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There are certain events that get a crafter giddy from the creative possibility – weddings, birthdays, holidays, changes in season, etc. One event that has always seemed to inspire my family of seamstresses most is the birth of a child. Just think about it; all of those cute blankets, pillows, decorations and itty-bitty clothes just begging to be handmade. Sure, you can go to the store and buy any of that, but there’s something so special about a handmade baby item or gift. Whether the item in question is of better quality than a store counterpart, made to custom specifications (I’ll get to this later), or simply brimming with love and care that just can’t be replaced, there are so many reasons to spend the time and effort to welcome baby into the world with a one-of-a-kind, handmade gift.
Which brings me to my dilemma… As mentioned previously, I come
from a crafty family where baby-time meant“sewing time.” Well, it’s my turn now, and June 8th seems to be coming at me both excruciatingly slow and frighteningly fast. I want nothing more than to hold my little kick-boxer-in-training, but there’s still so much to do in preparation for his arrival. My sewing list for my little guy is so long, but there is only so much time (and energy!) that I can devote to it before showtime. What’s an expectant mom to do?
Before I start paring down my list to a more realistic size, I thought I would share it with you, our craft-minded readers. Whether you’re searching for ideas or can offer a few tips to help me narrow this down, I would love to hear your thoughts.
A Minky Blanket - I’ve seen these popping up in stores all over the place, and on my “Can IMake It?” scale they
fall somewhere between “Heck yes I can make that” and “Why wouldanyone pay that much for something so simple?!” When it comes to luxury and softness, minky is probably tops in my books. The only drawbacks I can see to making one would be the mess and possibly the price (I would certainly save money by making my own, but we’re tightening the purse strings at the moment and minky is on the costly side). On the other hand, I could make more of a throw with slightly larger dimensions and both of us could cuddle under it.
Oversized receiving blankets – I’ll admit it; I’m spoiled. My mom had my brother when I was 11 and my sister when I was 16, so I was exposed to the wonders of the oversized receiving blankets my aunt made for her and could truly appreciate them. Whether she laid them on the floor for tummy time or used them for a little extra privacy while breast feeding, the extra coverage made a great difference in their usefulness. It wouldn’t be hard for me to make this myself, but then again I could always put them on my wish list and hope my aunt loves me as much as she loves my mom.
Clothes – He’s not even here yet and he’s already got more clothes than I do, but it’s hard to resist the urge to make him a couple outfits when I work around temptations like the Sew Baby patterns. This will probably be the first thing to get cut from my list, but I’m still very tempted to make a replica of the adorable seersucker outfit I saw in a rather pricey catalog the other day.
Baby Sling – We recently started carrying a pattern for the Mei Tai baby carrier, and I can’t help but picture walking around with one in a cool Amy Butler fabric. My only concern is with entrusting my child’s safety to my sometimes shaky sewing skills. I might go sneak a peak at the pattern so see if it’s something I could handle or if I should just leave this one to the pros.
Sew Baby Snappy Wrap – Despite the teasing my Canadian friend throws my way, it does in fact get cold in Georgia. This cute little wrap just screams “useful” to me, and I am all about the functional along with the cute. Fleece is such a breeze to work with, this might become a standard baby gift if it’s as easy to make as it seems.
Baby’s First Quilt – Our lovely graphic artist, Moniqa, had a wonderful idea the other day. She suggested taking little hand and foot prints of our little guy, printing them onto fabric, and making a quilt out of the blocks. I always talk myself out of making a quilt because there are so many quilters in my family who are so much more talented than myself, but this idea might actually be one I could justify doing myself. I’m getting misty eyed just thinking about it.
That’s all I want to think about for now. I still need to get my sewing room cleaned and situated so that it can double as a nursery (I waited WAY too long for a sewing room to just give it up. He can share for now). All I can say is that part of me is glad I am not having a little girl – my sewing list went down by half once all the little dresses and baby doll clothes left the picture. If you can think of anything I should add to my list, please feel free to let me know. I’d love to hear your suggestions!
Which brings me to my dilemma… As mentioned previously, I come
from a crafty family where baby-time meant“sewing time.” Well, it’s my turn now, and June 8th seems to be coming at me both excruciatingly slow and frighteningly fast. I want nothing more than to hold my little kick-boxer-in-training, but there’s still so much to do in preparation for his arrival. My sewing list for my little guy is so long, but there is only so much time (and energy!) that I can devote to it before showtime. What’s an expectant mom to do?Before I start paring down my list to a more realistic size, I thought I would share it with you, our craft-minded readers. Whether you’re searching for ideas or can offer a few tips to help me narrow this down, I would love to hear your thoughts.
A Minky Blanket - I’ve seen these popping up in stores all over the place, and on my “Can IMake It?” scale they
fall somewhere between “Heck yes I can make that” and “Why wouldanyone pay that much for something so simple?!” When it comes to luxury and softness, minky is probably tops in my books. The only drawbacks I can see to making one would be the mess and possibly the price (I would certainly save money by making my own, but we’re tightening the purse strings at the moment and minky is on the costly side). On the other hand, I could make more of a throw with slightly larger dimensions and both of us could cuddle under it.Oversized receiving blankets – I’ll admit it; I’m spoiled. My mom had my brother when I was 11 and my sister when I was 16, so I was exposed to the wonders of the oversized receiving blankets my aunt made for her and could truly appreciate them. Whether she laid them on the floor for tummy time or used them for a little extra privacy while breast feeding, the extra coverage made a great difference in their usefulness. It wouldn’t be hard for me to make this myself, but then again I could always put them on my wish list and hope my aunt loves me as much as she loves my mom.
Clothes – He’s not even here yet and he’s already got more clothes than I do, but it’s hard to resist the urge to make him a couple outfits when I work around temptations like the Sew Baby patterns. This will probably be the first thing to get cut from my list, but I’m still very tempted to make a replica of the adorable seersucker outfit I saw in a rather pricey catalog the other day.Baby Sling – We recently started carrying a pattern for the Mei Tai baby carrier, and I can’t help but picture walking around with one in a cool Amy Butler fabric. My only concern is with entrusting my child’s safety to my sometimes shaky sewing skills. I might go sneak a peak at the pattern so see if it’s something I could handle or if I should just leave this one to the pros.
Sew Baby Snappy Wrap – Despite the teasing my Canadian friend throws my way, it does in fact get cold in Georgia. This cute little wrap just screams “useful” to me, and I am all about the functional along with the cute. Fleece is such a breeze to work with, this might become a standard baby gift if it’s as easy to make as it seems.Baby’s First Quilt – Our lovely graphic artist, Moniqa, had a wonderful idea the other day. She suggested taking little hand and foot prints of our little guy, printing them onto fabric, and making a quilt out of the blocks. I always talk myself out of making a quilt because there are so many quilters in my family who are so much more talented than myself, but this idea might actually be one I could justify doing myself. I’m getting misty eyed just thinking about it.
That’s all I want to think about for now. I still need to get my sewing room cleaned and situated so that it can double as a nursery (I waited WAY too long for a sewing room to just give it up. He can share for now). All I can say is that part of me is glad I am not having a little girl – my sewing list went down by half once all the little dresses and baby doll clothes left the picture. If you can think of anything I should add to my list, please feel free to let me know. I’d love to hear your suggestions!
For those of you who don't know, we wrapped up Our Flirty Skirt Contest last week. To give you some background into the contest, when I started here in September 2006 my head was full of all sorts of grand aspirations. I wanted to create project ideas and patterns and - most of all - a contest using our brand new gallery. Laurie, the Fabric.com marketing queen, talked some sense into me, and we decided we'd wait until we had a little more time and planning before jumping into something so big.
Flash forward to this past Summer when we were all sitting around for our first blogger's meeting, and Nancy said, "I think we need to start having contests!" Now armed with a co-conspirator, we set off to come up with our great contest debut. This was our first contest, so we knew that we had to keep it kind of simple; no big projects, not a lot of rules, and as gallery-centric as possible. Nancy was just wild about the Cute Skirt pattern by Favorite Things, and I pointed out that we just got a shipment of their new Hip Skirts and Little Hip Skirts patterns. These patterns, we reasoned, are simple enough for a novice sewer but leave a lot of room for "creative interpretation" and "artistic alteration." Plus, we'd get all sorts of ideas and inspiration for our Spring wardrobes...
Well, after some pre-planning and creative sessions, we had our email and web page ready to go. We were ready and excited! Little did we know, the extra patterns we ordered were nothing against a sea of creatives biting at the chance of a challenge. By the end of the first day we were calling Favorite Things in a panic (Thanks for the help, guys!).
A few weeks and a couple minor bumps in the road later, and we had 52 entries ready for the vote. I can honestly tell you that I am happy that I didn't have to play judge in this case. Even to this day I cannot begin to pick my favorite (or even top 10), they were all so fantastic! All that creative power out there just amazes me. With the power of the vote in our customers' capable hands, the following winners were declared:
1st place - Brown Suede "Ruffled Dream" by Jessica Kathleen
2nd place - Pink "Glitter Nouveau" Skirt by Anna M.
3rd place - Ariel's Skirt By Ariel Lennon
Congratulations to all our winners, and a MASSIVE thanks to everyone who participated. We'll be leaving all the entries up in the gallery so that everyone can "ooh" and "ahh." We'll have another contest in the near future, so stay tuned for more info!
Happy Stitching!
Melanie
Flash forward to this past Summer when we were all sitting around for our first blogger's meeting, and Nancy said, "I think we need to start having contests!" Now armed with a co-conspirator, we set off to come up with our great contest debut. This was our first contest, so we knew that we had to keep it kind of simple; no big projects, not a lot of rules, and as gallery-centric as possible. Nancy was just wild about the Cute Skirt pattern by Favorite Things, and I pointed out that we just got a shipment of their new Hip Skirts and Little Hip Skirts patterns. These patterns, we reasoned, are simple enough for a novice sewer but leave a lot of room for "creative interpretation" and "artistic alteration." Plus, we'd get all sorts of ideas and inspiration for our Spring wardrobes...
Well, after some pre-planning and creative sessions, we had our email and web page ready to go. We were ready and excited! Little did we know, the extra patterns we ordered were nothing against a sea of creatives biting at the chance of a challenge. By the end of the first day we were calling Favorite Things in a panic (Thanks for the help, guys!).
A few weeks and a couple minor bumps in the road later, and we had 52 entries ready for the vote. I can honestly tell you that I am happy that I didn't have to play judge in this case. Even to this day I cannot begin to pick my favorite (or even top 10), they were all so fantastic! All that creative power out there just amazes me. With the power of the vote in our customers' capable hands, the following winners were declared:
1st place - Brown Suede "Ruffled Dream" by Jessica Kathleen
2nd place - Pink "Glitter Nouveau" Skirt by Anna M.
3rd place - Ariel's Skirt By Ariel Lennon
Congratulations to all our winners, and a MASSIVE thanks to everyone who participated. We'll be leaving all the entries up in the gallery so that everyone can "ooh" and "ahh." We'll have another contest in the near future, so stay tuned for more info!
Happy Stitching!
Melanie
The holidays are swiftly approaching, which means a lot of us are on the hunt for presents. As I sat in my sewing room this past weekend making my (overwhelming) "gifts to make" list, I glanced over at my bookshelf and had an idea. Not only are craft books a great source of handmade-gift inspiration, but they can also be great gifts themselves! I know some of my favorite gifts have been books, and I thought I would share a few of them here.
Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt by Megan Nicolay (Workman Publishing)
When I found out there were entire books dedicated to T-shirt makeovers, well, my little creativity-cup not only overflowed - it nearly erupted. Although definitely aimed at a younger audience, this one is my favorite of the few t-shirt books I have seen. Using primarily T-shirts as your materials, projects range from simple top renovations to skirts to swim suits - even a complete wedding dress! There are even a couple projects for men's shirts, and t-shirt trivia throughout the projects is a fun distraction. This book is perfect for any crafter whose style has a bit of edge to it.
Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make With Fabulous Fabrics by Francesca Denhartog & Carole Ann Camp (Storey Publishing)
This book has just about everything you need to know about making a skirt without a pattern, and then some. It starts with a pretty thorough guide to the basic techniques needed when starting a project. The writing was detailed enough for a beginner to understand, but still informative enough to give an experienced sewer a refresher without boring them. Once you take a few measurements (the book shows you which ones) you can begin whipping out adorable skirts that are tailored to your taste, without the hassle of confusing patterns or aggravating tissue paper.
Making Vintage Bags: 20 Original Sewing Patterns for Vintage Bags and Purses by Emma Brennan (Guild of Master Craftsman Publications)
This book is perfect for the handbag enthusiast. Using clear instructions and photographs, this book shows you how to make handbags fashioned after trends from the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. Many of the bags have smaller matching purses, all of which you can find the pattern for in the back of the book. Even if you aren't making of the bags featured in the book, the instructions and photographs make it a great reference for techniques and styles that can be used in your own creations.
Amy Butler's In Stitches: More Than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects by Amy Butler (Chronicle Books)
Ever a Fabric.com staff favorite, Amy Butler's book appeals to a wide audience with its varied projects. There are projects for just about every room in the house, but don't be fooled into thinking that this is a strictly home décor book. The "Bedroom Projects" section has instructions for an absolutely beautiful duvet cover, as well as some for comfy and stylish wide-leg lounge pants. This book works well as an inspiration for gift making, but would also be a welcome gift in and of its self. You can even see a couple of the projects on her site. I personally cannot wait to find the time to make the patchwork handbag on page 162 - too cute! But, hey, it's Amy Butler; how can you go wrong?
Happy Stitching!
Melanie
Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt by Megan Nicolay (Workman Publishing) When I found out there were entire books dedicated to T-shirt makeovers, well, my little creativity-cup not only overflowed - it nearly erupted. Although definitely aimed at a younger audience, this one is my favorite of the few t-shirt books I have seen. Using primarily T-shirts as your materials, projects range from simple top renovations to skirts to swim suits - even a complete wedding dress! There are even a couple projects for men's shirts, and t-shirt trivia throughout the projects is a fun distraction. This book is perfect for any crafter whose style has a bit of edge to it.
Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make With Fabulous Fabrics by Francesca Denhartog & Carole Ann Camp (Storey Publishing)This book has just about everything you need to know about making a skirt without a pattern, and then some. It starts with a pretty thorough guide to the basic techniques needed when starting a project. The writing was detailed enough for a beginner to understand, but still informative enough to give an experienced sewer a refresher without boring them. Once you take a few measurements (the book shows you which ones) you can begin whipping out adorable skirts that are tailored to your taste, without the hassle of confusing patterns or aggravating tissue paper.
Making Vintage Bags: 20 Original Sewing Patterns for Vintage Bags and Purses by Emma Brennan (Guild of Master Craftsman Publications) This book is perfect for the handbag enthusiast. Using clear instructions and photographs, this book shows you how to make handbags fashioned after trends from the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. Many of the bags have smaller matching purses, all of which you can find the pattern for in the back of the book. Even if you aren't making of the bags featured in the book, the instructions and photographs make it a great reference for techniques and styles that can be used in your own creations.
Amy Butler's In Stitches: More Than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects by Amy Butler (Chronicle Books) Ever a Fabric.com staff favorite, Amy Butler's book appeals to a wide audience with its varied projects. There are projects for just about every room in the house, but don't be fooled into thinking that this is a strictly home décor book. The "Bedroom Projects" section has instructions for an absolutely beautiful duvet cover, as well as some for comfy and stylish wide-leg lounge pants. This book works well as an inspiration for gift making, but would also be a welcome gift in and of its self. You can even see a couple of the projects on her site. I personally cannot wait to find the time to make the patchwork handbag on page 162 - too cute! But, hey, it's Amy Butler; how can you go wrong?
Happy Stitching!
Melanie
P.s. Don't forget to check out our Amy Butler Fabric right here!
I've been looking at all sorts of websites and magazines about Halloween the last couple weeks. Among the pages of kids' costumes and pumpkin carving techniques, it's hard to miss the tempting images of Autumn inspired baked indulgences.One of my favorite fall recipes is my great grandmother's pumpkin cookies. I'm not a huge sweet fan, so I love how these lovely, little, bite-sized morsels have such wonderful flavor without putting me into sugar overload. I particularly like them topped with a dark or semi-sweet chocolate ganache (which I have included here), but I also found a pretty good cream cheese frosting recipe that compliment's them well (Laurie's idea).
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My Great-Grandma's Pumpkin Cookies
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350 degree. Mix dry ingredients and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next, add the pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix well. Slowly add dry ingredients until fully mixed.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop cookie dough in blobs about 2 inches apart. Grandma's recipe called for "teaspoon-sized dollops" but I am impatient so mine were more like "Tablespoon-and-a-half-sized dollops." If you use Granny's way, bake them for 14-16 minutes; 18-20 minutes my way. They should be firm and slightly golden (don't over bake them or they will become dry).
Grandma's way yields about 5 dozen or so smaller cookies. My way gets you about 3 dozen (try not to eat too many between batches).
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Chocolate Ganache
(this recipe will make enough to cover all your cookie and then some)
1/2 cup of heavy cream
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate (chips work fine, but you can be decadent and use one of those fancy bars, too)
1 tablespoon butter
Put your chocolate and butter in a bowl. Heat the cream up to boiling and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until smooth.
(Note: while certainly not the most healthy idea, you can mix a couple spoonfuls of the leftover ganache into some heated milk for an absolutely sinful cup of hot chocolate)
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Cream Cheese Frosting
2 packages of cream cheese (8oz.)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
Blend the cream cheese in a mixer until fluffy. Mix in the powdered sugar, and then add the milk and vanilla. Mix everything until smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add more milk a little at a time.
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For the chocolate ganache, the best way to apply it to the cookie is to just dunk the top of the cookie in (giving it a swirl for good measure). You can do the same with the cream cheese, or you can use a spatula or pipe it on.
Enjoy!
Melanie
If I said I have always liked Fall, well, I'd be lying. Returning to school always seemed to overshadow any pleasure I may have found in this season. Now that I'm older and free as a bird, I have decided that Fall is probably my favorite season. If I had to name the number one reason for this, I would have to say it's due to the rich palette of colors coming from the leaves and other seasonal vegetation. I combined this adoration of beautiful reds, oranges and yellows with one of my favorite fabrics (Dupioni Silk) in my newest project - a pumpkin.
I got the idea for this project from Tara's Blog not too long ago on Halloween projects. I took the pincushion project, but scaled it up quite a bit. For my pumpkin,
I used a circle that was roughly 16 inches in diameter - you can use a mixing bowl or any round object (I used a cat toy). You want it to be big enough to get a decent sized pumpkin, but not so big that you can't get an upholstery needle through the middle once it's stuffed. Cut out 2 pieces of orange fabric and sew around the edge using a .5" seam allowance, making sure to stop a few inches short to leave an opening for turning. Once you are finished sewing your circles together, turn the fabric right side out and push all the seams out (so you have a nice circle again).
Next, stuff your pumpkin to where it is pretty tightly packed, but still kind of fluffy. I used just a cheap bag of poly filling I had laying around, and I found that it worked better if you kept the filling coming in a constant piece, as opposed to ripping off little pieces and putting them in. When I worked with smaller pieces, my pumpkin was lumpy (my apologies to all the veteran pillow and toy stuffers out there who know the stuffing-ropes. If I did this wrong, please note that I am a COMPLETE novice at this). Once stuffed, you can slip stitch the opening closed. 
To make pumpkin sections, grab your longest upholstery needle and a coordinating embroidery floss (for bigger pumpkins, you'll probably need the whole skein of floss). Depending on the size of your pumpkin, select the number of threads you want to use (I used all 6 and doubled them up). If your pumpkin is on the large size, yarn would even work well. Tie a nice big knot at the end of the string, find the center of your pumpkin, and put your needle to work. If you used a pretty big circle, you'll really need to squeeze it flat to get the needle through to the middle of the other side. Once through, pull the thread tight and bring the needle back to the bottom and back into the center, so that the thread stays on the outside of the pumpkin and creates a ridge. Do this 5-7 more times (make sure to keep that thread tight), creating 6-8 even sections (depending on size and looks). 
For my leaf, I did a quick search of the Internet for an image of a pumpkin leaf and used it as a pattern. I cut out 2 pieces and sewed them together, leaving an opening at the base to turn it right side out and push the leaf points out. You could make this step easier by using one layer of green felt, but I'm a sucker for silk so I kept going with it. To give the leaf more detail, I did a quick blanket stitch around the edge with embroidery floss in a darker shade of green. 
For the stem, I took a scrap of the green silk I used for the leaf, folded it in half, and sewed a curved line down 2 adjacent sides (see image). I turned it, stuffed it, ran a quick stitch through the top, and pulled it closed like a drawstring bag (make sure to put a couple knots to hold the hole closed).
Some floral wire wrapped in floral tape and spiraled around a pen made the little curlies. I stretched the wire out a little and tucked it under one of the section strings at the halfway-point of the wire. Finally, I hot glued the curly wire and the leaf down into the center of the pumpkin and then hot glued the stem on top of them to hide the knots and unfinished edges. I added an inexpensive bunch of silk leaves for accent and placed it all on a small table in my living room.Part of what I like about projects like this is the ability to tweak and modify it to your own whims. Tara had mentioned making smaller pumpkins and using them as garland, whereas I envisioned a larger version as a center piece. I may even buy some black felt and make some temporary Jack-O-Lantern eyes and a mouth for Halloween. If this project inspires your creativity, I want to see! Post it up on the Fabric.com Sew & Tell Gallery and let us all share in the Fall-time fun!
Happy Stitching!
Melanie
You know those lovely Fabric.com emails you get in your inbox a couple times a week (or even daily if you have signed up for our new Deal of the Day email)? My job is to make sure those emails are planned, produced and scheduled on time. It's a little bit technical, a little bit creative and a whole lot of fun. I get to help Moniqa (our graphic artist) with some of the pretty designing and writing, while still utilizing the computer skills my programmer father instilled upon me. Throw in some number crunching, and that's my day.
I grew up in a family of crafters. From the moment I was old enough to comprehend the details of what I was doing, my grandmother had me on her knee helping my pudgy, unskilled hands guide the fabric through her old Bernina while she controlled the speed of the stitches. My first project was a simple blue pillowcase with rainbow lace trim and a Rainbow Bright panel appliquéd on with crooked zigzag stitches. Roughly 20 years later, I still cherish that pillowcase.
All through school, I was teased for knowing such an "outdated" and "old-lady" skill. I would spend summers with my grandmother and my aunts, learning everything from doll making to quilting. The first day back to school I would show up proudly modeling that summer's apparel project. By the end of the day, though, I was ready to tuck the outfit far into the back of my closet where it could never haunt me again. Sewing your own clothing was un-cool and a social indicator that you were poor, and we all know how mean kids can be. In high school I managed to find a few other fellow crafters, but we were often considered kitschy and on the weirder side of creative. I even remember at least one person equating my sewing skills to a step back for the feminist movement.
Today, I see a change in the trends. Women my age now regret not having the skills needed to make slipcovers or outfits or even simple alterations. I have been to parties where I spent more time explaining how to make simple curtains than I did socializing and partying. A whole slew of sewing magazines have popped up, aimed for the young, hip and trendy. It seems that the "outdated, old-lady hobby" so many people shunned in the past is making a well-deserved comeback, and I'm glad. I am grateful for all the knowledge passed down to me. Those lessons in sewing and crafting not only taught me how to make my own dresses or pillows. They also taught me patience, precision, organization and that wonderful feeling of accomplishment found at the end of road paved with twisted elastic, broken strings and jammed machines.
I hope to use my future posts to pass down some of the priceless knowledge and experience that have been given to be by the wonderful women in my life, both family and friends. If I can inspire even one person to pass on their treasure trove of expertise to some lucky little boy or girl, well then, I can rest assured that my rambling wasn't all for naught.
Happy stitching!
Melanie
I grew up in a family of crafters. From the moment I was old enough to comprehend the details of what I was doing, my grandmother had me on her knee helping my pudgy, unskilled hands guide the fabric through her old Bernina while she controlled the speed of the stitches. My first project was a simple blue pillowcase with rainbow lace trim and a Rainbow Bright panel appliquéd on with crooked zigzag stitches. Roughly 20 years later, I still cherish that pillowcase.
All through school, I was teased for knowing such an "outdated" and "old-lady" skill. I would spend summers with my grandmother and my aunts, learning everything from doll making to quilting. The first day back to school I would show up proudly modeling that summer's apparel project. By the end of the day, though, I was ready to tuck the outfit far into the back of my closet where it could never haunt me again. Sewing your own clothing was un-cool and a social indicator that you were poor, and we all know how mean kids can be. In high school I managed to find a few other fellow crafters, but we were often considered kitschy and on the weirder side of creative. I even remember at least one person equating my sewing skills to a step back for the feminist movement.
Today, I see a change in the trends. Women my age now regret not having the skills needed to make slipcovers or outfits or even simple alterations. I have been to parties where I spent more time explaining how to make simple curtains than I did socializing and partying. A whole slew of sewing magazines have popped up, aimed for the young, hip and trendy. It seems that the "outdated, old-lady hobby" so many people shunned in the past is making a well-deserved comeback, and I'm glad. I am grateful for all the knowledge passed down to me. Those lessons in sewing and crafting not only taught me how to make my own dresses or pillows. They also taught me patience, precision, organization and that wonderful feeling of accomplishment found at the end of road paved with twisted elastic, broken strings and jammed machines.
I hope to use my future posts to pass down some of the priceless knowledge and experience that have been given to be by the wonderful women in my life, both family and friends. If I can inspire even one person to pass on their treasure trove of expertise to some lucky little boy or girl, well then, I can rest assured that my rambling wasn't all for naught.
Happy stitching!
Melanie
