My new pet

After 12 years of sewing with the machine my dear husband bought me for our first anniversary (or was it my birthday? Anyway, it was early in our marriage) I have finally upgraded. Technology has come a long way, and I feel like I've been driving my whole life in a 1985 Dodge Colt and have suddenly been plopped in a...well, OK, perhaps not a Bentley, but at least a Honda Accord?

In short, I am really enjoying my new sewing machine. Yes, I spent about four months of my monthly cash allowance on it, but normally I would just put that in my "Ski Fund" and then not actually get to go skiing more than once each winter anyway.

Why, you ask, do I not go skiing when I do indeed love it so much, I do actually own my own gear, and it is one of the few sports I'm actually pretty good at? Well, several reasons, most of them having to do with my inner cheapskate. First, the skiing near Chicago is pretty bad, AND a long drive, AND still costs at least $50/day. Second, I don't always have someone to go with; Scott doesn't really enjoy skiing or snowboarding and my few friends who ski don't necessarily want to take an entire weekend away from their families to ski on hills with only a 400 foot drop. Third, the three dwarfish humans living in my house don't like being left behind, and yet I am FAR too cheap to shell out an additional $45 per child for ski "daycare." Yes, I have had dreams of teaching my children to ski and all of us happily inhabiting the slopes in our winter free time. And then I notice my budget and my snow-hating husband and realize there are better ways to spend family bonding time. So skiing really is a "me" thing, and any of you who are married or moms know that "me" things often need to take a back seat to "us" things.

But back to my sewing. Anyway, I am not a brilliant, extremely skilled, or terribly creative seamstress, but my mom did teach me the basics as a kid, and I'm trying to learn a bit more off the internet where I can. I have a backlog of about 12 projects, and I've worked my way through six of them in the last week or two. Now, unfortunately, I've done all the quick, easy, and interesting projects and am left with the painful, the tedious, or the dauntingly difficult. But here's what we've got so far:



A red satin brocade dress for Nora. The mandarin collar was a total pain, but the rest of it was pretty straightforward. Sadly for me, I didn't realize that satin MELTS, so the dress has a couple scorched spots from a too-high iron setting. Since I had put a lot of work into it already before I cooked it, I figured I'd go ahead and finish it and make her wear it anyway; maybe no one will notice those strange splotches on the side seam...



A pleated pink corduroy skirt, also for Nora (Juliet got a matching one, not pictured, which has to be the fastest thing I've ever made; it took about 11 minutes to sew a tiny, elastic-topped skirt for her.) I'm not thrilled with this; the corduroy is actually too lightweight for what I had envisioned, and I need to add some sort of trim because it's a bit boring looking. Maybe a contrasting fabric rosette? Ideas, anyone? Also, even though I took in 2 1/2 inches on the skirt, it is still baggy on my skinny daughter. OK, when her waist size is 18", why does a 3T pattern come in a 22" waist size? Guess I should've gone with my instincts and shrunk it even more.



This was inspired by an adorable dress I saw at Janie and Jack. I fell in love with it, but seriously, $49.99 for a knit T-shirt dress with some ribbon? I can do that. And I did. This was way easy, and almost identical to the one at J&J, except that I made it 2 inches skinnier and an inch longer. It fits Eleanor like a dream, and looks really cute over black leggings (which I bought; why sew something you can buy for $5 at Target?) Cost: about $7. HA!



Finally (and I'm most proud of these) cute plaid jumpers for both girls. This is Juliet's. I sort of went out on a limb and tried some ideas out. Here, I added black velveteen seam binding to the arm and neck holes. This was also my first experience trying to match plaids, and I must admit, it turned out great! (Although, I ask you, since when is a "wool blend" actually 95% polyester? Hmm? Oh well, at least maybe they won't shrink terribly if I accidentally dry them.)



The trim on the bottom is kind of spiffy; it's black jumbo rickrack holding the band to the main part of the dress, so you can actually see through the gaps. Cool.



And here's the one for Eleanor. It's actually not lopsided; that's just how it's hanging on the hanger. I think I overdid the ruffles a bit - they're puffier than I would have liked - but it's pretty cute on her. I still need to make a black velveteen bow to stick on the drop-waist there, so it's not quite done.

Remaining projects: two gifts, one owl Halloween costume, and two "fancy" taffeta Christmas dresses with, of all things, hand-embroidery on them (well, the pattern says they're SUPPOSED to have embroidery; I am not sure that's within my grasp). Oh, and one pile of material intended, in a moment of supreme foolishness, to produce a skirt for myself. No pattern; I just saw fabric I liked and thought, oh, I bet I can design a skirt. Um, hello? Know thyself, right? Wrong.