Sewing

“I’m an impatient person, so after playing around with the basic stitches on the now-safe machine, I went to the local fabric store and bought some cotton poplin and stretch fabric to make pyjama bottoms. It’s a common misconception that sewing is cheaper than buying clothes, and—eek—that fabric was expensive. I also had NO idea about fabric, finishing seams, or anything sewing-related for that matter. [...] After several hours of trying to translate the pattern instructions and sewing, I had the finished pyjama bottoms and couldn’t wait to try them on. I was so proud of myself for making something! But… why wouldn’t they go over my hips?! Lessons were learned that day, and I was humbled.”

“Just spent the whole morning “sewing.” Then realized I hadn’t actually done any sewing. A good two hours was spent on fabric selection. Which four fabrics go best together for this project? The first hour got it down to six, the second hour got it down to four. Then there was the measuring and planning and blocking and thinking. Have not even lifted a pair of scissors. Just paper and pencil and ruler. Now it’s lunchtime. [...] Even when I actually start sewing, I spend a lot of that time pinning and clipping and pressing and turning. Not sewing.”

“Sewing multiple layers of denim is a pretty ambitious task for anyone, let alone an 8 year old novice, but I wasn’t going to let my inexperience get in the way of making a sumptuously ruffled edge for my pillow. You can tell that I constructed the top and bottom ruffle first because, a) they’re sewn inside the seam, and b) there is actually some semblance of a ruffle; by the time I got to the vertical sides of the pillow I had run out of fabric and there was just barely enough to cover the last side, with not a single pleat and no folded edges to hide the frayed raw edges of the denim.”