Sooo, Soo, So, Sew

Sooo, my husband has been out of work for awhile now. When we were still a two income family I used to LOVE to shop. When he lost his job, couldn't find a new one, and the bills were coming in, reality starting hitting me hard. I now HATED shopping. Mostly because all those fancy pretty hand bags that I obsessed over, I could no longer afford. I would walk by my favorite stores and just give a heavy sigh. Knowing all to well that the cost of a new hand bag could feed my family for a week and pay the electric bill to cook that food for a month. Again, heavy sigh.

Soo, I would go home and look in my closet and see if there was something that I hadn't used for awhile that maybe would fill that weird desire I had to have a new designer bag. No, there wasn't. That's just being honest.

So, what do you do? I went into my husbands office and found his mom's old sewing machine. I put it on the table and starred at it. Bobbins and feet and thread and needles all looked pretty intimidating. Not having a clue on what to do was even more intimidating. But I knew I was staring at the answer to how I would get a new purse. Something that no one else had. Something that was mine and something my crafty self made. I knew what I had to do.

Sew.

I went to Walmart and bought my first pattern, some fabric, and some thread. Came home, butchered my pattern, massacred my fabric, and quickly learned that a seam ripper can be the most used tool I ever used. Things were sewn upside down and backwards. (I still say I followed the directions!) Okay, it wasn't a success. But making all those mistakes helped me learn some techniques. They also helped me figure out how to make changes to the patterns that I wanted to make. 

From that "Franken-Purse", I felt challenged and was determined to try again. I bought another pattern. Read online tutorials. Looked for local classes. Researched everything. Got some great pointers. Success! I started making tote bags, wallets, make up bags. I felt confident enough in my sewing that I made Christmas gifts for everyone on my list last year. 

I work on my skills every day. I think because of that, I've been able to start making some really cool things. If nothing else, I know that it's an original that no one else has.