Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Cowgirl Lilly

Here's the DANGER ZONE when it comes to sewing clothes. You can go to a lot of time and trouble to make an outfit, either for yourself or another person...but, when it's done, no matter how perfect the thing turns out -- the person who's supposed to wear it just might not like it...

The real problem is that there is no way of knowing that IN ADVANCE....

AND YOU CANNOT TAKE IT PERSONAL. Clothes are a very individual thing. You know yourself, when you're shopping in a department store for an outfit, it can look wonderful on the hanger, but when you put it on, something isn't right...

Not every outfit is a winner...

Take for example, the new jeans outfit I recently made for Lilly.  Aunt Hannah was getting married in Wyoming. Emily will be the maid-of-honor, and this would be Lilly's first airplane ride. They were both SO EXCITED...

Lillian already had a pair of pink leather cowboy boots (of course!)....and Emily thought a jeans skirt outfit would be the perfect thing. My very next trip to the thrift store, I found a GREAT pair of jeans that had some very fancy pink flower embroidery....


I haven't made a jeans skirt since 1978 -- but this was fun! I added some fringe, too...
The next thing I went looking for was a pink flowered WESTERN shirt. You know the one -- with a yoke, and some snaps??  Ritaluck -- on my next trip out -- I found this....But Lillian wanted it to be sleeveless (no problem)...and she didn't want to tuck it in...
So, I used the fabric from the cut off sleeves to add a ruffle at the bottom of the shirt. Eventually, I cut off another 6 inches from the shirt...so it was almost crop top length...and it was longer in the back than in the front. VERY CUTE...
Because I didn't want to hide the cute embroidery detail...or those stylin' double pockets...
Two hours for the jeans skirt...maybe another three hours to get the fringe right (the first fringe was made out of spandex denim...what was I thinking??)

Modifying the shirt and adding the ruffle was the most time-consuming thing...

You know where this is headed, right???  And the fact that there are no pictures of Lilly's face was probably your FIRST BIG CLUE...

Yep.  She hated it.  Especially the shirt.  She actually went to her room and CRIED...sobbing...like I'd taken away her birthday.

Aarg...

2 comments:

  1. I love it and if it would only fit me...you did a great job and hopefully it was just a bad day and tomorrow she will think ok and the next day it's great. My girlfriend had a similar experience making an outfit for her GD, they picked the pattern and fabric together, multiple fittings and when it was done she hated it and cried her heart out. My poor friend was so traumatized.

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  2. Been there, done that!! I told Lilly I would never make her wear something she didn't like. Yes, I was disappointed -- but that's life. Sometimes, things go all your way -- other time -- you will be disappointed. We both need to GET OVER OURSELVES...

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