Epic Fail

So...sometimes in blogland, we only see the good stuff.  Since we as bloggers choose what we post, we can have a tendency to only show the good things.  We can edit the messiness of life out of our pictures and stories and show off only what we want you to see.

And then there are times we tell it like it is....

Here's one of those times for your enjoyment.

Remember that awesome skirt I was going to quickly whip up for summer wear and to enter in Skirt Week for myself...  And how it was so easy it was perfect for beginers.  I could make this skirt in my sleep...

EPIC FAIL!!

I WISH I'd taken pictures along and along.  It has been bad since about step 3.

I was thrilled at first because I had JUST the right amount of Kona White to line this skirt and thought it was a sign from Heaven that this would be a great project.  NO.

The cutting went well.  I measured my hips and multiplied that number by 1.75 and then divided by 2 to get my front and back rectangle measurements.  This seemed embarrassingly large, but I had faith...

I cut out the pockets on both the fashion and the lining fabric.

Cue the sad music to begin the downhill slide...

I decided not to treat the lining and fashion fabric as one and sew them separately for more movement in the skirt.  But remember how I'd already cut the pockets for the lining??  I had to Frankenstein that back together because I had just enough Kona remember.

Still positively moving on, I attached the pockets to the front of the skirt, sewed the side seams on the skirt and lining and then sewed the two together at the top and turned right-side-out.  And this thing was huge.  HUGE.  Like sofa slipcover huge.

But I blindly pressed on having faith in the shirring to bring it in.

I shirred this skirt like a Boss.  I'm talking no issues through 10 rows of shirring other than running out of elastic thread in the bobbin and even that was no big deal.  I was feeling good.

But I still worried that it was too big.  So I pressed on...literally.  I heated up my iron to the hottest setting, filled it with water and steamed the you-know-what out of that shirring.  And it shrunk up a lot.

But I still could have fit at least 2 of me in this skirt.

FAIL.

I so wish I had pictures because y'all would be cracking up laughing at me in this thing...

So I threw it in the corner, hosted a sleepover for 9 nine-year-olds and came back to it yesterday.

I boldly decided to just cut out 6 inches from the center front and back and sew the skirt back together.  Because of the pockets, I couldn't just take in the back or the side seams, so I thought what the heck and went for it.

This is what I cut out of the middle front and back of the skirt!

It was a pain to cut and sew because of the shirring, but I did my best.  I decided to just sew the fashion fabric and lining as one because at this point I was tired of this darn skirt.  So I sewed it up.

And the D*** thing was still too big.  Like Chris chuckled when he saw it on me and told me to take at least 6 more inches off the front and back.

So I did.

Wait for it...
Now I can't fit this skirt over my thighs.

And to make matters worse--it ALMOST fits Emma.  It's a little too big.

Double Burn...not only have I ruined this much-anticipated, super-easy, can't-wait-to-wear skirt, but I realized that my thighs are bigger around than my precious skinny little daughter's waist.

Seriously...what a reward for running...my muscular things just made me want to cry.

I threw the darn skirt across my bedroom again, took a deep breath, had a good laugh and decided to make it a dress for Em.

But then I realized those stupid pockets wouldn't allow for that unless I wanted to explain why she had pockets in her armpits...

So....know that even practically perfect bloggers like me (HAHAHAHAHA) have bad days and do incredibly dumb things.

And remember that it's just fabric....nothing hurt but some time, a little money, and my pride...

All's well and I'm moving on...just tell me you at least laughed with me and not at me okay??  :)