I felt like a kid waiting for Santa this week. Amazon was shipping me 3 brand new, full color, beautiful sewing books. When they arrived, I was in heaven. I have just received:
Sewing School – 21 Sewing Projects Kids Will Love to Make
I am so excited about this book. I have been wanting to teach my daughter how to sew for some time now. She is so into fashion and creating outfits. I really think if she knew how to sew, someday she can turn her creations from paper into actual clothing pieces. This book teachers kids how to hand sew and actually make stuff that is fun.
This book has over 21 sewing projects for kids. Super fun and easy for parents or teachers to coach kids through the projects.
Sewing Clothes Kids Love – This book is amazing! You get 10 full-size patterns of the cutest kid clothes ever. My daughter loves this style. Lots of mixed patterns, extra notions of ribbon, buttons, applique, etc.
LOVE THIS BOOK! Sewing Clothes Kids Love http://sewingclotheskidslove.com/sewingclotheskidslove/About_Our_Book.html
Sew the Contemporary Wardrobe for 18-Inch Dolls – Which ended up being more “contemporary” for clothing from the 90’s. This was a little bit of a let down. But I think I can use the patterns and put a modern touch to it. Basically the American Girl doll will have a matching wardrobe as my daughter.
Ok, back to me! Flash back to when I was a kid. My mom made tons of clothes for me. I look back at the clothes she had made and I have to laugh. They looked like I was from “Little House On The Prairie”. Not sure if that was the style she as looking for, or she was just uber conservative and secretly wanted to be apart of of compound or something.
When I was in 8th grade, I took a sewing class in Jr High School. I remember I made a purple plaid sport blazer and rocked it in the school fashion show runway. I was so proud of myself. I loved that class.
Since then, I have been sewing on and off. I have to admit, I haven’t sewn a ton of garments. Most of my sewing has been pillows, quilts, curtains, eye pillows, baby ring slings, aprons, and baby bloomers. I haven’t sewn an actual garment from a pattern for 4 years. My daughter was almost 2 years old at the time. I had this fantasy where I would sew every Halloween costume my kids would wear. Hell, my mom did it for me, and I loved it! I had the most original costumes out of all the kids in my class.
After slaving over the pattern book, I finally choose the cutest bumble bee costume for my sweet little girl. I bought all the notion details, fabric, pattern, etc (which totaled $50), and got to work. I was so proud of my hard work. I thought, “She is going to love this. How could she not think this is the best thing in the world”.
She hated it. She refused to wear it. My 23 month old little girl was scaring my emotional well being. How could she?!!! So in the end, I made her wear it, tears and all. I am such a mean mommy. But… but… but… we were a bumble bee family and if she wasn’t a bee too, it would have just f-ed up the entire theme. And I haven’t sewn a garment since.
But I am officially ready to attempt the challenge again. I am praying this time will be different. This time, she gets to pick out her own pattern, her own fabric, and she gets to help me design it along the way. Will there be bitching along the way? Probably. Will we bicker at each other and one of us will ends up storming off and slamming a door? Most likely. But dammit, we will have quality mother daughter if it kills me!
One note in closing. There is a really high chance that I may become obsessed with this and lose myself in process. If that is the case, blogging may be set aside for a little bit. Don’t worry if this happens. Knowing me, I always get super excited about a hobby, then drop it like a fly when the next best thing comes along. Take blogging for example….
Poop On My Hands 
I have done some sewing when it comes to my daughter’s wardrobe, but so far it is heavily on the alterations. She is tall and skinny, so I frequently find myself bringing the waistbands in if I can’t find the pants with the magical adjustable waist-tab-thingies. I want to start sewing more, maybe if I end up taking the summer quarter off from school (I have been full-time or more non-stop year-round for 2 years).
Also, I love homemade Halloween costumes! My grandmother made a Dorothy dress for me when I was about 7 years old, and we still have it. Many other little girls, like my mom’s friend’s daughters, have worn it throughout the years and my daughter has no choice of costume when she grows enough for it to fit her.
That is so wonderful the Dorothy costume has made it’s way around. You should take pictures of all the kids who have worn it over the years.
I got my sewing table all ready. Tomorrow I am going to get out all my bins of sewing tools and fabric, plus head to the fabric store. I am like a kid in the candy shop.