The thing about creating patterns for handbags and "one size fits all" aprons is... there's no grading involved. Throw in a piece of clothing and uh oh! You gotta' grade. Now, I know that I could hand it off to someone and say, "here you go, grade away," but there's something about learning the skill myself... I love to just Know. 

Today, I went to a sewing "lab" which actually turned out to be an almost private lesson in pattern making as there were just two of us due to summer vacations. Thank goodness because, boy! Did I ever need help. 

First of all, I learned that I absolutely must have one of these. You gotta' have this for sleeves, hips and more. Here I was just matching things up and curving the way I thought they should go, and come to find out there's a much easier (and apparently... ahem... standard) way.

I also learned that I know even less than I thought I knew. Which wasn't much.

But more importantly, I learned that really, it's not rocket science, it's definitely a skill that I can acquire. And though I'm glad I'm learning how... I now know that it takes a Whole Bunch of Time ... time I could spend in other places. Like, oh, I don't know... Creating, writing, spending time with my kids, getting to that stack of laundry... stuff like that. Stuff I can't get someone else to do (and wouldn't want to).

So, next time I'm just gonna' have someone else do it. 

But there really is something to be said for "knowing how", isn't there?