Adventures in Sewing Part 3--At Least Two More Dresses

Per babygirls request, I have been slaving away at the sewing machine!  I'm really starting to get the hang of this particular pattern, which is handy since she doesn't want to wear any of her other dresses anymore!

I still think zippers are a major pain, and they both were semi-botched in one way or another, but I'm ok with it!  I keep reminding myself that these are dresses for a four year old to jump around in, no need to be perfect!

This one was made in record time, just over 2 1/2 hours.  Not bad!  Also, I only used the seam ripper once!  Woohoo!

New Adventures coming soon!  I have several projects in the works, one of which I'm drafting my own "pattern" for!

Adventures In Sewing Part 2--Gardening Apron For Mom

Time to share another successful sewing project!  This one comes from the awesome book One Yard Wonders and was made for my lovely Mommy.  Mom is an avid gardener and I always get her something related to playing in the dirt for Mother's Day, so this seemed a perfect gift and a perfect challenge for my beginning sewing skills!

A whole lot of "firsts" with this project....first pockets, first loop-y things and first time using bias tape!  I confess I almost chickened out on the "loopy things" but then talked myself down with the realization that it isn't really a gardening apron if you you don't have a place to hang your tools!

Action shot of me trying it on, you can see the loopy things better in this photo.

This project was a blast, and for those of us keeping score--I only used the seam ripper twice!

Adventures in Sewing Part 1--Toddler A-line Dress

Upon bringing home my new sewing machine, Babygirl immediately insisted that I make her a dress.  Definitely an intimidating request for a beginner that is just now getting over the fear of sewing through my finger!  I set out to find the most simple dress pattern I could find, and after looking through tons I was too chicken to attempt (ruffles, darts, gathering, etc) found Kwik Sew Pattern 3862.  Can't get more simple than an A-line dress!

I'm proud to announce that I only used the seam ripper 3 times for this project!  But I will also publicly confess that the inside is an absolute mess and I am afraid to see what happens to it once its gone through the wash!

This was my first attempt at putting a zipper in anything, come to find out it really wasn't as difficult as I had invisioned.  (action shot of the back--ah the fun of photographing a moving target!)

During the process I kept reminding myself that it doesn't have to be perfect, this is a learning process and hey, its a play dress for a four year old!  Turns out she loves it and it took me a full 24 hours to peel it off of her!  She's now requesting "at least two" more dresses just like it!

Sewing up a storm these last few days so more projects to follow soon!

On Learning to Sew...

Pretty much sums up my experience thus far in learning to machine sew!

After successfully completing a few envelope back cushion covers, I decided to venture out and try something a little more difficult for dear friend and (biggest cheerleader) as her birthday was coming up.  I came across this lovely, seemingly easy to follow for a beginner, tea wallet tutorial and set to work.  Amazingly, it came out right on the first try!

The stitches aren't even all that crooked! ;)  Must have a few more photos because I'm so proud of it!

This was the first time I sewed something without lanikins looking over my shoulder for support.

Not bad for a newbie eh?  Feeling very confident, I set to make another using some lovely fat quarters I bought a while back.  Breezing along, thinking how wonderful I am I can do this no problem.....

This is how it ended up.

Sigh.  Swear.  Throw things.

Fortunately for me, I have two amazing seamstresses as mentors, the lovely Ruby Murray and dear sister lanikins.  Both have been awesomely encouraging, reminding me that EVERYBODY has to use a seam ripper now and then.  I'm not going to give up!

Working on a "simple" (sarcastically worded, since everything seems complicated to me right now!) a-line dress for Babygirl, hope to share successful results with you soon!