Saturday, July 10, 2010

Fashion Show

I've been feeling ambitious. Maybe it's the fact that I'm back in mountains. Maybe it's the rain. I don't know what it is but with my Mom's assistance we have sewed and sewed and sewed. Every night, in fact. And in the week since I've been here, my daughter has gotten a new dress, a pair of shorts and a top. 

These garments were my first attempt at working with patterns. I combed the pattern books to find one with no zippers, no buttons and no fancy notions. I settled on a pattern from Simplicity (pattern # 5531 to be exact) and set to work measuring my daughter. Determining her size was pretty easy. But opening that envelope and unfolding those giant sheets of tissue was pretty intimidating. Mom gave me a quick rundown of what all the pattern symbols meant and let me go. After laying out the pattern, pinning it down, taking out said pins because my Mom said I did it wrong, and cutting, I was finally ready to sew!

It really wasn't that hard. I just followed the instructions. I learned all about the glories of adhesive bonding and that there is, despite my fervent objections, a wrong way to pin something. I had issues with my machine that cost us some time. The bobbin. Again. I'm not sure why my bobbin continues to give me issues by either tangling or un-threading itself. The manual wasn't much help and the only way we could keep the machine on it's path to righteousness was to wind a new bobbin EVERY TIME. Perhaps it needs a good cleaning. Or oiling. Do you oil sewing machines? 

Anyhoo, the dress was finished first. It's a cute halter dress, perfect for the hot Arizona sun. I really like the fabric we chose. It has a sweet hippie vibe I'm really diggin' right now. 




My Mom picked the fabric for the shorts and top. My daughter's nickname is K-Bug and she thought that ladybugs would be appropriate. They turned out pretty cute. I love the shorts. They were easy to make and I imagine many a remnant will become a little pair of cotton shorts.



My family and I return to the West Valley today. Back to the sun, back to the heat.  I am hoping that my ambitiousness carries over and isn't squelched by the soaring temperatures. Who knows? My kids could have whole new wardrobe come autumn. My son has yet to receive any Momma-made clothing. I can't wait to go dig through all the little boy patterns at the craft store!

2 comments:

  1. You've done very well. Congratulations1

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  2. My sewing machines do get oiled, but they're older models. Check the manual to see if yours should be. And check to see if there is a felt collection down with the bobbin, and pull that out.

    I'm just starting to sew again myself. Fun, yes?

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