Too Sick To Sew?

I didn’t finish my March project-of-the-month for a good reason. I was sick for two weeks, much too sick to sew. In fact, a mistake I made while working on the wallhanging was probably a sign of my impending illness.

While piecing the background, I realized that the dark fabrics in it would show through the lightest fabrics in the figures. I was pleased to have figured this out before it actually happened, as it would be difficult to fix after the fact. (Ask me how I know…) I cut pieces of plain muslin to back the palest fabrics, then tacked them in place. I should have secured them around their entire edges but didn’t because I was leaving the freezer paper on until the last possible moment.

The next thing I knew, it was time to stitch the figures onto the background, a task I’ve been dreading for decades. I thought keeping the figures flat would be tricky, but the hardest part was actually the prep work. Peeling the freezer paper patterns off took tweezers and an entire afternoon. The result was sore fingers, some popped stitches, and a disastrous fatigue.

I don’t know if it was the prep work or the impending illness, but I completely forgot about my muslin layers. I pinned the figures down without giving them a thought. After I finally had all the figures sewn in place, I saw that some of the muslin had rumpled and finally remembered that I needed to be careful. It was too late. I couldn’t manipulate the muslin without cutting into the backing, and in some cases, couldn’t smooth the muslin out because it was trapped in a seam. I added more fabric where needed and hand-sewed everything into place, a fiddly process that seemed to take forever. Once the muslin was secure, I whip-stitched the openings closed, leaving the back a delicate mess. One of my last steps will be to sew patches over all these spots so the backing is both tidy and sturdy.

I don’t know if it’s despite this illness-enhanced challenge or because of it, but I’m still eager to finish this project. I don’t care that March is over. I’m breaking another rule. The first two weeks of April will be dedicated to my March POM to make up for the time I unexpectedly lost. With luck, I will be able to finish it. As I’ve discovered with every project I’ve worked on this year, now that I’m underway, I just want this thing done.