Learning to Sew

I used to sew a little with my grandmother's old sewing machine, but the bobbin and needle threading were such a headache that I finally gave up. Lately I've been thinking of how much I'd like to get back to sewing. At the very least I should probably learn how to sew my own kids' Halloween costumes so that Denise doesn't have to do it for me every year. Also, I have 2 little girls and what's more fun then to sew little dresses and skirts? I had heard that newer machines were easier on the bobbin winding and needle threading, plus they are very reasonably priced, so I decided it was time to give sewing machines another try.


Check. it. out. Bobbin wound. Needle threaded. 

If you've never done this before then it's probably hard to be too impressed, but I will just tell you that I had to watch the instructional dvd that came with my machine 4 times, pausing and playing along the way in order to get here. [My dad is going to be so proud. Yes, that is the manual out and open, and yes, I watched the dvd.] You'd think if we can put a man on the moon we could make a sewing machine that just sews when you take it out of the box, but apparently not.


I decided for my first project to make a tactile "taggie" blanket for Nora. I used to see these blankets when Sylvie was a baby and wonder what their great appeal was. Sylvie was not a tag baby. Nora, on the other hand, can spot a 1/2 inch tag clear across the living room and will army crawl herself over to that bad boy like a man in a desert crawling to water. Nora loves tags.

The sewing is totally crooked but you have to look pretty closely to notice. Best of all, Nora couldn't care less. If you really want to blow your baby's mind, you can use one of those plastic link things to add a toy to this.


Oh yeah.

This is already on its second trip through the washing machine as it was covered in mashed banana as of this afternoon. I used instructions for this blanket from the book One Yard Wonders, but after I made it I saw even better instructions for this "travel blanket" here. She uses Velcro in some spots instead of ribbon to more easily attach toys and also includes a pocket for little board books.


I decided to make Nora a dress with my leftover fabric. I traced around a dress that fits her, allowed 4 inches for the arm holes, and made an opening in the top to pull a ribbon through so that I could avoid having to deal with anything as complex as zippers or buttons.

It came out a little snug in the chest, probably because my seams vary from 1/4 inch to 3/4 of an inch depended on where you look in the dress. Who knew sewing in a straight line takes so much practice?

Next up: an elastic waist skirt for Sylvie, reusable snack bags (Sylvie starts her new preschool on Monday!) and Robeez style shoes for Nora.