I’m sure
I’m not the only one who has wondered just how much time it takes to make a
garment. When I start a project I don’t usually
think about how long it will take, only when it will be ready. If I actually try and estimate how many
minutes or hours a project will take I invariably underestimate. Those little jobs on each project don’t seem
to count, until you actually come to press the seams and realise that it takes
time to set up the iron and ironing board and press the seams.
Yesterday
I found myself sewing against the clock and out of curiosity I timed each part
of a simple project.
Last week
I was unfortunate enough to lose a friend and dive buddy (it was covered in the
press here if anyone wants the gory details) and had made myself a new black
blouse to wear to the funeral yesterday.
I had a pretty restless night so got up at about 6 and decided to press
my black skirt that I was going to wear with the blouse and make some
coffee. As I was pressing the skirt I
noticed that it seemed rather small. I
can’t remember the last time I wore it so I just slipped it on and discovered
that it was WAY too small. In hindsight
I should have remembered that I had put on weight since I last wore it, and
when I put aside a few metres of black drill for a new black jacket I added an
extra metre for a new skirt, so subconsciously I guess I knew the old one didn’t
fit me anymore. No problem, I thought, I’ve
got fabric lining and a zip, it’ll only take an hour or so to whip up a new
skirt, which was on the sewing list anyway, and my lift to the funeral wasn’t
arriving until 9:30; heaps of time!
So this
is how it actually worked:
I was
using my basic skirt block, with no modifications and no fitting required. The fabric, lining, zip and interfacing were
all in a project bag together, easily accessible and pre-washed). The iron was
already set up and my sewing machine and overlocker were threaded up with black
thread (from the black blouse I finished the night before).
Cutting out main
fabric, skirt front and facing on the fold, two skirt backs and back facing –
10 minutes.
Marking the darts
with chalk – 10 minutes.
Sewing eight darts,
two side seams and two partial side seams – 15 minutes
Searching for
invisible zip (which had fallen down the back of my sewing cabinet) 15 minutes
Inserting invisible
zip – 15 minutes
Pressing seams, darts
and zip - 10
Re-cutting one facing
piece as I’d fused the interfacing to the wrong side – 10 minutes
Joining facing pieces
– 5 minutes
Unpicking and
re-stitching the waist seam where I had tucks – 20 minutes
Pressing skirt – 10 minutes
I rushed
through the shower, tidied my hair and managed to get into my new outfit at 9:15. Heaps
of time for a cup of coffee before my lift arrived. I poured a cup before I glanced down and
realised that I had forgotten one task – the hem! Whipped off the skirt, overlocked the bottom
hem and used hemming tape to fix the hem up.
Cheating? Absolutely, but I was
down to my last ten minutes and didn’t really want a topstitched hem. I will hand stitch the hem later.
Looking back at it,
this project was a case of more haste, less speed. I spent a total of three quarters of an hour
on tasks that I probably wouldn’t have had to do if I hadn’t felt under time
pressure.
I also deliberately kept it really
simple, using a TNT pattern that didn’t need any fitting. I suspect that a simple, plain straight skirt
could be accomplished in two hours if I had everything set up and didn’t panic.
I have seen a few
bloggers who have kept a record of how long they spend on a special project, but not more routine sewing projects, and often they record time from starting the project to finishing it, rather than actual sewing time.
People often say “That’s lovely, you should make clothes for a living.” I usually mutter something about cheap Asian imports, but this has given me a quantifiable reason that I could never complete with the imports being sold in the mall.
People often say “That’s lovely, you should make clothes for a living.” I usually mutter something about cheap Asian imports, but this has given me a quantifiable reason that I could never complete with the imports being sold in the mall.
Does anyone know how long garments take them?
funny you should mention this, as I was sewing today, I realised I had spent the better part of the last two days making and putting on a waistband! granted, I was totally drafting as I went without a pattern... but still.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm just a super slow sewer, I made a few aprons for gifts last year, and they took me at least 6 hours each.
& Sorry about your friend, what a horrible thing to happen :(