And sew it begins

I was 12 the first time I touched a sewing machine. It was a giant monstrosity of a blue metal thing that weighed almost as much as I did. ALthough to be fair, I weighed much less than the average 12 year old. My mom taught me the basics and I cut out and sewed together hundreds of squares of fabric to make my very own quilt. It was outrageously colorful, and I even worked in a pattern to form the numbers 1993. I was so proud. Sniff sniff.
Over the next five years, whenever I got the urge to sew, another friend or family member got a quilt. Unfortunately I didn't know much about different stitch types, or about how some materials fray, especially when attached to other types of material, so many of these quilts have fallen apart over the years.
Once when I was about 15 I attempted to make a skirt for myself, but I thought it was ugly so I gave it away. My first real attempt at clothes, was making my best friend a sleeping beauty costume my senior year of high school, but to be fair, my mom did a huge part of it. My first major triumph would come 6 months later when I made my own dress for senior prom....I know, brave right? I think I'd seen Pretty in Pink one too many times. It turned out great though and I got tons of compliments. Plus it took the focus off my horrible hair.








My next few projects would include a hideous maternity dress to wear to my baby shower, and an adorable lamb costume for Emily, that everyone thought was a bunny, but I was just glad that it actually fit.



Over the years I've branched out to include a dress for Cali and a couple pairs of pajamas that were too small for her but that she loves anyways. I've also put together numerous other Halloween costumes, including this masterpiece, that taught me a lot about sewing......mainly how to keep my patience, and how to rip stitches out.


All of this has been done with the help of my mom. She's answered numerous questions and loaned me her machine and all of her sewing stuff, sometimes for as long as a year. Well this week I thought it would be a great idea to make little custom outfits for Cali to wear to Disneyland. I was gushing my ideas to my mom when she asked me

"Do you have a sewing machine?"

Duh mom, you know the answer to that, I always borrow yours!

But I just looked at her, confused.

mom: "I left mine at the house in Oregon"

me: *shock* *horror*, what about my custom Disney outfits? However am I going to do them now?

mom: "I guess it's time for you to get your own machine"

And I guess it was. So I went to the fabric store, grabbed a box that was on sale, and I am now the proud owner of a Singer something or other model # blah blah blah.

But the point is that it's mine, all mine and I don't have to give it back and I can sew anytime I want!!

Just add that to the list of Dork-a-licious things I've written on this blog.