But I'm not doing any of those things. I just finished the puppet theater curtain. Tomorrow I'll get a picture of that. I feel like I got off on a tangent. What was I saying again??? Oh yeah, I'm not doing anything I should be doing. Instead I'm thinking about sewing, and how I got started.
When I was a little girl, my mom sewed for me. I'm about 8 or 9 years old before I'm wearing a store bought dress in holiday/school/family portraits. As I got older, I got to help her. Every year Mom made something for the family reunion raffle. I remember aprons, blankets, quillows, pillows, etc. Every year she was sewing. A lot of the time she was still sewing (and sometimes swearing) the night before, or even the day we were supposed to be leaving.
The birth of a baby in the family was also a sewing occasion. Babies got baby blankets. It was just a fact of life. And when I finally reached high school, my mom sewed formal dresses for me. I eventually got to the point where I was cutting the pattern pieces, and pinning pieces for my mom, under her direction. I understood how patterns worked, but I never really learned how to follow the printed instructions that came with. Mom always did the actual sewing.
She said she didn't want to teach me, because she didn't do it "right" and she didn't want me to pick up her bad habits. I got my disdain for ironing seams, and laissez faire attitude towards pattern instructions from her despite her good intentions. And unfortunately, since she didn't want me to be a girly girl, I ended up in Shop instead of Home Ec. So I never learned the basics. I never learned how to sew a zipper, or do buttonholes. I still don't know how to do a blind hem. And the last time I tried to make a lined dress, I sewed each individual lining piece to the corresponding dress piece. So I had extra thick exposed seams, and kind of defeated the purpose to lining.
The first time I attempted to sew a dress with a zipper in it, I got so scared of actually putting the zipper in, that I put it off until Little Miss outgrew the dress. But I persevered. I kept trying zippers, and eventually I got pretty comfortable with them. Of course, it helped that my sweet, patient, and supportive husband bought me a zipper foot for Christmas. YouTube tutorials also helped a lot.
Then my sweet little girl discovered buttons. They're so "boo-ful" and Jo-Ann had them on sale for 50% off. So we grabbed a bunch, and I sat down to teach myself how to do a buttonhole stitch. I still can't figure out the stupid buttonhole foot, or the special buttonhole stitch on my sewing machine. But, with the narrowest, smallest zig zag stitch, I make do. The first time I decided to try a buttonhole, I didn't have anything to mark my fabric. So I raided the kids' art supplies and found a chalk stick. That was less than ideal as a marker, but it did wash out very easily. From there I moved on to a white colored pencil. And this week I finally remembered to pick up an actual, honest-to-goodness fabric marking pencil. I feel so grown up! :)
So, that's my story. That's how I came to the point where I am now. I mostly fiddle around and mess up a bunch of times until I figure out how something works and eventually get good at it. (or give up and vow never to go near knits again). And that's also why I can't just follow the dang directions. I have to muddle through, mess up, and try again in order to make my brain understand what's going on. Luckily this method gives me a good understanding of the concept and how to experiment and modify an idea. So now I can do some rudimentary pattern drafting, I can alter an existing pattern, and I can Frankenstein together a garment with pieces from various sources. And that makes life fun and interesting.
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