Amusing Moments in Unpacking

When I packed up my sewing room, I was surprised to see really how many patterns I have.  Now I am a tracer so some of the patterns take up more space than you'd think with the additional paper, but they were all in one very full medium sized box clearly marked "Patterns".

Striking while the iron was hot (and the fabric was new), I wanted to sew one of the two fabrics I had planned for a skirt.  Easy enough project as I have skirt patterns that fit me already, a good project to get back into the swing of things with.

Of course that means finding the box of patterns.  I looked in my sewing room closet.  I looked at the boxes in the shelf.  I looked in the boxes in the basement that have not been unpacked.  I asked Mr. Lina.  We both agreed we had seen the box, yet neither could remember where.

I gave up.  I have a black skirt that is short without being indecent, perfect for a date night and it's a knit.  Exactly what I wanted for the "snake skin" knit, but now with the additional work of copying the existing skirt and figuring out the construction.  So a little more time than taking the pencil skirt pattern I already love but at this rate, faster than finding the box of patterns.

The skirt I was cloning is done in 4 pieces, a curved 2" waist band in two pieces (4 if you include the facing), and a side zip.  The front and back centre seams are straight so I didn't bother, I cut on the fold.  I did not notice that the front and back waist bands are not identical so my first waist band was too short by maybe 3" because I only traced the short front band.  Oops.  My fault for not walking the seams.  I did have enough fabric to cut a second waist band so it wasn't the end of the world.  I might turn the short waist band into a belt with the hardware  and a little elastic making up for the gap.

At which point I found my box of patterns.  On the shelf where it should be.  Closest to the door, just below eye level, so not even obscured by the desk or too high/low to see properly.  The one side of the box that did not say patterns was facing out.

Sigh.

On the plus side, outside of hemming and fixing a little tugging on the side zipper, I have a new skirt and a pattern for a knit skirt that fits quite well if I do say so myself.  Pictures to come when it's hemmed and the zipper is fixed.