Baby Bunting Bust

Every once in awhile, I have a major sewing fail. I blame it on my pattern reading skills. I don’t like to read patterns. The only time I break down and do so is when there’s something I can’t figure out on my own. Recently, I’ve tried to get better at this by forcing myself to read patterns start to finish. So, when I take the time to read every step of a pattern in detail, I expect things to work out. This was not the case with my most recent sewing project.

My good friend has a baby due the 12th and I wanted to make her something special. Her and her husband have chosen not to know the sex of the baby, so it had to be something unisex. For the baby shower (Labor Day weekend… yes I started this project in August!), I got them a furry car seat cover and monkey strap covers. To go along with the travel-in-cold-weather theme, I figured a baby bunting would be perfect.

I picked design A from McCalls pattern M5693. I thought the hood and the mittens would be more practical than a design without them. Turns out, that was my demise. I redid the stupid mittens at least 4 times and re-read the directions at least 20 before I admitted defeat. On Saturday, I put the trash can up to the sewing table and swept it clean – trashing the baby bunting I’d worked so hard on for two months.

While I hate to throw something away, I hate getting stressed out when I sew even more. Sewing is supposed to be my time to relax and enjoy my work. When it stops being fun, it’s just not worth it to me.

Have you ever had a project you tried so hard to finish… but finally gave up? How did you feel? I am upset at myself for letting it defeat me, but at the same time I’m relieved I don’t have to look at it anymore.