What's the worst you've done?
 

I once threw a quilt top in the trash out of frustration for its inadequate existence. When I changed my mind, there was a coffee grind stain on the center white block!

Another time, someone spilled wine on my EPP left foolishly on the kitchen counter. WHY!?!

What's some of the worst that has happened to your projects?

I was sewing my wedding dress - this was 40 years ago and it was yards and yards of white satin that was not washable. I was still living with my parents, but kept everything in my bedroom with the door kept shut.

Sister went up to my room to look for something and had a glass of water with her, she set it down to look and then knocked it over and spilled water on the skirt. left a big water mark after it dried so I had to take that apart and replace the panel. At least the skirt wasn't sewn to the bodice yet, but it was super full with lots and lots of ruffles. And it was a back panel that formed part of the train.

I cut out a ton of pieces for a quilt, made several mistakes, it was a hot mess. I was interrupted several times by my kids while cutting the pieces. I was so upset, didn't even want to deal with it so I tossed them all in the garbage.

The worst was when I washed a new quilt, it totally puckered. It was like seersucker all over. I think it was the thread but it could have been the batting, who knows. Being a new quilter I was devastated. But I put it in my pile of quilts to be given away. When my sister in law chose it, I told her it was an experiment and that was the look I was going for. She loves it.

I was going to quilt a top for a customer, ironed it and rusty water came out of the iron onto a muslin piece. Luckily it was a corner of a Texas Star and she had more muslin, so I replaced it. And never used a steam iron again.

My biggest mistake was using ink jet printer iron-on sheets to make each daughter a quilt with their art pics from childhood. The quilts turned out nice and vibrant, but they're beyond fragile. The pics are cracked and certainly can't be laundered.

When I first started quilting I purchased pattern, fabric and batting. Went home washed the fabric which was fine but when I washed the batting and put it in the dryer all I had was a dryer full of fuzz. It was a big mess to clean up and to this day I never wash batting before using.

I've also had lots of annoying little ones that were fixable so nothing to throw away. But the little ones were "what was I thinking" types of mistakes or bloops.

The only real unpleasant mistake I made was with the first Drunkard's Path I made. The curves were a hot mess! It came out so terrible that I gave it to a dog rescue. It was repurposed into dog jackets that went home with dogs to their forever homes. So in the end it worked out great.

I learned that I never want to do another mystery quilt. What a mess, none of the colors even looked like a scrappy quilt. My mess went into the trash on the way out of the class.

I think the worst is the quilt blocks signed at my daughter’s wedding. I wanted to trim them down to 5 1/2 inch squares, but I couldn’t really figure out how to center them correctly. So I kept trimming some here and then some there. Well, some of them don’t have 1/4” seam allowance. I finally got so frustrated I put them in a box where they’ve been for over 20 years. At the time, my daughter said she didn’t know what she’d do with a quilt like that. Well so here we are and my daughter has never even asked about them. I should take them out and do something with them for their 25th anniversary!

The worst that ever happened to one of my quilts is gross...if you're squeamish stop reading.
I left a sandwiched quilt on my quilting table, ready to do some more quilting the next day. It was was a quilt for my daughter. One of my cats jumped up and vomited on the quilt...not just once. I couldn't wash it at that point. I had to finish quilting it enough that it would hold together through the wash. I finished it using rubber gloves and set the world speed record for straight line quilting.
Now when I'm finished for the day I cover my work with plastic sheets.

I used to make a lot of clothes. Two memorable mistakes boil down to the same thing: putting sleeves in backwards twice, and in junior high sewing class, attaching the top of an apron backwards to the bottom, several times with the help of my sewing teacher. She gave me a generous C in class, and knew I'd never amount to much. I had a hard time learning to use a thimble, too. The end of that story is that I did learn, and ended up writing for Threads, Belle Armoire, etc. I showed her!!!

My biggest (and costliest) mistake was buying ALL the fabric for a mystery quilt. Ended up trashing the unfinished top because it literally made me sick (pattern and colors were way, way, way too busy). I literally got dizzy just looking at it.Not even people in my guild wanted it for a charity quilt! With mystery quilts, I now print out the clues and wait for the reveal to see if I want to make it.

Lesser mistakes? Plenty. Biggest one is not fully documenting, with photographs, the many quilts I have given away.

When I was a kid I sewed my finger...twice. You think I would have learned the first time.

cute about the doggie jackets. the moral to your post is not to let anyone near your work until it is complete! and maybe not even then.....

Yay for you! I love those kinds of stories! I had a typing teacher that did not like me and was always really hard on me. She told me that my typing was terrible and that I'd never make it as a secretary when I grew up. One day, I came to school with the flu and told that teacher that I was really sick and needed to get outside for some fresh air. She wouldn't let me, of course. Five minutes later, I threw up all over the typewriter. I'm sure that she was the one who had to clean it up. And yes, she was right. I would never have made it as a secretary, but I sure do like to type now. (Obviously.) :)

My daughter was a flower girl in a wedding. I made her dress but the morning of the wedding I discovered I had sewn the lace on the front of the dress inside out. No one would have ever noticed, but I was so frazzled I told everyone I talked to. Yikes!

In my clothes sewing days, I made a beach cover-up out of a lace fabric. It had a smooth side and a rough side. I put the rough side on the inside and regretted it every time I wore it.

I have two stories to tell. The first is in Home Ec in high school. This must have been the third year as I made a blouse and jumper (a low cut dress that needed the blouse underneath). The jumper was brown corduroy and I sewed the full length zipper the entire way through the front as well as the back.

The other big booboo is, a couple of years ago I bought a pattern from a well known big name quilting instructor. I cut a lot of the pieces. Then I tried to make a square. The pieces that form the second or third tier out from the centre are too small. I thought that I must be doing something wrong so I asked for help from the ladies that I quilt with who have decades of experience but it is not operator error, those pieces are too small. So now I have all those cut pieces. It is still sitting there.

I agree about the mystery quilts. I have one I want to make - I first saw it three years after it was run.

I have had a lot of boo boos! Not that big of a deal. I could always fix what every it was. I did try to make something from taking a cordorroy shirt apart and make something else and it was a mess, I threw it away.