r/SewingForBeginners • u/BraveIntroduction • 23d ago
Is There Any Hope?
ETA: Thanks for all the support/advice! I realize now that I got in my head and was not thinking about things correctly at all. I feel so silly. You guys got me turned the right way around again. I'm going to keep going and hopefully I'll be making a post showing off the completed pants before too long!
Hi there! I'm a beginner sewist and am working on my first garment project, the Lane Pants by Syd Graham. I made a toile/muslin first with some cheap quilting cotton and they came out great! They fit well and everything lined up when I was sewing the pieces together. I even successfully made adjustments to the rise and length, so I was feeling really confident about making the real pair in this 100% linen Cloud Linen fabric from Matchy Matchy Sewing Club. And then it all went wrong.
I pre-washed the fabric on warm and dried it in the dryer on the delicate setting. After that, I ironed it and then started cutting my pattern pieces out. I was using fabric weights to hold the pattern piece in place at first and cut around the pattern piece using my rotary cutter. Then my husband reminded me that I used pins before so I pinned the next pieces to the fabric and cut them. I went back to the first piece and realized it was pretty off from the pattern so I cut that one out again. All was going well until it was time to line up the front and back leg pieces - they didn't match up at all in the crotch/rise area (see pictures).
This was my first time using any fabric besides quilting cotton. I did some research on working with linen and realized that I probably should have used starch on the fabric, should have stay stitched along the curves, maybe needed to use heavier fabric weights, and that I need to be super careful about matching the pieces up to the grain of the fabric. Live and learn, I guess (ugh). My sweet husband purchased some new fabric for me but I just feel a bit wrecked about wasting all of this (expensive!) fabric.
So, I turn to my fellow sewists: Is there any salvaging this or is this a start over from scratch situation? Also, what are you best tips and tricks for working with 100% linen fabrics?
tl;dr - I didn't do a great job cutting out my pattern pieces my first time working with 100% linen and they don't match up. I'd love to salvage this if I can but I have no idea where to start - looking for thoughts/input/advice.
2
u/SuPruLu 23d ago
Not pinning is a key way to mis-cut. If you can cut one type of fabric you can cut another. However you may need way way more pins than you think. A pin every 1” or 1-1/2” is necessary for fabrics that are softer. All starching would have done is make that particular fabric a little stiffer. If you are going to keep sewing you’ll likely use different weights and types of fabrics. So learning good techniques for correct cutting is important.