A Place Where Friends and Family Can Be Updated

First, let me say that my maternal grandmother is the best seamstress I know. I am not quite sure how I would even be able to convey the deep love, history and great expanse of knowledge this one women possesses in the field of sewing. That said, I am sure a good chunk of my artistic/creative skills come from her and that there is hope for my sewing skills if I have even an ounce of her genes. I would love to be able to make my own pattern for any ideas for clothes I might have. I KNOW that that will only come about through practicing, practicing and oh yeah - practicing. So, eager to see what my 'first attempts' beyond blankets comes out to be as well as to get beyond my first "Duh!" moments I set out last night to make my husband a pair of pajama pants. I hope you find the account amusing. . .

Grandma, if you're reading this, let me first say I thought of you when I was in "the zone" and finally thought to look up and ask what time it was. Found out I had worked well past the 9:30pm (2130) time when I usually wake/feed Elly. . matter of fact it was 10:20. I figured she was already asleep and I'll just keep going because I'm "so close" to being done. . .she finally woke up at 11:50 wondering where mommy was.

Ok, so this is what I learned from my first attempt:

1)The project always seems simpler than it is.
2)70's men (it was my grandma's old pattern) must be built differently.
3)Don't make your own changes to a pattern you've never tried before.
4)Even though it is a pattern I probably SHOULD measure my husband to see how it would fit on him
5)Never ever say "I'll be done soon" to the husband because it may soon become a "boy crying wolf" situation and he'll no longer believe you.
6)Only say "I'll be done soon" when you are on the last seam - only 4 more things can slow you down at that point - tops. okay, maybe more. . .
7)If the thought "Oh, I'll just make it work like this. . ." crosses your mind - that's great for experimentation but not for a professional look.
8)When making pants for Brandon to remember to account for his heritage evident in his "island man" rear. . . that's all I'm going to say about that . . . .

All in all, they are functional at the most and still super comfy soft BUT definitely do not fit the way my husband would like. Humorous lessons aside I did learn tricks/fine tuning through experimentation. Different ways to attack seaming, choosing different stitches, aligning the material, cutting the material, laying flat the seams and a few other things on when not to cut corners. Oh, this creative-free-thinking mind will have to make room for measurments, ironing and pins if I want it done right and be long lasting.

Thread: 5.00
Material: 4.50
Scissors: 20.00
The memory of my first attempt at sewing clothes: priceless

Next: A playdress for Arielle with matching leggings. I already learned a lesson with that one: Do NOT order the pattern for download online because it OBVIOUSLY (didn't think about this) will not have the tracing pattern with it. Which means, for those who "may" have thought the deal too good to pass up on downloading, that you have to look at the pattern explanation and pictures to try and figure out the tracings. . . .guess what I'll be doing this evening