Print-at-home patterns are the worst (and the best)

Let me set the scene for you. I haven't sewn in seven weeks.

Seven. Weeks.

Life just got in the way. But this ends now. I've signed up to go to a local sewing meet-up in two weeks' time, to meet the lovely gals I see on Instagram, and to force myself to get back into it, because I really miss sewing. 

The problem is, I've just finished a long (LOOONG) week at work, and I don't feel like making anything that I've already got in my pattern stash. But it's 8pm on a Friday night* and I really want to have something ready to start tomorrow morning.

Enter the print-at-home pattern.

My criteria were simple: fast, fun to make, fun to wear and won't require anything I don't already have. After spending all week dreaming about what I could make - and creepily eying the outfits of almost every lady I see ("Would that look good on me? How is that constructed? Ooh, I love that fabric!") - I finally decided to buy a Seamwork pattern - the Osaka skirt. 

I bought the pattern, printed it out... and realised it's 30 pages long. Look, I know that 30 pages is really quite short as far as these things go, but after a long week, I kind of just wanted something I can dive right into, and the thought of taping together 30 A4 sheets made me want to give up and binge-watch Orange is the New Black.

This is why print-at-home patterns are the worst.

But here's the thing - I really, really wanted to make this skirt. I've wanted to make it for a really long time. And the sooner I sucked it up and taped the damn thing together, the sooner I could sew it up.

So I did. It didn't take that long after all; I was done halfway through the OITNB episode, and now here I am at my computer, blogging about it. I think it's taken me more time to write this post than it actually took to stick them together. 

Really, as painful as the idea of that process was, it wasn't too bad. Best of all, at the end of it, I got a lovely new pattern that I can trace out and start sewing as soon as I've finished the grocery shopping tomorrow!

You can't say that about copyshop printing, or ordering a tissue-paper hard copy online.

And that is why print-at-home patterns are the best.

* hey, no judging! If you're reading this blog, I'm pretty sure that you aren't out partying either!