So, a role-playing character enters the bar:

“Where you been? Haven’t seen you in ages.”

“Sewing-land” (sighs heavily, hand tremors)

“Bad, was it?”

(nods) “Bad like you wouldn’t believe” (drinks deeply) “Ah, that’s better!” “Yeah, real bad, but I survived!!! I made it through the dark forest of topstiching, the swamps of non-stick interfacing and finally I fought the dreaded zipper-toothed dragon”.

Yes, I’ve really and truly completed my first sewn garment. Burda 7947, view C, I think I should have chosen something easier … not a 3 out of 4 dot effort. Also, I made it needlessly difficult for myself deciding to do mock flat-fell seams. Yes, of course, I see all the imperfections … the interfacing is too stiff (but firmly stuck!). There’s some problem or other across the front at hip level, same issue I often have with RTW clothes. And it’s really too big for me, who knew tape measures were so subjective?

But I’m really glad I’m done – not just relieved, I feel I’ve learnt so much, and now have new confidence to tackle sewing challenges. And let’s face it, any sewing is still a challenge for me … ah, the joys of being self-taught.

Out of interest, I scrolled back to when I first got interested in sewing, it’s about a year of reading, thinking, dreaming …

I found a newsagent that happily stocked foreign language sewing, knitting and fashion magazines. They weren’t disconcerted that I can read languages other than English. And I found a great Italian sewing magazine in the style of Burda World of Fashion, Patrones or Knipmode with multi-size sewing patterns and instructions sandwiched between photos of the great clothes you could make. And I truly like the clothes… simple, stylish, I’d love to wear them.

But. (You knew there’d be a ‘but’, didn’t you?) But the magazine is from 2005, and the distributor can’t / won’t get any more issues, maybe because it’s no longer published. And I’m having a tough time finding any recent information about the magazine online, making me think the distributor’s right. The only possibility is this, it looks like a totally-French-language version, reasonably recent. Is it worth ordering it all the way from France, I wonder… sight unseen?

Mood: Sometimes I like German more than English. Although ‘schade’ covers a somewhat different range of meaning than ‘pity’, I think. ‘Pity’ is more sentimental, ‘schade’ can also relate to damage.