I have rediscovered my passion for sewing after a deflating layoff and intensive job search. Now that I'm gainfully employed, I can afford to spend my free time doing what I love... SEWING. I've been pouring over blog sites and flicker pages for inspiration, for sewing projects, but with a purpose. Recycling, Reusing, Up-cycling, and being practical and frugal in a fun and creative way.
I have been sewing since high school. Oh my first project should have ended my sewing career! LOL. The sewing teacher wanted us to straighten our fabric before cutting.. I chose camel-colored pin-wale corduroy! You cannot pull a thread to straighten corduroy! There was fuzz everywhere, and broken threads, and I thought I'd never get it straightened. But in the end I had a very cute v-neck jumper.
After high school I was inspired by my work-mate Barb Ely (are you out there Barb?). She was a sorority girl, working at the university library, and sewing up her wardrobe in her 'spare' time. She had goals and a schedule ~ 5 outfits by next weekend kind of thing! I knew I could do it too!
Then I moved to Denver. Another work-mate was an awesome seamstress... she would wear designer outfits to work she had sewn herself. Beautifully done! I can't remember a single outfit I sewed during this time... but my sewing machine moved everywhere I did.
Then came marriage and a family. And I was a stay-at-home mom. Sewing was back! I started watching Nancy Zieman and Eleanor Burns on PBS, and slowly my home ec nightmares of pin-wale fluff and tangled threads and ripping out seams gave way to more beautiful fun-filled projects. Clothes for my girls. Clothes that lasted through all three of them!
I was making napkins and aprons for a few local restaurants (which paid for my first serger) and I was sewing Lycra, and exercise outfits for a local exercise gear place. I saw mounds of Lycra in every color and print! And I was off to Denver Fabrics to rent more tutorial tapes (yes VHS). Industrial Sewing by Margaret Islander was a favorite. I had to make my time count.
I took the plunge and bought my first Pfaff. The kind Nancy Zieman was using on her show at the time. I still have it. I love it! It made tiny little button holes for the doll clothes I made. It is so solid, and I never had nests of thread to dig out of my machine. But I wasn't sewing for myself so much, I was sewing for other people. Altering clothes. Making custom order coats, and dresses. Loved their choices. Loved the finished products. And loved happy customers.
My next great inspiration is my friend and non-sewer, Nicole Montgomery. We've never met in real life. But we conducted business on the phone in our jobs. She had a passion about saving the earth...one cloth napkin at a time... and I made cloth napkins! We have often talked about starting an organic clothing line. Cute retro-style clothes, yoga outfits, all responsibly- made in the US ..no sweat shops for us! And I like the recycling side of it. Reusing and re-purposing clothes that might otherwise be tossed out. I've done a few things and have a stack of my son-in-laws jeans to make outfits for my daughter and granddaughter.
So here I am, slow mo... I am basically starting this blog so I have a place to share my ideas and creations, and be able to comment on other blogs that seem to require you to have a blog page! LOL
If you've made it through this post, thank you! Future posts hopefully won't be such a snooze! :D
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