My Sewing Journey

I have a friend who recently asked me to help her make her children a couple of presents. She wants to sew them and just needs someone to help her along. I am honoured to help and last night we got together for the first session. "How long have you been sewing?", she asked. I had to really think about it, because it was kind of gradual, but there was definately a time where I became interested to really learn and not just fake it anymore. It isn't my mom's fault that I didn't sew until so much later. She tried to teach me, but I didn't want to learn. I would rather just know then put in the effort to learn. Isn't there something you'd love to just know and not have to learn? Piano? Guitar? Art? It was sewing for me. I first dabbled when I was about 17 or 18. I'd use a cut off leg from blue jeans to make a purse or hack together a bag from some random bit of fabric. It wasn't until I discovered online tutorials (the same year we bought our first Mac) that I decided I wanted to know bad enough to learn. I borrowed my MIL's machine (I called her Helga) so that I could learn. I didn't want to invest in a machine if I hated sewing, so I strong armed Helga onto our tiny apartment table and worked through my first tutorial. Thank you Melissa, you have no idea what your tutorial sparked in me! I asked my pastor's wife to walk me through my first pattern and the rest is history.  Rather than bore you all with the details, we'll do an overview through pictures of my progression. This is about 9 years of sewing....

This is the early years. Not the very beginning. I wish I had pictures of my first projects - they were so bad! Hahaha. These are from the first year. As you can see it started with my love of bags and that love has not diminished.

These are from a couple of years into sewing. I loved tutorials and patterns by this point and was happy as a clam to sew bags, bags and more bags!

I even started to feel confident enough to alter patterns or design my own bags.

Zipper pouches and wallets are still a favourite go-to gift for me.

Dolls. My first doll (top middle) has been my most loved doll and I am so honoured that she was the favoured cuddle toy for my friend's daughter. My boys' super dolls were a huge hit and are still played with regularily. 

Baby presents for my babies and friend's babies. How I love to give handmade treasures.

I've tried my hand at some children's clothing and with my mom's help sewed cloth diapers that I loved!

Did I mention bags? Yup, I have sewn a LOT of bags.

Notebook covers in large and small sizes. Gifts and sold in fundraisers. 

I've had the privilege and honour of teaching some beginning sewists.

I've been stretched and challenged by commissioned orders. Things I had never made before and were trusted to do and afterward so proud of finishing.

I've challenged myself with projects that I wanted the finished product of and again, through the challenge and perseverance of it I was very proud of the results.

I've started and finished (most) several mass producing kind of projects. (I still have a partial picnic blanket in my WIP bin)

I love the creative process of sewing things from a flat piece of material into a work of function and/or art. Thanks for walking this journey with me. I plan on continuing on for many years to come.

Checkin' In

Happy (almost) Valentine's Day. David and I have the pleasure of having a sitter for Friday and so, we'll postpone our celebration until then. I am really looking forward to a date with my Love! Let's get to our list for today...

• We finally celebrated Abby's birthday. We made rainbow cupcakes

(inspired from Pinterest)...

Source: ourbestbites.com via Coralee on Pinterest

• and a rainbow balloon banner

(inspired by Design Mom, tutorial here)

Source: designmom.com via Coralee on Pinterest

• Abby and I made some Valentine art

 (also inspired from Pinterest no specific link to show you, there's lots)

• There's been some great Valentine clothing online, too. I had to do these for the littles. Abby's dress tutorial found here. Inspiration for Malachi's shirt found here.

• I have a problem of putting tiny little holes in the bottom of my t-shirts, this was cleverly disguised with reverse applique hearts - pretty appropriate for a maternity Valentines shirt. Sorry, not modelled for you, perhaps after I get a haircut and some pants that fit me properly. Grrr! Why do all maternity stores assume that all pregnant women are the same shape and size?!

• I've enjoyed some creative time this week. It felt good to be sewing again, though I do find it a challenge to be interrupted constantly by my children. I am task oriented and would like to start and finish a task without interruptions, but I am learning to accept this for now. It's part of being a mom.
• My David told me this week he has already made reservations for our anniversary date in August. I am so impressed by how much thought he's already put into this special occassion. I can't wait to try out this restaurant!
• We are slowly settling in. This week's goal, to get our children in separate bedrooms. Malachi still gets up in the night and it's time for some sleep training. I would also like to get some pictures up on the walls. Abby has stopped asking when we're moving into our new home, so I guess that's a good sign.
• I have some green shoots from my Hyacinth bulbs! Hopefully, we'll see flowers before the end of the month. 

• Abby and I had some good fights last week and I realized that we need to go on a TV/movie fast. Abby hasn't watched anything for 6 days and I've already noticed that she is beginning to listen better and play better again. It's also helped my mama guilt level go down. *sigh* Maybe I'll get this parenting thing figured out yet. 
• Well, I have "Mt. Washmore"(party dishes) to take care of in the kitchen. Better get to it.

Checkin' In

I can hardly believe that September is over... tomorrow is that last day!? What?!? How did that happen? Well, I can tell you that this weather has been amazing and it hasn't even felt much like September. Though the trees are changing and our city is looking beautiful! Let's get right to it this week:

• We voted on Tuesday. Confession: I think this is only the second time I've voted and the last time it was because I had turned 18 and was finally of legal age to vote. I've been remiss, but we are beginning now and will teach our children the importance of it. Talk about convenient, though, we were at the mall and the advance polls were set up. We showed our IDs and voted and were through the process in under 15 minutes (with children in tow). The littles were given these cute certificates that I'll put away in their keepsake boxes.

(I interrupted her movie)

• I needed a Superman t-shirt. They're hard to find (especially if you're cheap like me), so I made one. I used this method again.

• Jen, here's my no shampoo update: tomorrow marks 5 weeks. I am still doing the baking soda/apple cider vinegar about every other day. You're supposed to be able to wait 3-4 days, but my hair hyper produces oil and it's still less than shampooing every day. I also had my haircut last week and wasn't about to skip the wash, it's my favourite part of going for a haircut, so I'm not entirely sure if that meant I was starting over or not. I bought these multi-purpose bottles from the dollar store and they have measurements on them, which make mixing super easy. This is the method I've been using: Baking soda mixture 2Tbsp soda to 8 oz. water. Rub into scalp (don't wet your hair first) and rinse. Apple cider vinegar mixture 2 oz. ACV to 6 oz. water (1-3 ratio) plus 4 drops peppermint essential oil. Rub into scalp and rinse. These squeeze bottles are great, I just put the spout right to the scalp and squeeze away. My hair feels great - I probably won't buy shampoo again.

• David's filled holes and mounted the soon-to-be microwave on the little's kitchen. We're close to prime and paint time. I've picked colours and I'm so excited.

(David got a whole bag of tiles for $2 and they became my springboard for colour)

• I found these ugly canvas prints for $2 each - a great find for a Christmas project I'm working on. That won't hit blog world until after Christmas.

• Remember this? Well, I picked up a blue one for Malachi at Once Upon a Child for $5 (regular price is $10 - I had a coupon) and will be re-panelling his, too. No sponge bob for him.
• We're getting our first family pics since Malachi's arrival. We're tentatively booked for Tuesday. They probably won't hit the blog until after Christmas (sorry, but we want some surprises)

and finally....

• WE'RE GOING "HOME" TO ALBERTA FOR CHRISTMAS! We haven't been for 2 years and my mom is the only one of both of our families who's met Malachi. We're sooooo excited and we get to go for TWO WEEKS! I can hear our mom's crying with joy!

T-shirt Skirt for Me

I made this skirt quite awhile ago. It was supposed to be a practise skirt, but I have worn it a couple of times in public. There are a few flaws, which I will fix next time I make it. It's comfy and easy and one of those projects that looks like it took a lot more effort than it did. I used 4 of David's old undershirts that he had retired to my fabric collection. I saw one on Pinterest and looked at the pics on the blog link. I didn't read how the blogger did it, I just winged it. I want to go second hand shopping for t-shirts now and make a bunch.

Dress and Sweater Re-fashion

(excuse the dumb expression on my face)

I get a lot of compliments on my sewing. What people automatically assume is that I sew clothes. Although flattering, this hasn't been the case. I am not confident in this area, I think mostly because of sizing. In any case, I wanted to try some re-fahion type of clothing sewing. I figure all I have to lose is time. The first thing I did was turn my too-big skirt into a dress. I needed to make adjustments as I went, but in the end I made something that I'm not too embarrassed to wear in public.

Then I decided to turn a pull over sweater into a 3/4 length sleeve cardigan. Wool is not summer friendly, but it looked cute and I'm sure that I'll get a lot of wear out of this one. I googled cardigan re-fashion and read several blog entries on how to do it. I didn't really follow any one of them specifically, but I'm glad I researched it. I like how it turned out.

Maybe It's Growing On Me

I loved this concept the minute I saw it. Inspired by this pattern. The execution... not so much. I think maybe skinny girls would rock this style so much better. It is growing on me. I guess I feel like I spent enough time on it to make a good effort to like it.

David reminds me that he's the only one I need to impress and he's already impressed, so why stress? He's so sweet. Well, it may or may not be my last piece of clothing for awhile. I don't know. I guess I find more satisfaction in a finished accessory where size doesn't matter. Maybe someday, I'll have to take a class on sewing clothes in order to boost my confidence. *sigh*

Angry Turtleneck Re-con

Here's a great project. Minimum input - maximum results. I didn't take a before picture as I'm not all that confident with clothing projects and don't often expect them to turn out. This top used to be a tired turtleneck. We could call it an angry turtleneck and now it's a happy shrug. (My dad calls these tops shrunks - because they look like they've shrunk in the wash). I used this t-shirt re-con tutorial with 2 minor adjustments. I cropped my long sleeves to 3/4 length and I put some zig zag stitching through the ends where the ribbon comes out of the casing (once i determined how gathered I wanted it). The tutorial suggests pinning the ribbon and the stitches keep it snug without needing pins. I will definitely be trying this again.

Excuse the poor self portraits. I'm sure you get the idea.

A First!

Here is my very first attempt at sewing clothing for myself. It could use some tweaking, but I am pretty impressed for my first try. It has inspired me to try some more, so we'll see if this is a new trend or not. I got the tutorial from the same lady who designed the buttercup bag.



and some cheese!