always buy extra.

Humming along on the plum corduroy pieces I cut out last weekend, I got the skirt gores all sewn together and finished the darts on the pants. Nothing like making two garments at once out of the same cloth; a little efficiency does wonders for completion rates. I'm now at the point of inserting zippers, and I went looking for the matching zippers I knew I'd bought when I bought the fabric. Since I am so extremely well organized and on top of all household chores, this involved digging into the bag of fabric sitting in my laundry basket because I hadn't had a chance to wash it yet. Number of weeks it's been there? No comment. Anyhow, I did find a zipper in a lovely matching plum color.

One.

I need two, one for the skirt and one for the pants. Insert curses here. Why do I do this? I know I can always use extra zippers and hooks and eyes and thread and sewing machine needles and elastic, why would I buy only one zipper? And of course it is not one of my four staple colors, so I don't have another zipper in stash to match. And do you think I'm going to be able to get to the fabric store while it's open before the Season of Excruciating Shopping starts on Friday? Not a hope. Blast it. I agree that stash can be overdone, but there are certain things which are like beloved spices-- life is just *so* much easier if they are on hand and always available.

Perhaps I'll compromise with a black invisible zipper. Since it's invisible, it shouldn't matter much, right? And likely I'll be wearing a black shirt with one of these garments much of the time, so it could be a coordinating accent. Next time I will overestimate on the zippers. I promise myself.

And while we're speaking of sewing... Claudia was posting a while ago about whether or not to make the same sweater twice... to her and anyone else out there wondering if this is indeed a bad thing, my answer is a resounding no. I use and re-use the same sewing patterns for years. If it works, why change it? Not that I won't add a collar or ruffle or lengthen or shorten, but flattering shapes are good for the soul. If you love it, why should multiples be a problem? I think the pattern I've used most to date is a pants pattern I copied from a pair of store-bought pants. In my head I can count at least seven pairs in my wardrobe from that pattern, but I bet I'm missing some.

Besides, practice makes perfect. Just think how much faster the sixth one is to make than the first!

Comments

[claudia]

Thanks for your encouragement on Rogue. I'm waiting until I feel human again to make that decision.

As for the zipper, what about mail order at www.zipperstop.com? If you won't get to the store this week, they might be able to rush it to you.

[alison]

Thanks for approving of reknitting the same pattern. I am so tempted to make myself another Banff. I just love it so much, how could it be wrong to have another?!