Well, here I am!

After ranting about fabric stores and patterns and how neurotic I am about sewing, I decided it's time to have a sewing blog! At the very least, it will keep sewing in the front of my brain so maybe I'll be more motivated to actually do something with all the fabric I have laying around in my mother's sewing room.

I'll do a little intro, just for fun. I've been sewing since I was 7 or 8. My parents bought me a toy sewing machine for Christmas one year, and while I loved it, I quickly became bored with it and my mom began to teach me how to use the "big" sewing machine. My parents had gotten an old Viking at a school sewing machine sale and that's what I learned on. One day, I'll edit this post when I find the make and model. I made doll clothes and helped with mending--I remember making a skirt for my Barbies out of some navy blue cotton with little white flowers on it (leftover from the card-table tent Mom had made for us)...it didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped, but I learned a lot with that tiny bit of fabric. I got involved in 4H and made my first outfit when I was 10: pink pedal pushers and a pink top with a button placket. Nothing too complicated (elastic waist and many straight seams), but I learned buttons, buttonholes, patch pockets, and casings. I kept sewing Barbie clothes to match the many themes my sisters and I came up with in our play--"circus" was popular and I made tightrope outfits consisting of spaghetti-strap tops with little circle skirts attached and matching panties--and I also sewed clothes for our My Little Ponies, stuffed animals, and Cabbage Patch Kids.

I took a sewing class in 8th grade, and while I didn't learn very much, I made a blue stuffed walrus and started making clothes for a plush seal my best friend gave me for my birthday. I measured and cut holes for her little flippers and made matching bows that I would pin to her head, and I still have it all. I kept making dresses (with matching bows...) for myself and started to make things for my sisters. When my youngest sister was 9 and I was 16, I made her dress for the Fourth Grade Play. I can't even remember what the play was, but I remember her dress. It was a cobalt blue print on white with a white pinafore. The full sleeves had tucks on them and the pinafore had tiny little hems and it was the most beautiful dress on that stage. I think she still has it. I helped my mom make my sisters' dresses for high school orchestra and band, and I was put in charge of the design and color of the dresses for Concert Choir when I was a junior in high school. I made skirts and dresses all through junior high and high school and would wax creative with trim and buttons. I would haul the sewing machine into my room and spend most of Christmas Eve finishing dresses or jumpers or skirts for my sisters and spend hours trying to find the perfect fabric and pattern for each year.

I've always loved fabric and patterns and I've always drawn dresses. When I was in second grade and we got to decorate our big heart-shaped envelopes of butcher paper for Valentine's Day, I drew an 18th century couple on mine and got made fun of for drawing a girl "with a big bum". I tried over and over to explain that it was her DRESS, because I somehow knew that without knowing much about historic clothing, but I finally gave up. Little did I know that that incident would be a portent of doom for the future--I still find myself explaining aspects of clothing that most people don't believe, but I can back myself up. I started researching the history, psychology, and sociology of clothing when I was 12 because of an art project. We had to choose a picture out of any book in the library, reproduce it, and write up a little report about our subject. My friend Karen had found Doreen Yarwood's Encyclopedia of World Costume and we both chose pictures from that book. After the project was done, I went back to the library, checked the book out, and read it cover-to-cover at least twice before junior high ended. It was shortly after that I discovered the clothing section at the public library and devoured everything I could get my hands on.

Sewing has always come easily to me and I remember my mom saying that she couldn't teach me anymore because I knew more than her. I don't remember how I learned, but I did. It's a gift, I think, because I only took two formal sewing classes and didn't learn much (besides shortcuts) I didn't already know. It's just always been there. I have things in my closet that surprise me --I can hardly believe I came up with them and made them. I had a job at a fabric store from 1995-1997 and learned quite a bit there, and I worked for Nancy Barrus as her assistant for a few months in 2002 and learned more in that short time than any sewing class had ever taught me.

So, with all of that behind me, I'm easily frustrated in fabric stores because if I can find fabric I like, I can't find patterns I like and vice versa. I am thinking about playing with fabric stamps and resist dyeing techniques to get what I'm looking for, but I'm also always on the lookout for awesome fabric online. I just got back from my second trip to JoAnn and Hancock this weekend, another $45 poorer but rich in new patterns and inspiration and motivation. We'll see what happens!