Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice

It took me all day to attach an elastic band to ONE sleeve. I HATE simplicity patterns so much.

The entire morning, I foolishly tried to slip the elastic through the bias tape listed on the pattern. Silly me! I forgot that simplicity patterns are designed by brain dead monkeys!

You see, if it was possible to sew exactly on the edge of the tape, with not even the slightest margin, the tape would be the perfect size. But unfortunately, it's impossible to sew that close to the edge. I did manage pretty close. But there was still about one millimeter (maybe half of one) of margin. So there was no way at all I was going to get that elastic in.

Finally I got some sense in my head, and pulled out some wider bias tape. Now it's no problem! It's perfect!

Lesson learned: Never believe simplicity patterns. They lie.

For the record, McCalls 4091 is a poorly written pattern. I would not recommend it to any beginner. You need to have a certain level of skill to fill in the blanks. There are far too many details that have been left out. It's making me a little crazy because these things should be mentioned. Instead, I have to waste time deciphering the directions.

Also, the pictures are horribly misleading.