Our parent's always ask us what we want for Christmas and every year it gets tougher and tougher to make a "wish list". This year I randomly threw out there to my mother-in-law that I thought I might want a sewing machine so I could learn to make cute clothes for AK. Well friends, ask and you shall receive! I got my sewing machine back in December, and for almost 3 months that machine has haunted me. I was scared of it! Scared to open it, scared to touch it, scared to try anyting with it. My mechanical engineer husband, "Mr. Hobby" proudly opened it for me, and even set it up - 2 months ago! He drug me out to the fabric store to get scrap fabrics and some threads. Before I could even say "let me try" he had sewn the scraps together - and I quickly gave up on the idea of sewing.That machine sat by my kitchen table for weeks on end. Every time I looked at it I felt this great pressure that I needed to produce a piece of clothing. I wanted to take a class - but was too nervous to go alone. My hopes of learning to sew were quickly fading into the background and I was getting ready to mark that off my list of possible hobbies.
My mother-in-law graciously gave me her old sewing cabinet/table a few weeks ago, sparking my interest once again. This time my problem was that I had no place to put another piece of furniture in our house. Well, with the recent purchase of new furniture and some rearranging in our closet, I was able to fit the new sewing cabinet in our master bedroom closet. I moved that big cabinet all by myself this week to get it in position and ready to use.
Maybe it was the boost of self esteem from all the spring clean up and clean out, or just the fact that sewing now had a literal place in my home, but I decided to google how to make a simple dress, known as a pillow case dress. Keep in mind I had and still have no idea how to go to the fabric store and pick a pattern and buy supplies...I don't even speak sewing "language". I found this youtube video...how to make a pillow case dress...after I spent 9 minutes watching a normal person show me step by step how to sew this simple dress I was highly motivated. I purchased her detailed instructions for $3 and headed off to the fabric store to get my list of needed supplies. I immediately went for the easter fabrics. I really really wanted AK to have a cute outfit for her 1st easter egg hunt at church, but I had no budget for a new one, let a alone a custom made one!I went home and got to work right away. My goal was to prep all the fabric and get it ready for sewing. Right off the bat, I cut in the wrong place and ruined my 1st attempt at dress making. Thankfully I thought ahead and bough twice as much fabric as I was going to need. I tried again and got it right this time. Wednesday morning Matt left for work and soon after I put AK down for her morning nap. I went straight for my machine, unpacked it and set it up on my new table. I stared at it for a while and decided to go for it! Of course I immediately jammed up the thread and my machine had this big ERROR light flasshing on the screen...."OOPS" - I realized Matt had threaded it and set up the bobbin and all that stuff and was quickly aware that I did not know how to fix this major problem. I know what you're thinking, you're thinking that I quit...but I did not! I got the instructions to the machine out and fixed my problem! I begin to sew on the arm holes of the dress...not a good starting point for your first try - its a curved piece of material - I cannot even sew a straight seam! I finished the first arm hole and it looked awful! Alas I was not defeated - I dug around my "supplies" and found a seam ripper, I just pulled that tread out and tried again - this time I was much more successful. Things just got easier and easier from here on out. Next thing I knew it was nearly 3 hours and later and AK's dress was almost complete. I got ready to do the last step, which was thread the ribbon through the neck of the dress and I realized my front side neck did not line up with my back side neck. Several seam rips later I measured, cut, and sewed again! Finished! It looked amazing - might I add - I did french seams on this dress. I really don't know what that means other than the lady in the video showed me how - and from the inside my dress is very clean and professional looking around the seams and hems.
I was so nervous the dress would be too small, especially after I had to adjust the neckline at the end. I told myself that even it it was too small for AK I would count it as successful because it was complete, it looked like it was suppose to, and it was just too cute! Much to my surprise it fit AK perfectly!
Unfortunately, as she wore it throughout the rest of the day I realized I must have missed something or done something wrong! Beginners mistake, I didn't reverse stitch at the end of my seams, so it is coming apart. I didn't even realize there was such a thing as reverse stitch, let alone how to do it myself! It's all ok though, because I will try to fix it tonight - and if I don't - I'm ready to begin again on the exact same dress. This time I'm making 2 one for AK and one for her cousin Bella. Every little girl needs a easter bunny dress for her first easter egg hunt!
I had a blast constructing this dress and plan to move forward in my sewing projects, I will continue to make mistakes, but I will also continue to learn from them. After I master the art of the pillowcase dress, I have my eye on some girls pants with ruffled cuffs! I hope you enjoyed the story of my blunders and successes of my first sewing project. I'm considering framing this adorable dress in a shadow box frame to hang over my sewing table to keep me motivated!
Also, as promised here are the pictures of the newly done bedroom. Please keep in mind we still need to pain the ceiling a light gray and we have not hung any mirrors or pictures on the walls.
This last pictures is a close up of the curtains - so you can see the pattern
Stay tuned for more sewing successes. I wish I had a good AK story today - but she is still stuck on everything being a "dog" and being as independant as ever!
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