a sense that all the craziness will suddenly appear one day. I hope I can manage my time by then.
Cya next time then :D
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