courtesy of the Fuggers.

Sewing can be such a wonderful and fulfilling craft. It's the art of taking a pattern or creating your own concept and combining it with the perfect fabric and making something magnificient. But what about everything that goes into the prep work? How do you even get to the point of turning on the machine? This whole process can be extremely daunting. I first have to (1) prepare the fabric by either preshrinking or steam pressing. Usually while this is going on, I'm probably looking for new project ideas, shopping for more fabric or finishing up a current project. Then comes the (2) laying out and pinning the pattern pieces and cutting. Don't you just love this part? Now that I got all of my pieces cut out, I have to (3) transfer all of the little symbols to the fabric, this part is call marking. My preferred method of doing this is with tailor's chalk or a dressmaker's pencil.

Usually, by the time I've gotten this far, I'm thanking the good Lord that I didn't have too many pattern alterations or modifications to do (that's a whole other post). Now, I'm ready to sew! Oops, forgot the interfacing! Now that I've cut that out and fused it to the pieces, I'm too damn tired to do any sewing! Maybe tomorrow I'll actually get a chance to turn the machine on.