11/21/09: Marking, Matching and Pinning - Oh My!

Do you know what that is on the left? Oh sure, it says Dritz Tracing Paper but guess what? It's at least 40 year old tracing paper. The wheel is in there, too. It scared me a little that I knew right where it was after at least 25 years on non-use, but I put my hands right on it this morning. I wondered if the paper would even transfer to the fabric, but it did the trick with no problems. I will probably replace this with the new stuff now that I need it again. No doubt this tracing paper dye contains a gazillion bad things. Please note it was only 75 cents at time of purchase, circa 1965. Dritz now sells this (with far less paper) for around 5 dollars!

The reason for finding this was that I needed to mark my fabric pieces with the important dots and other notations I would need when I started sewing the Phillip Bear. I had forgotten that part of sewing, so it was a good thing I took the class. That turned out to be one of many times I was grateful for the class this morning.

After I marked up the fabric pieces I began matching and pinning. This sounds simple enough but I started off with a huge issue that nearly stopped me in my tracks. Now those of you who know me really well already know I have a real problem with right and left, and along with that are some spacial issues - and that's being kind to myself. Although I have a vivid imagination, I don't see how things go together in my head. I write things down, I manipulate things, I mark up maps to get somewhere, draw things out on whiteboards at work ... I can not just visualize something concrete and "get it".  

I sat down and tried to match up the front of the bear to the back of the bear. I had a picture right in front of me as to how that would look. I could not duplicate that with the pattern pieces I had in front of me. I tried and tried. I could not do it. I moved into anxiety-panic mode. What if I cut all right sides and had no left sides? What if I had just ruined this shirt and there could be no bear? Gulp! 

I poured myself a glass of iced tea, took a few deep breaths, and put those pieces aside. I matched up the ears. No problem. I matched up the center of the face with the 2 sides, no problem. My breathing became easier. I matched up the back of the head with those two sides - it's working. I matched up the arms and the legs with great ease. No problems. No matching needed for the soles of the feet. I'm good. 

I took a look at the front and back with new-found confidence. I tried to pin the back to the front for one side. It didn't 't work. Then I tried the other side - no go. Big sigh. I saw that if I traded the two fronts then the pieces actually lined up and matched like they are supposed to. But ... this makes no sense to me because it means the pattern pieces that were cut right side up don't match each other. The front of the piece cut right side up matches with the back that was cut with the pattern piece that was cut right side down. This makes no logical sense to me and it really bothers my orderly little brain. However, it works and I must accept it for what it is. (Those of you who really know me know that I won't accept this and will wrestle with it until I do make sense of it, possibly losing sleep over it.)

The pictures below are the results of this morning's marking, matching and pinning session. Looks like I forgot to capture the ears in these pictures, but rest assured, Phillip Bear will have ears! Sewing and assembly and possibly event stuffing will be later in the day ... or tomorrow. Clicking on an image will enlarge it.

Front and back of head (right side)

Front and back of head

 

Arms        

Legs

Feet

Front and Back of Body

Get out the machine, I'm ready to go!