Fools Rush in... Project 21

I’m never as confident sewing with lycra as other fabrics.  It seems to slip while I’m cutting it. Slip while I’m sewing it and eject all pins which I may use to try and suppress this tendency.  Having said that, it’s easy to wash, dries quickly and never needs ironing!  I know I shouldn’t be attracted to fabrics according to how much work they will require once they make it into my wardrobe, but I really, really, really hate ironing. 

Anyway, this stuff was bundled up with a yellow version of the print for $8 on trade-me (a NZ version of Ebay), so I figured I could have a play with it.

I started with the idea of a circular skirt with a wrap top on the top of it.  I remembered the formulae involving Pi from school and used my waist as the circumference of the skirt at the waist, less 20% for negative ease, then calculated the radius. 

For the top I used an old Butterick pattern, cutting it off at what I guessed was the waist.

I don’t know what I did wrong with my waist calculations but I couldn’t even stretch it on,  so I added a strip of plain black down the centre front.   

When I then attached it to the body from the Butterick Pattern I discovered that my estimate of the waist was way too high.  The resulting garment sort of looked like a baby doll night dress – too short for everyday wear and it made me look pregnant. 

Since I already had a black strip down the centre front, I unpicked the bodice from the skirt and added more black at the waist line.

 

This time it did fit slightly better, but I’d obviously made the waist piece too wide, and now the skirt flared out from the hip, which was sooooo not a flattering look on me. 

By this time “playing" had ceased to be fun, so a wrinkled up the waist piece to make it look shorter and have the skirt flare out from where I used to have a waist.

I’m far from happy with this, partly because it actually doesn’t look that bad, and it does have a lovely flare.  

 If it looks “not too bad” with such a **** up of a sewing session, just think how good it would’ve looked if I’d actually taken my time and done it properly?
 

Am I the only person who rushes into a project then realised how much nicer it would have been if I’d taken a little more care?