Drown or Doggie-Paddle

I'm taking a two-session sewing class starting tomorrow night. Here's the pattern they picked out (Simplicity 2307) and the fabric I picked out.

The fabric's a stretch knit, which will be incredibly difficult to work with. The dress itself will most likely turn out unwearable, but I think I'll learn a lot, and that's what counts.

It took me two hours to pick out the fabric. I really hate fabric shopping. It overwhelms me and stresses me out super bad, probably because I have a pretty low IQ when it comes to color coordination.

First, I had to decide which type of fabric to use. I go for comfy easy-care clothes, and I wanted to keep the dress from turning out to be too dressy, so I chose cotton knit (like something a stretchy t-shirt would be made of.) Second, I had to choose a color. You'd think that would be easy. Nope. I just paced back and forth in front of their bolts of cotton knit fabric, staring, occasionally pulling out some of the fabric, draping it across my arm to see how the color looked with my skin tone, then putting it back. And to make matters worse, I was supposed to pick out a second, coordinating color for the band around the bottom of the skirt. In the picture on the pattern, the coordinating band is a darker color made of a semi-glossy fabric. In JoAnn, they had no colors of semi-glossy fabric that even remotely coordinated with any of my four knit color choices. So I'll be improvising (or at least checking another store.)

This is one of the most advanced classes they offer at JoAnn. It's probably out of my skill range. My options are less "sink or swim" and more "drown or doggie-paddle." I'm really looking forward to it.