As God Is My Witness………

…… I'll never sew polyester again!

Burda Plus Fashion
Fall/Winter 2011 #428

All I wanted was a blouse.  This blouse really wasn't that difficult.  I read the instructions a few times and understood the construction of that deceptively innocent looking gathering on the front.   My mistake was choosing 100% polyester fabric. When sewing a nice natural fiber like linen or cotton, one only needs a little steam to make the fabric behave.  Natural fibers stretch and ease.  But polyester?  Polyester doesn't stretch or ease.   It's almost impossible to ease a polyester seam.   Steam wasn't enough to shrink the longer seam.  Steam only made it wet.  It took brute force and a wood clapper to even press the seam allowances to one side.  And even then, the results are less than desirable.  I used every method of easing I know and it wasn't enough.  I got the sloppy looking collar and yoke seen below.

Easing would have helped the collar and yoke.

If the polyester were more cooperative,  I could have eased the seams together and those hideous little hiccups would have disappeared.  If I couldn't get a seam like the yoke to look smooth, imagine what the sleeve would have looked like – especially with the added layers of the bands on the shoulder.  I did what any self-respecting person would do.  I gave up.  I wasn't happy with the way the yoke and collar looked and I knew I would never wear the blouse.

As I struggled with an iron, a clapper and brute strength, I felt like Scarlett O'Hara must have felt when she found herself face down in the dirt scarfing down that raw potato.    A little piece of polyester was not going to keep me from having that blouse.  Just like Scarlett, I got up, wiped the dirt off my face, spit out that damn potato and took myself to the store to look for another fabric to use for the blouse.