Sewing Projects

Who says sewing is hard??  This girl.  There are a lot of things that my brain does well, like play music and learn foreign languages, but piecing fabric together in the right order is NOT one of them.  My brain just doesn't think logically like that!  It hadn't really occurred to me when I started out that I would be doing math (see kids? stay in school!) and engineering just to fix up a set of curtains & make a baby sling.  But hey, all that aside, I'm doing just fine! 

I have two projects near completion.  Two out of three curtain panels are finished and hung, and hopefully the third will join them this weekend.  And, with the help of my friend Hannah and my next-door neighbor, my ring sling is coming right along and we'll finish it tomorrow.  Here are a couple pictures of my ring sling-in-progress.

Finished tail with pocket.

Almost ready to sew in the pleats & rings.

If you'll all pray that I can find the charger cord for my camera, I might be able to get some pictures of the curtains, because the ones I tried to take on my phone aren't great. They are super cute, though, so they certainly deserve their share of the spotlight!

Talk about feeling accomplished!  Special thanks goes to my neighbor, Barbara, who first offered to answer a few questions and then went above and beyond to actually teach me how to do this stuff.  She's awesome!

I've got a long way to go before I feel comfortable using a sewing machine, and I have a feeling I may not ever quite love sewing, but I am determined to know how to do it so that I can teach Addalyn.  If nothing else, I owe my daughter a few basic sewing skills.  If I start learning now, maybe I'll be ready to teach her by the time she's old enough...

Sewing for Dummies Divas

This is getting serious. One project at a time?? Pffftt. Wimps.  I have three projects.  Better get busy. I borrowed an ancient-looking sewing machine from a friend and bought a few basic sewing supplies at Walmart.  There's a box under Addy's crib with adorable black gingham curtain panels (made by one of my mothers-in-law) that need to be pleated, shortened, hemmed, and attached to the ladybug valances that came with the crib bedding set.  There's also one set of super cute teal fabric to make myself a new ring sling, and another set of even-cuter polka-dot fabric to make one for my sister-in-law, whose baby boy is due in June.  Never mind that I don't even know how to make a ring sling yet; I just went ahead and promised her one.  Gulp.  I'm committed whether this goes well or not. 

I broke the news to my mom that I am going to try to learn how to sew.  She had the good grace not to laugh at me.  In her words, it will either "frustrate the heck out of me" or "be very enjoyable and rewarding."  I'm hoping for the latter. I have also been warned to stick to the directions on the patterns in the order they are given, and not to try to skip steps to save time. (Step #1: Learn how to thread the sewing machine.)  I'm not sure that it bodes well that I do not have a pattern for the curtain project, but I'm hoping this will be basic enough that I can watch a few Youtube videos and follow the generous and much-appreciated advice from a couple of friends and figure it out.  How hard can it be? 

Stay tuned...this could get interesting.

Domestic Diva Wannabe

The Domestic Diva. You know who I’m talking about. She’s the neighbor down the street who is always cranking out delicious meals worthy of a spread in a culinary magazine. She’s the mom in your playgroup who not only whips up a superman cape for her little guy out of a spare piece of fabric, but has a whole imagination-packed trunk of handmade dress-up clothes in her kiddos’ playroom and ornaments her entire home with cute, made-from-scratch curtains and bedding. She’s the one who has a whole room in her house dedicated to scrapbooking and its materials, who can dream up anything and then knows exactly how to create it (AND make it look good!). She's the lady with an eye for detail that is reflected in every beautifully decorated room in her house.  That gorgeous flower garden you drive by every day on your way home? She planted it. That cute blog background? She designed it. From making her own soaps and shampoos to finding natural alternatives to cure just about any common ailment to changing the oil in the car, domestic divas are popping up all over my friendship garden.

I aspire to be one of them.

In an age of post-feminist culture, homemaking seems to be a lost art. Today’s little girls are being raised very differently than their moms and grandmothers. Basic skills, like cooking and sewing, that girls used to learn while growing up, have died out so much that to meet someone who can sew a new cutesy duvet cover for her bed is every bit as cool as meeting the President - and he probably doesn’t even know how to sew!

I have decided recently that I am tired of not having these real-life skills in my toolbox. I’m tired of letting myself rely on other people to do things for me because I don’t know how to sew a new hem on a curtain that’s too long. Granted, I haven’t really ever had much time to learn to do these things, since I have spent much of my adult life in school or working two full-time jobs at the same time. And to my mom’s credit, she really did try to teach me to sew. The teenage me simply did not have the patience for sewing, or care to learn how to do it. 

Now that I am a stay-at-home mom of one darling baby girl, my priorities have changed and I finally have time and a need to know how to keep my home. I have an obligation and a desire to raise a daughter who knows how to cook, sew, maintain a home, and fend for herself BEFORE she marries her prince. For as much as we girls try to compete the with men in our lives to keep pace with all the things they can do, I have discovered that my husband is the most appreciative when I serve an awesome new recipe at dinner or put a button back on his shirt; not because he is chauvinistic (he’s not) or thinks I should do those things (he doesn’t), but just because it really is kind of cool to have someone in your home who can do those things.

So this summer, I am going to use this season of my life to my advantage and set a new course and a goal to learn how to do a few new things so that I can one day pass those skills to my children. For starters, this blog was sorely in need of a major facelift (tadaaaaa!!!!). I’m going to plant an herb garden (and with any luck, I’ll keep it alive!), and I’m going to figure out what in the world I’m going to do with the overgrown ivy in my front flower bed. My daughter’s room is finally going to be complete when I put the finishing touches on some curtains, and I plan to make a new ring sling or two. And in my spare time, I’m finally going to start (and finish) those fun crafty projects for my house and the nursery. 

In my quest for new knowledge, I’ll be using resources like books, Internet articles and Youtube videos, asking friends for a little tutoring, and maybe even finding some cute blogs to link up with and share. And I’ll probably be asking you, dear reader, for advice as well. And while I’m at it, I’m going to scratch the itch to write and maybe actually keep this blog somewhat current (although you’ll have to bear with me – baby’s naptimes are still somewhat short!). So I invite you to join me on my new summer school adventure and choose something new to learn and share it!

I am going to be awesome. I am a Domestic Diva in training.  (Hey, that line would look really cute on an apron…)