Now Playing: my own bitterness and anger, it's a loud symphony.
Current Mood : Beyond.
Current Image Notes : Pattern sketch from Simplicity 5840, view A. All rights retained by originator, no copyright infringement intended.
Well, yesterday at about 5pm is where things started to tank. BIL came over, and I had to ask him if he liked the finished ‘rough draft' (coughfullywearableandfunctionalhack) robe. I hate begging for praise, especially when I've put in serious effort, but I needed some positive reinforcement. BIL told everyone else how much he liked it, but he somehow forgot to tell me. (sigh) He put it on, and it fit well and flowed beautifully, and I was so happy with how it looked on him, and very proud of my good work - for about ten minutes. Then he launched into a long laundry list of amendments, changes, alterations, and enhancements he wants for the final version.
WTF ??! The robe is for a trip next month - in roughly two weeks. To change everything he wants me to, I'd need to pretty much scrap the pattern and make a new one, custom fitted to him, from scratch - and some of the changes he wants, I have no idea how to make. It's a robe. Basically a bag with sleeves and a little cape around the shoulders. Simplicity #5840, View A, no hood. Shoot, I had to alter the pattern for him before I sewed a single stitch !
I have no clue how to pleat it around his waist so it spaces evenly under his belt - the bloody pattern doesn't call for a belt ! Or belt loops ! The belt he wants to use rides high in the back and low in the front. Imagine trying to put in little pleats all the way around six yards of fabric where it's x amount up in the back and y in the front, but it all has to be even. Plus, the darn belt pulls the robe up too high, and that's why it's unevenly spaced. It's supposed to drop straight to the floor, not get hitched up into a skirt ! Little pleats and belt loops won't change that. Oh, and he wants me to make a new belt, too. (heavier sigh)
He also wants to get 4" wide ribbon, fold it in half, and edge everything - the closed front opening (don't ask), the hem, the capelet, the sleeves, the collar, everything. Maybe next week, he'll have time to shop for said ribbon. Um, BIL - I intend to be DONE with this project by next Friday. I am not dragging this out any further ! House went to heck while I stewed and fretted and fussed over the rough draft all week - I am not going to ignore my family and my house again while fussing over another d@mn robe for you !
Does he even realize how difficult it is to sew folded nylon ribbon ? Nylon doesn't hold a press unless ya melt it, and is gonna slip and slide all over the cotton twill he picked out for Robe #2. Finished, it'll look like crap, and every bloody wandering stitch will show like a roach on a wedding cake. Like anyone's first attempt to machine-sew bias tape to a raw edge with a straight-stitch presser foot. Sure, I added ribbon to a set of sweats for Dearest Son's Halloween costume last year - but I used Stitch Witchery. It's ironed on, and tacked down at the waist and leg on the pants, and shoulder seam and waistband on the shirt ! And it's already starting to come off. Luckily, Dearest's nearly outgrown it.
Like an idiot, though, I sat there in shock, feeling like all my efforts were for nothing, because it seemed he liked very little about the finished draft. I mean, if he liked it, why would he want to change or alter darn near every piece of it ? I did some amendments to the rough draft on the spot, and I said I thought I could do most of the changes on the next one...because I want him to have what he wants, but the more I think about them, the more I realize it'll be a ton of work using time I simply don't have budgeted for this, and some of it, like the pleated belt loop things, I don't have the skill to even try. I make doll clothes. Occasionally, I make loose-fitting people clothes, but only when I can stick darn close to a pre-made pattern. I'm not a seamstress. I'm not a designer. I'm doing him a favor, and doing the best I can, but I'm really starting to feel used. I've already put in ten solid hours on this little project, with at least nine more to go, and I just don't have another fifteen to screw around with pleats and belts and ribbon and everything else he wants. I'm not getting paid, I'm barely getting thanked, and I just want this to be over.
So I get to eat a bit of crow in a bit. I'm gonna call him, and tell him I'm going to make the second one the way I originally planned. Straight basic black. If he wants to add ribbon, he's welcome to use fabric glue. He can pick stitches to tuck the ribbon in on the seams, and hand-sew them back. As far as the belt loops and waist pleats...I have no idea how to pleat six yards of fabric evenly around someone's waist when the front is several inches different from the back, and the pattern was never designed to accommodate a thick belt. And not once in my entire life have I ever made belt loops. He can try it himself, or he can hitch it up under his belt, the good ole fashioned way. It's his robe, but I am not killing myself to rework the whole thing. If he wants it to be jazzy, he can do some of the so-necessary work himself.
I'm just really upset, because I feel like I busted my butt to do something good and nice, to keep a promise I made four years ago, and I'm informed that it's only barely adequate, and only with numerous time-sucking changes will it be good enough. I'm proud of what I did, and if it's not good enough, he can take this ‘little project' to a real seamstress and pay $200. or more for what he wants. Added to the frustration is that he's detailed every dollar he's spent on this trip to me, and while I don't expect to be paid, it kind of hurts that I don't even get thanked - but because the robes are just sooo cheap, he can get the deluxe everything else for the trip. Oh, and here's my list of what needs to be improved next time. These robes AREN'T cheap, BIL. Ten hours of my time isn't nothing ! Sheesh, I've gone from feeling so skilled and confident to feeling like I can't sew shiat after ten minutes with my ‘client'.
Crap, I don't even want to make the Final Version now, because there's no way it'll be good enough. Beloved Hubby says it's fine with him if I hand his brother six yards of cotton twill next week, because he hates to see me so upset about it all, and he thought I did a fine job that should be good enough on the first one.
I have plenty of things to do with my time. I'm being nice, and trying new things that aren't exactly comfortable for me, all because I want to keep my promise. I told him I could make the changes partly because I was in shock, partly because I wanted to appear professional and skilled, but mostly because I was too hurt to do much more than nod at him. What he has right now is my best. I don't need someone who can't thread a needle expecting miracles with $12. worth of fabric. I don't need the stress and I can't spare the time.
Would you like the kicker now ? BIL realizes we probably won't have time to make the View B cloak...WHAT ? I never said a (*&^%$&*( ing thing about making a cloak, ever ! What the... oh, never mind, (*&^ it, I'm just gonna go running off, screaming into the hills now....
But, "Woman feels 'supremely justified' about murdering her BIL over a fake Jedi/Priest robe" would make a juicy headline ! I'd get to read how insane/fat/ugly I am over on fark.com, too. Provided the county lockup would grant me internet access...
