Sewing 101

Ladies and gentlemen, I bought a sewing machine.  Then for five weeks, I was afraid to touch it because it had an instruction manual and lots of buttons.  Then one morning I brought it upstairs, set it up on my dining room table, and sewed a wretched little coat for my son’s Grinch toy.  It looked like this:

My little boy was not impressed.  When his sister asked him about the (long-awaited) “Grinch coat” on our drive home from school, he said, “It’s not like the one in the movie.”  Ouch!  But… it did totally suck.  Here’s the back:

A few weeks ago I got a big stack of fun sewing project books from the library.  Many projects sounded feasible, but I had no idea how to get started.  So I called in the big guns and set up a Sewing Day with my mom.  She’s been sewing since she was in 4-H club as a wee lass.  She walked me through a drawstring pouch project, then forced me to try some of my machine’s features (like sewing a buttonhole) that I was too intimidated to try on my own.

Feeling emboldened, I bought an inexpensive doll-clothes pattern figuring that the Grinch was about the same size as an American Girl doll.  Lo and behold, last night I was able to achieve an un-sucky coat for ol’ Grinchy!

I’m trying the coat again in a super-cute flowery fleece for my daughter’s “My Friend Jenny” doll.  And let’s face it, I only just gave her the doll a couple of weeks ago because I felt like it was CRAZY that I hadn’t given it to her yet.  Guess which one of us is more excited about Jenny’s new coat and matching fleece booties?  I’ll give you a hint — it isn’t the five-year old!

Just to recap, here’s the before and after:

Before anyone thinks, “Must be rough to have time to goof around like that,” (which I know isn’t any of my near-and-dears because you know the value of a creative outlet) there was an article in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living that pushed me over the edge as far as the cost/benefit analysis of investing time and money into a new hobby.  I have to find the article, then I’ll post a link to it, but I took it as one more affirmation from the Universe that there is much to be said about pursuing one’s desire to create, as well as learning a new skill.  Go forth and make stuff!

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