miters

Mitering. I can sew a mitered corner on a quilt edging with my eyes closed. Not so much on a coat sleeve vent. Perhaps the majority of people don't even know the inside of a jacket sleeve vent is mitered at one corner, but I do. You would too if you brought your jacket to someone for a sleeve alteration and they didn't know how to do a proper corner.
So. I had to shorten the sleeve and finish it up to make it look like nobody had done any work. That's my preferred look. Untouched. I've bumbled through mitered corners many times, but THIS time I decided to master the technique and not have to reinvent the wheel each and every time. So I opened up the sleeve. Marked the new hemline. Sewed the miter. Turned it right side out.
Oops. Wrong miter stitch line. Rip, Sew again. Right side out. Still not right. Rip. Mark the stitch line more carefully. Sew. Right side out. Shit. Try a couple more times. More shits and damns.
Ok. Just what IS the problem? So I folded the miter as I knew it should look on the outside, pressed the folds, then opened up the sleeve and studied just where the creases were which should be where the stitch line should be. Hmmmm. I think I got it. So I go to my alterations manual and check. Yep. That's it! I got it!
Now why didn't I go to the manual in the first place? Because its mostly words, and I don't learn that way. I'm a tactile learner.

This was an exhilarating experience, though not at the time. Just afterwards. Yes, I invented the same wheel many others had done before me (and even wrote directions in manuals to help others and make some money in the process). But this time its my wheel, and now I can do sleeve vent miters in my sleep. Just like quilt binding miters.

Speaking of sleep.....time to plant my face in a pillow.
G'night.