Sewing with my Homie

And by Homie, I mean my Little Grandmother!!

Remember a while back I told you that Little Grandmother and I spent some time with the sewing machine? Here's how that went...

Grandmother, who has sewn her whole life and used to make clothes for me, has A LOT of patience so I knew she was the perfect teacher to help me make some little dresses for Smalls. What would have taken her a few minutes took us all day. 

But we had a great time...laughed a lot...took out a stitch or two...and I even managed not to say too many bad words. 

In the end, I thought this pillowcase dress was not too shabby!

We also made a few play dresses by adding some skirts to simple white onesies. 

**This looks and sounds much easier than it actually was!**

Pleats are of the devil!!!

And there were many pleats. 

Little Grandmother teased me for pinning everything, but I told her that Mrs. Perry my Home Ec teacher would be so proud :) She created a habit that I cannot break!

And here's the grainy cell phone pic of Smalls modeling outfit #2

By the end of the day we made five dresses and cut out fabric for a few more that I could take home and attempt to put together myself.

Alone. 

With a machine that I had never even plugged in before! 

HA!!! Get ready for this one!

Once at home, I decided to make a dress for my friend's little girl that is just a few months younger than Smalls. (They recently moved to Texas and I thought this could be a fun snail-mail surprise.) Now, this was supposed to be easy. It was exactly like the one I made Smalls, and the fabric was already cut...I just had to put it together! 

Except that first I had to thread my machine. Well, Grandmother's machine was already done and I hadn't threaded a machine since 10th grade Home Ec, so I Googled it. Thanks to the joy of YouTube, I had a nice lady telling me step by step instructions of how to use my 'wonderfully basic beginner's machine.'

**Clearly we have differing definitions of the word basic**

Next, came the bobbin. Once I found it, it may or may not have taken me a few tries before I got it taken out, filled, and put back on correctly. 

Finally, I could begin sewing! 

Except the stitches were way loose and looked really ugly. It was about 8:30 that night and I didn't want to call Grandmother, so I text a friend's mom that sews. She talked me through adjusting the tension...another knob that I hadn't had to use with Grandmother.

Now, I could begin sewing!

If only... The next series of events involved broken thread, removing the bobbin, blowing out the machine, struggling to put it back together, and the needle falling out! It's a long story, and I'd rather not talk about it. Just before giving up and throwing the machine out the window...I called Grandmother.  

The whole point is that I DID IT! 

I finished that darn dress and really, once I actually got to start sewing, I enjoyed it! ...and I think this cute little girl approved :)

Throughout that crazy ordeal I gained the confidence to make this little curtain for the sun room...

...and this skirt for the living room table to help hide Smalls' toy collection.

Next up, those little ruffle pants that are so stinkin' cute. 

Who wants to teach me? :)