Take a staycation. Go into start of staycation expecting to focus on LARGE list of honey-do projects that have been amounting while incorporating lots of play time, reading time, relaxing time with two adorable children. Two days into staycation, decide that honey-do list is boring, and that completing to 65% is just as good as completing the whole way. Shrug off the remaining 35% in favor of a "project". Surf internet for awhile, spend midnight hours on mommy-blogs, wonder why other moms are so awesome. Feel both strong dislike, and great admiration, for these D.I.Y. moms (seriously, they basically have their own sorority...sisters of DIY, we don't think we're better than you...we know we are). Only half-decide on a project, figuring that you can "flesh out the details" at the store.
Arrive at local Jo-Ann Fabrics. Wander through aisles filled with colorful bolts of fabric. Having been seduced by said fabric (on sale! of course) and with delusions of crafting grandeur, venture into the abyss of the "sewing patterns" section. Go against better judgement to elect an easy project that could be completed over the course of an afternoon (new throw pillows, kitchen curtains...), instead, decide to sew a dress for your daughter. (The plans said "Very Easy"...so it really can't be that difficult).
Emerge from fabric & pattern section half an hour later, with ridiculously well-behaved children in tow ("Oh, yes, thank you, they're always like this"). Pay for two yards of fabric, two Butterick sewing patterns, fusible interfacing and $15 worth of bonding/elastic/hook-eye closure/bias tape "stuff" that you know nothing about, but that you seem to remember as "important"...maybe...maybe not...who cares, just buy it.
Reward angel-boy with a trip across the mall to the sporting-goods store (or, "The Golf Shop" as it is referred to in our home). Let him putt on the mini-green for 10 minutes, or until angel-baby wakes up and decides to pitch a fit. Escort rumply, fussy, once perfectly-behaved children out of store.
Make it to car in just-in-time moment, only to realize that keys are lost.
Back into mall. Tempting fate. Search frantically through fabric store with crying baby and close-to-fit preschooler. Allure of fabric store is lost after purchase has been made, and these other shoppers really seem to know what they're doing. Feeling regret for such an ambitious project, but no time to revisit. Keys are missing. Run across to sporting goods store, smartly avoiding golfing section ("But I neeeed a 5 hyyyyybrid, mommeeeee"), realize five minutes into this crazy-lady search that keys were in front of stroller all along. Sigh of relief. Slap forehead with hand.
Lunch at Issei with Lizzie (best part of the trip!) and then home to piece through the goodies in the Jo-Ann bag.
After wrestling preschooler down for nap-time (unheard of), revisit contents of the shopping excursion with excitement and some uncertainty. Sense of false confidence--check! Am convinced that if Butterick says "Very Easy", it should be a walk in the park. Get started making that "very easy" reversible dress with empire waist, button closure and gathered skirt for Kitty!!
About 2 minutes into instructions, realize that people who sew have their own super-special secret language. Understitching? Grainline? Easestitch? Out-facing? Ok, that last one is sort of self-explanatory, but in the context of the overall plans it is just as confusing as the rest. W.T.Elf Butterick Pattern B5629? Very Easy? Very easy for who, exactly? Martha Stewart?!
I'm going to preserve my crafting self-esteem and finish two projects that were already on my to-do list. Sewing a ring-bearer pillow for the upcoming nuptials (SOOO SOOOON!!! We are giddy with excitement--can you tell?) and a wedding bow-tie for my dapper nephew, Liam. I'll post photos of those projects once completed and my confidence (or, over-confidence) in my sewing abilities will be restored. Someday I'll finish that dress, I just hope Alice is still wearing size 12 months when it's complete.
Now, to enjoy the last day of staycation with a trip to visit my sister and Liam in Chambersburg. A much nicer way to spend the day.
Hahaha...oh, this sounds all too familiar. Talk to Tarah about the cute Valentine's Day tunic I tried to sew (from an "easy" pattern) for my daughter! I passed it on to Tarah, pins and all (it looked like something from "Hellraiser"), in hopes that maybe she can finish it and Parker can wear it NEXT Valentine's Day. The language of the pattern threw me off completely. I think I read it about 50 times prior to cutting a thing. I will most likely stick to sewing from patterns I make up in my head from now on.
ReplyDeleteI've "lost" the car keys way too many times. The best was when I thought they were gone after a run w/ the boys in the stroller. I thought I was going to have to retrace my run, but luckily they slid down and were still hooked to the bottom of the stroller, complete panic mode. Even w/ the hook I tend to misplace them. As for sewing I give you complete props, I have my mom's sewing machine that I will not give away, but have never even touched!
ReplyDeleteERMama--That Talu seems to be far more advanced than I on the sewing machine. I'm sure she'll make that tunic together in a flash...although I hope that you make a "Yeaah, you may have opened the pickle jar but I loosened it for you" type claim. :)
ReplyDeleteTam--I am already super in awe of the fact that you actually go running with your boys...the thought of having to "retrace" a run?! It horrifies me. :)
I appreciate the boast of confidence, however, I too have the desire to make PJ a dress...it is still in the "reading pattern" stage! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteMolly,
ReplyDeleteI have been here! In college I used to make curtains for my apartment by buying material, tension rod, and using staples to hem! I thought I was a genius! So I decided that I could make my own clothes, following one of those ridiculous patterns. Decided to make a shirt! Bought all necessary items. Went home and realized I couldn't begin to follow the directions!!!! Decided that cutting shapes out of material and using stitch-glue put them on a T-shirt was a hell of a lot more fun! I have never picked a pattern up again. However, Ruthie takes sewing lessons all the time and when I was a little girl used to actually make me clothes. I bet when we have stitch-n-bitch again, she could totally help you with the project. Of course it will not fit Alice Baby, but you could give to another mother as a gift and she will want to kill herself, because she will be thinking, " I can barely get out of the house most days and Molly has the time to whip a dress up on the sewing machine for somebody else's kid!!?!?!?"" You will be the envied and hated one then and that will feel oh so good!