My First Official Sewing Project

Despite coming from a long line of sewers, (I have three generations of quilts in my home), the sewing thing has never really been my thing. Not that I haven't tried. I have. Our living room in Colorado was graced by curtains I made myself. (A peek behind the couch would have revealed that one of them was about 6 inches shorter than the other, but who's measuring, right?). I've also tried pillows. And blankets. And all, in one way or another, were really, really defunct. I even remember once trying to hem a simple pair of old sweatpants. I believe the episode ended with me in tears, and Jesse finishing off the hem line. Sewing a straight line, as it turns out, is not as easy as it sounds. With this in mind, a year or so ago when Jesse and I were on one of our "simplify" kicks, I decided to sell my machine on craigslist. Truth be told, I have not missed it.

Enter my current job. For the last year and a half, I've been living in a very black and white numbers-ey world. It's been a pretty radical shift for me, fresh off working for an interior designer and taking art classes. My job feeds my left brain really well, but I have to admit, it's made my right brain very, very sad. I decided I need to make an effort to get some art and creativity back into my life, so the other weekend I went to Barnes and Noble and spent some time browsing the art and craft books, hoping to get some inspiration. Not much came of it, except the realization that most crafts require at least basic sewing skills. Sigh.

A day or so later, I asked my mom if I could borrow her machine and went looking for a really simple project. Maybe, I told myself, my previous failures were due to starting off with projects that were too hard. (Those pillows and hemlines are a real bitch, ya know...trouble for even the best of sewers no doubt.) =)

Anyway, I found this link for a "15 minute dress" and it met all my requirements - cheap, easy, lots of photos, and step by step instructions. This afternoon I went to Hobby and Lobby and got my supplies - two bandannas, and some ribbon. (And some felt because I thought it would be fun.)

And.....it actually worked!!!! I was so stinking excited!! (Never mind the fact that a dress for a 3 year old girl is utterly useless to me at this stage in life.) Also, don't mock me just because I only had to sew 4 straight lines.

Here is my end product. It would probably look cuter if I had ironed it...oh well. That's another thing I don't do well.



Anyway, if you happen to have a 3 year old girl, this really was easy. It wasn't quite "15 minutes" of easy for me...more like 30, but still...