A comprehensive look at my Pile of Doom, #1: the projects I don't love
Pictures finally added May 16
We all have one, right? Pile of doom, pile of shame, sin bin, project jail: where bad and naughty projects go to think about what they've done. Reached a step you dread? Made a mistake you don't feel like fixing right now? Don't love wearing that garment after finishing it? Putting off a mend or alteration? Into the Pile it goes. Mine has a bit of everything. So, in the hopes that laying it all out will make me work on it, let's go through every single item it contains.
Striped wool sweater with hand-dyed yarns
Time spent in the Pile: About a year and a half. Definitely didn't wear it last winter.
There are two problems here. The first is that the sleeves leave my wrist bare and chilly because the cuff is some combination of too loose and too short. This, at least, is easy: undo the bind-off, join new yarn, knit until cuffs are long enough. I might even make them long enough to fold over, which would help with the tightness.
The second problem is that the neckline is too wide and has stretched even wider from wearing, leaving my shoulders cold and making for awkward layering. I need to unpick it, which will involve cutting the yarn since this was a top-down construction, and re-knit it. It would probably be smart to double it up, too, so that it's less tempted to stretch. Unfortunately, that's not a skill I have much (any) practice with, so I'd have to look it up first, and that's proving to be an additional barrier.
Then there's the fact that the yarn pills so badly. It's not entirely surprising, I guess, but it still gives me some reluctance to wear it because I have this idea that it will break any second now. Oh well, let's fix the fit issues first, then I'll figure that out with my therapist.
Notice how one of the sleeves already has needles on it and a ball of yarn attached. Writing it down works!
Shirt with insertion lace
Time spent in the Pile: maybe 3 years.
This is an Edwardian-style shirt pattern from a historical fashion company. This one is much trickier, because the core of the issue is that the fabric makes me feel like I'm wearing pyjamas. Then, here too, some neckline and sleeve nonsense.
There are two problems with the neckline. First, the gathering is distributed in a way I don't like (shame on me for following the pattern, I guess). This is fiddly and annoying to fix, but still fixable. Second, the facing is much too thick, because I accidentally cut two pieces for it instead of cutting on the fold, so there's a seam adding bulk on top of that awkward gathering. This is not hard to fix either: cut away the middle piece of facing and replace it with a new rectangle. Come to think of it, I can also take that opportunity to make the neckline a little wider, which may give me a tiny bit more room in the shoulders.
Then there's the sleeves. I simply do not like the way they are patterned. I opted for the narrow sleeve, which looks ridiculous with long cuffs (barely any fullness to gather), and the taper of the cuffs was wrong as well, which is why I unpicked them a while ago and then later added more length again. Fuller sleeves might have looked less like PJs, but I don't have any narrow insertion lace left to redo them. I still have some broader lace, but I'm reluctant to cut into that. I could, of course, do sleeves without insertions, if I was confident that I'd wear the finished object. But my problem with the fabric remains.
Maybe it's time to call it quits with this one. To make it worse, I apparently didn't wash it after last wearing it and there are nasty sweat stains at the armpits. But I'm reluctant to throw it away, what with the fact that time and materials went into it. I'll see if I can get the stains out, then try to fix the neckline, and if I'm happy with that then I'll experiment with sleeves.
Honorable mention: the "wearable mockup" of the above shirtwaist
Time spent in the Pile: none.
This one is not physically in the pile of doom, but it deserves a mention. I like it more than the "real" shirt and it's been worn a few times, but it has, surprise surprise, neckline and sleeve issues that mean I don't wear it very often. The neckline is simply too shallow and touches the base of my neck. I hate that, so it needs to be made deeper, and broader as well. This is all happening because when I looked at the paper pattern, I thought the neckline looked a little deep for my liking, so I changed it. Lesson learned. The sleeves are a less dramatic issue: I just can't find space for elbow-length things in my wardrobe. They're annoying to layer, too. I'll fix the neckline first and see how I feel about it after that.
Grey wool circle skirt
I like this one. The hem could stand to be a bit more even, but it's not too noticeable. The main problem is the pockets, which are too low and too small. I need to cut out properly big ones and anchor them into the waistband. Unfortunately, I won't be able to remake them out of my original lining fabric, I don't have any left. But I might be able to squeeze out enough of the existing pocket bags to do just the pocket opening...
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