Intimidated…

I am supposed to be working on a dress for me (Simplicity 2885).

 I got to the point of buying the pattern (yay Joann’s 5 for $5 sales!!). I measured myself. Yuck! I cut out the pattern pieces. Then I got scared. I really hate sewing garments. I never seem to get them quite right. I think it has to do with my fear of making things too small and my desire to make things quickly. I also want to use a brown with pink, green, and white dots material, but I am not sure if it is appropriate. So I was stalled…

Then, out of the blue, I decided that I needed to make Easter gifts for Sophia’s class. I had bought this cute little change purse in Hot Springs, NC over New Year’s.

 This was the weekend my parents took the kids (Gott sei Dank!!) and hubby and I went to NC with my sister and hubby and Gina and hubby. It was the first time the six of us were together without kids in SIX years. We love each other lots. We enjoy each other’s company so much, but the kids have put a bit of a damper on our wild and crazy ways! So, my sister set up this weekend in honor of her FIFTEENTH wedding anniversary. Oh my! She got the grandparents to take charge of children. She begged couples to come. It was so nice. We should have sent her flowers. We didn’t. She is family. One never thanks family properly.

The point: while in NC I saw these cute little change purses made by some local sewer. At first I just said, “How cute. I will have to try that when I get home.” Then I felt some sort of need to support people who do such cute things and bought one for SIXTEEN dollars. I thought that a bit steep, but “support, support” went through my head. After I got home, it was a big hit since I had chosen the frog (Sophia’s current favorite). The sewer had sewn so many cute appliques to choose from it was hard to make a wrong decision. Anyway, I got to the cutting of the dress fabric and I…thought it was best if I made Sophia’s class change purses reminiscent of her new frog purse. Logical, right?

I have been tempted to repurpose some of my old clothing partly due to guilt of my need to buy fabric and partly due to all of these blogs that show just the cutest transformations.  So, I finally took some scissors to an old denim skirt of mine.  I used that skirt, some Easter fabric, and then scraps from my ever increasing scrap collection.  The only thing that actually cost anything was the thread, the velcro, and my time.  Since it was procrastinated time (such a thing?) I don't count it!  Thirteen change purses later, I am quite pleased with myself.  There are different insides for each and I tried to make the boys manly.

Each one has a letter on the front representing first names.  I used a straight stitch to try something new and to save thread.

While making the change purses, I was also inspired by my Sewing Circle Friends to make something for Sophia’s Go Texan Day. For you non-Texans, perhaps non-Houstonians, Go Texan Day is a day when the kids wear western clothing celebrating our past and our Rodeo present. Sophia’s is next Thursday. I decided to finally tackle one of the true repurposing projects-transforming adult clothing into children's. I used one of my old t-shirts that had just gotten too short, too tight, too old. I did this for two reasons: first, I have been unable to find plain, long sleeve t-shirts for the girls and our weather has been too erratic to assume she can wear short-sleeves next week (Crazy for us!). Secondly, I have been reading for MONTHS about these type of projects, and honestly, have just been too afraid to try. This pushed me into it.

I knew that a cute bandanna skirt would have been the best option. You know the ones, like these. It is easy and cheap and sooo cute with a LONG SLEEVE WHITE T-SHIRT. Wait, I couldn’t find one of those AND S HATES skirts. I think she might be growing out of this, but this was no time to really test my theory. So, instead, I bought a blue bandanna and went to work on the old t-shirt.  Like most first tries, it is not perfect. But, all-in-all, I like my first woman’s tee to child’s dress repurpose project. I might even try another. I might even embellish this one a bit more with a bandanna ruffle on the end of each sleeve (covering up the fact that I made the sleeves a bit too long ;) )

So, here I am. It has been several weeks now since I cut out those pattern pieces for my dress. I have almost run out of excuse projects. I might actually have to cut fabric and give it a go. I am still intimidated….Hey wait, don’t I have to make Easter dresses and perhaps even Easter PJ’s (yes, I did buy a lot of Easter fabric last year on clearance right after I started sewing)? We shall see…