When sh*t goes pear-shaped

So far, in most of these posts you have seen how nicely things come together when everything wants to behave.  I have been lucky, this is usually the case because I do lots of planning and measuring and I generally make sure that everything will come together OK.  But, sometimes there are surprises.  Sometimes things don't go as planned.  I have found a few reasons for this, but the number one reason that stuff goes wrong for me is cheap fabric.  As mentioned in a previous post, I shop at Sew What and I avoid JoAnn like the plague (and, as a microbiologist, I mean this literally).  JoAnn seems rife with cheap, sub par fabrics that just don't sew well.  If you buy cheap fabric, you are just setting yourself up for failure.
Great example- I recently attended a Regency Ball commemorating the safe return of the Lewis and Clark expedition.  I looked at the Regency patterns and decided that they looked infinitely more simple than the Victorian stuff.  Should be easy.  And, since this was a first time thing, I didn't want to drop big bucks on a gown.  I purchased some pretty sheer eyelet fabric at Sew What that I was really happy with that was not exactly inexpensive.  So, I wanted a liner fabric that was inexpensive, light and airy, and a fun pastel color.  Well, finding fun pastel colors in the middle of December is tricky at best.  So I ended up with this light teal green cheap rayon type fabric that I mainly purchased because it was so darned inexpensive.  What was the harm?  Ug.  What a mess.  It pulled funny through the machine, it moved and didn't want to lay flat, it was a nightmare!!!  I love the overdress portion, but I will have to re-cut the skirt and fix the thing at some point because I was embarrassed to wear the thing.  Matt's costume was fabulous, mine was awful.
For those of you that know me well, you know my memory is rather... short.  If it is not vitally important to me, my life, my work, or my well being I tend to just let it go.  You can only pack so much in there.  When I was done with the Regency dress, I took the leftover evil fabric, folded it up nicely, and threw it in one of the plastic bins that hold my fabric under the bed.  Out of sight, out of mind.

I began my most recent Victorian gown and I realized that I hadn't chosen a lining fabric.  What did I do?  I went hunting under the bed for a good lining.  What did I find?  That darned evil green fabric.  By this point, I had forgotten the trials and tribulations of the other gown.  It was just lining, how bad could it be?  Ug. I think after this little adventure I will have to institute a "donate evil fabric" policy.  The photo sums this disaster up quite nicely- that seam should lay nice and flat and even. Instead, this fabric doesn't sit flat, and it has little pulls where the needle grabbed the rayon.  The seam looks awful!  I wouldn't put this in a gown, lining or not.  So I scrapped it and started from the beginning with the lining using a nicer grade white satin that I had used before for my Sapphire and Snow antebellum gown.  MUCH better.  Even seeing that seam now makes me cringe!

As you can see, the final lining product came out fabulously!!!  No pulls, no weirdness.  These photos are of the lining being paired with the bodice itself.  Careful pinning ensures that there is no slipping since it is a satin.  Also, it pays to be especially careful here because this bodice has 1/2 inch seams and the boning begins 1/2 inch from the outside of the fabric.  It is REALLY easy to break needles on boning, and it is SCARY when it happens!!!

So, I suppose my little adventure with the evil fabric didn't set me back much time or, in this case, money.  But I figured I would share since most people only get to see the final product and not the little incidents along the way :)