I have a seasonal affliction – Project Runwayitis. The first symptom is that you start thinking that since you sew a lot that you should be able to make clothes. In the early stages your mind is able to come up with all kinds of reasons why this is not true. As the disease progresses you start to forget.

Here are the reasons why I can’t make clothes. I’m writing them down because they are starting to fade.

– I am a quilter. If the finished project isn’t the right size I add a border. That doesn’t work on clothes.

– I am a process person, not a finished project person. When I finish a quilt I take a picture and am perfectly happy to send it away. I don’t care to see it anymore. It is no longer of interest to me. Sewing clothes is all about the end result since you are supposed to use them after you make them.

– I don’t understand sewing. Quilting is absolutely instinctual for me. For the longest time I didn’t understand why they sold quilt patterns since you see exactly how to make it from looking at the picture on the front. Do I understand clothes construction? Not at all. Frustrating to no end.

– The stuff I would like to make is WAY outside my skill level. I think things like “I’d like a copy of that fancy dress” but I can’t do that.

– I can’t find cool fabric around here. I need Tim Gunn to take me to Mood.

– The crinkly pattern paper freaks me out.

How do I know all this? Because I’ve made clothes before and it has always ended in disaster. Once it ended in the emergency room but that’s another story.

But my affliction has advanced. Today I bought an easy pattern for a dress. I’m going to make a beach coverup. It says that the sewing time is one hour. That makes me laugh. That doesn’t cover the time involved cutting and cussing.

I’ll try this in Saturday while listening to football. That will add some cussing time to the overall construction! Pictures maybe to follow if it isn’t totally embarrassing.