Color Me Purple

Purple is a standout color. It is the hue of royalty made from the rarest of dyes, the tint of smoldering sunsets, the shade of head-turning hydrangeas in a summer garden.

And, as of last Thursday, it’s the gorgeous color of my new dress that I finally finished sewing. As reported a few weeks ago, I had been making good progress until I messed up the neckline finish, so I put it aside for about a week to figure out the solution. The problem was the beautiful fabric, which I have had in my fabric stash for nearly 40 years. It has a very soft hand and loose weave, so it ripples and stretches and generally does not make for easy construction.

I had tried to finish the neckline with a strip of fabric cut on the bias (diagonal to the weave), which made it even stretchier. And my hands simply could not manipulate it on my sewing machine. So I ended up trimming off the mess and using a top-stitched facing (wider piece of fabric cut on the grain to encase the neckline edge) instead—easier to handle and a much neater finish.

Next step was to tackle the sleeves. Once again, the fabric was tricky to handle. When you set in a sleeve, you need to stitch a couple of rows of basting along the curved top, which enables you to gather that edge to fit the body of the garment. It took a lot of patience to spread the gathers evenly and pin them in place (without pinning them to my thumb bandages), then stitch the sleeve to the garment, and, finally, use a serger to overcast and trim the seam without accidentally cutting into the sleeve itself. I was catching my breath as I worked through that last step. But it came out fine.

The final steps were side seams, sleeve cuff finish, and a hem. I took my time with each one, and I managed not to make any big mistakes. Of course, I know where all the imperfections are in this project, but that doesn’t matter. It’s the final result that counts.

When I tried on the dress, I was really pleased. All the qualities of the fabric that made it such a challenge—the softness, breathability, drape, and yes, the color, because I used a purple thread that was so well matched that it was hard to see when I had to take out stitches for mistakes along the way—also make the dress a real pleasure to wear. It is cool and flows and feels very comfortable, a new summer staple for my wardrobe.

And it didn’t cost a cent to make. Just a boatload of patience and acknowledgement that, even if my hands can feel way too clumsy sometimes, compared to my former extremely fine motor coordination, they still serve me very well. Thank goodness.

Evelyn Herwitz blogs weekly about living fully with chronic disease, the inside of baseballs, turtles and frogs, J.S. Bach, the meaning of life and whatever else she happens to be thinking about at livingwithscleroderma.com. Please view Privacy Policy here.