[Coda]

I didn't find it particularly hard even the first time, although to be fair I did start off with projects that didn't need a whole lot of effort. I think the first thing I made completely pattern-free was a cloth armor shirt. I laid down on the ground on top of a sheet of the fabric and marked the fabric under my armpits, at the corners of my shoulders, at the base of my neck, and at my hips to define the length. Then I just drew straight lines between the points, then drew another set of lines 3/8" outside of that for a seam allowance. I took a guess on how deep to cut the back side of the neck hole, and cut it out. Then I used that as a template to cut seven more (I used four layers of cloth on each side to give it some stiffness and weight since it was supposed to be armor). Then I took the four layers for the front and took a guess at how deep to cut the front of the neck hole. I pinned it all together and tried it on to make sure it fit (I needed to cut the neck hole a bit bigger), then I stitched the seams and hems and turned it right-side-out. Hemming the neckline was hard and it was the least attractive part of the final product, but for learning practice it wasn't bad.