Sewing

Some of you may know that I have been taking a beginning sewing class since the end of January.  Before this class I did not know one thing about sewing.  Well actually, I did know a few things:  Every time my Mom would pull out her sewing machine she would get frustrated because it would not function properly (not sure if it was an operator error or just the machine).  Plus, she would get frustrated because it was such a pain in the neck to thread the needle too.  Those were the only two things I knew about sewing.

These past few years I have had an increased desire to learn how to sew.  I think it may have something to do with the other girls in my ward.  They are incredibly talented and they all "seam" to be expert sewers (cheesy pun...I know).  I couldn't learn to sew however because I had no machine.  You know the equation: no machine = no sewing.

Well a few months ago I inherited a great machine from a friend for free, though it did need a $65 repair.  Not a big problem however since machines usually cost over $100.  With a free sewing machine and a beginning sewing class that the local community college offers I decided it was time to learn.

I have now been sewing for about 3 months now and I am really enjoying it.  I was having so much fun in my class that I signed up for two more semesters of it.  I just hope that I am still here in Iowa for the last semester.

Here are two of my finished projects so far.

The first project I did was VERY simple.  I attached this yellow/gold colored fabric the bottom of this dress so that I could make it more modest.  Again--I did not make the dress!

My second project was to make this dress for Hannah (don't look to closely at the seams.  I'm a beginner so they are not very straight).  Our class was assigned to pick a pattern out so that we could learn how to read them.

This dress was very difficult to make.  I started this dress in February and I just finished it yesterday.  Yes, that is correct--it took me 2 months to make this tiny little dress, and she will probably outgrow it in about 2 months. There is no way I could have made this on my own.  I think from now on I'll stick to making clothes for me, and other things for Hannah that she won't quickly outgrow (like maybe a quiet book for church).  The only reason I am glad I made this dress is because I learned a lot about reading/choosing patterns, gathering, zippers, elastic, hand stitching, etc.

Check out the little bloomers.  They look like a polk-a-dot speedo.  Unfortunately, they don't fit quite right.  Oh well.