When I started looking for a pattern to make Princess Peach’s dress I told myself, how hard could it really be? I mean it’s a dress, if there are good instructions an easy to follow pattern I should be able to do it right? I mean I’ve sewed two things before, that counts for something, right?

Apparently I’m a little more ambitious than I really think I am. I picked a pattern that I thought made a pretty dress, and I didn’t read the part that said “Intermediate seamstress.” That’s just a minor detail right?

Alas I forged ahead. Fabric everywhere, mis-stitches and frustration but I kept moving forward. Seven thousand steps later, seven flights of stairs (as I kept forgetting something in my office, I sewed the skirt, I felt triumphant, but then I took it downstairs, I held it up against the mannequin and thought… this can’t be right.

It wasn’t, I had mis-measured the main part of the dress, the contrast pink and made it a good twelve inches too long. by this point it’s late, I’m frustrated and I am staring at this heavy fabric on a petticoat that can’t be right and thinking – do I start over?

My hot pink is too short, the white too long, the contrast pink is heavy. Do I start over, or do I forge ahead and trust that even with my flaws it’s going to be okay…

So I leave the skirt on the model, too long, and barely held up under the heavy fabric and I make my way to bed. Now laying her and thinking it hits me. I know what I did wrong.

When I originally measured the fabric for the main part of the dress I had struggled with the length, was it measured from the top of the hot pink, or the bottom of the hot pink. The instructions weren’t clear and I went back and forth in my head. What was the right measurement.

I figured I could always cut it shorter but I sure as heck wasn’t going to be cutting it longer, so I went from the top of the hot pink and I measured it out. That was my mistake, a rookie mistake., but a fixable one – annoying as the zipper was in and the top sewn but at least I hadn’t gathered the fabric (as that step looked ominous).

Here’s to a better day tomorrow…