Frustration and stress relieving

As some may know from reading the other blog Show in Style, your turnout in driving is just as important as your attire in the ring in other events- western, dressage, hunters, saddleseat, etc. How you look carries over to how you do in the ring. Your clothes, your style, it can help make you or break you.

You want to choose something that stands out, yet isn't completely over the top and obnoxious. You want to be remembered for how nice you looked, how well you stood out for good reasons and how well you did. You don't want to be the person everyone is talking about months later because of "OMG did you see what they were wearing? Wasn't it just hideous?"

A lot of people know that I sew. My skills are not quite those of my mothers and there are things I am still learning. Sometimes my sewing is enough to make her nuts. She just doesn't look too closely at my finished work (clothing) and it's all good. Mostly though, my finished work is horse stuff, not clothes. She sews clothes. That's her strong point, not necessarily mine... But I have her to go to when I am sewing clothes, get stumped and need the answers to make it right. I also learned to swear from my mother.

Anyone who sews knows it goes hand in hand with swearing. Horses carry that same familiar bond with swearing. Sometimes all you have to do is yell, throw in a curse word or two and man do the horses jump to attention. They know their silly games no longer fly and they better straighten up and behave like they should. All of this and you never laid a hand on them. "Knock it off you S-O-B!" and they stop whatever it is they were doing. Whoa dammit! is another one.  All of this relieves some of your stress- the swearing and the horses behaving- so you can go on and do what you need to do.

For my mother it was always "Shit, Damn and Hell!" Always those words, always in that order. My Dad, two brothers, sister and I knew something went wrong and mom was pissed. Anyone that sews also knows you will screw up. You will have to go back and rip things out, change things, fix them and make it better. How things fit is important. Your clothes either compliment your body shape or horribly accent all the things you find wrong with it. Make you or break you.

With the CDE coming up in October, I have been working on a jacket for the event. I picked up the pattern back in March, found a few pieces of fabrics to make the jacket, hat and my apron. I have scoured the internet for hat making information and am going to give it a try. The pattern I chose- the jacket is not lined. It is also not very 'form fitting' or anything like that. I am going to line it and have started making changes to it to make it more figure flattering. I have been frustrated, ripped out a lot of stitching already and have sworn both under my breath and out loud- A Lot!

It has two pieces for the back, four pieces for the front. I cut everything out, stitched the back together, stitched the side front pieces on and the shoulder seams and thought I would try it on. This was the beginning of the swearing. The side front pieces didn't come all of the way across the front of me. One thing running through my mind (besides a lot of swearing) was that at least I still have plenty of time to find and buy more fabric (and more swearing).

Then I looked over to see the other two pieces that make up the front of the jacket. Yes! There they were, laying there in all of their glory. I had also cut out the lining for this jacket. This is not part of the pattern, but I figured I would add to my frustration. I pieced things together in my mind and it seems like it should work. So I sewed the front pieces on either side, sewed the sleeves on and waa-laa. I upped the ante on frustration. It looked ok, but it didn't fit like it should. The sleeves were big, super long and didn't go on as planned. The front of the jacket puckered in places it shouldn't and was all over BIG. Add more liberal swearing to relieve the stress.... and start taking things apart. The lining was also all stitched together at this point and would need changes made to it too....

To be continued