Hello, Forever. I know it has been. What?! Yea, it has been a really long time with a lot of life between now and the last post topic (Thanksgiving!).
With a break in the Farmers’ Market schedule (and blogging, I suppose), the post-holiday winter has found me learning to sew (in addition to the usual mothering, working, and sputtering social life :) ).
For Christmas, my mother gave me a sewing machine. I have always admired handmade clothing in pretty prints, especially for little girls. Not having the slightest idea about even basic operations, I contacted my local fabric store to get a contact for sewing lessons. $ 60 for 9 hours of one-on-one lessons was money well spent to learn this useful skill. I learned how to operate my machine, how to read and use a pattern, and how to construct a dress of medium-difficulty (French seams, three sets of gathering stitches, and three bands of elastic make this “medium” in my book).
After making this dress, I felt like I had the skills to attempt a homemade/refashion Valentine’s Day dress without a pattern, using an ill-fitting tshirt.
Inspired by a successful (it was wearable, not perfect) refashion, I have gone through my closet and pulled out a pile of clothes that I never wear for one reason or another.
I love the idea of re-using unworn clothing to make it wearable again. Not only is it nearly free, but it gives the items a second life before ultimately being discarded. Additionally, and this is a real bonus for a beginning seamstress, it provides extras and time savers like existing hems, buttons, hidden zippers, collars, etc.
Out of three old shirts of mine, I have already made a dress and a tank top/ skirt outfit for my toddler.
I still do crazy-wrong things like misread a pattern and sew a hem on the wrong side, but one thing I love about sewing is how (most) mistakes can be corrected with a seam-ripper and some patience. I am still learning as I go and my uncritical model has empowered me to be creative and keep trying new things.
Between using brand-new fabric and patterns and deconstructed and refashioned materials, the possibilities are endless.
