A New Addition Arrives?

My new adventure springs on me when I discover 11 months later that I was expecting once again, so I pulled out those "small grocery store patterns" I had folded and saved and started sewing "small" sleepers once again. Each project proved that my love of creation was growing stronger with each little sleeper. I loved the satisfaction that came from creating clothing for my little ones. I felt like I was covering them in "stitches of love". The sleepers and onesies were my two favorite projects and seemed to keep them in clothing that was useful and unique. By the next winter my little boy was into crawling and he needed a play jacket and that "pretty blue fleece jacket" that my baby girl had worn was looking pretty good to me - it had worn well and since there was no one to see him playing - he got to wear her fleece jacket that winter. Good thing he was only 11 months old and did not know what his Mom was putting on him - he only knew it was warm and soft . LOL The things you can get away with when they are little - surely is not the same things you can get away with when they get older.

As my daughter got in the "toddler" stage I got to move on to making her all kind of sweet gowns for her pjs and the cutest little sets of pants and shirts for my son. I was almost excited to watch them grow because it gave me new projects to tackle - ( I even got brave and decided I was going to tackle a robe for my Mom for Christmas. I picked the perfect fabric and carefully cut out each piece of the Puzzle . I double read the directions and went to sewing the pieces together! When I had finished I held it up to behold my new creation ! I had sewn the right side to the wrong side to the right side to the wrong side!!!! I was beginning to wonder if there was any hope for me???? ) the new projects filled the bill for what the babies needed until they reached middle school and learned about brand names. I could not compete with this new line of clothing and I Yearned to learn how to make more professional looking clothing - but my projects got pushed aside for more practical items like pot holders and simple curtains and pillows. I learned more about crocheting now and let my creations take me away from my love of thread and needles, but as long as I was creating for the ones I loved I was happy. Yet every time I was in a store I would turn the clothing inside out and marvel at how nice and neat it all looked and I felt this burning desire to learn more.

A Dream Can Be A Funny Thing

It can be like a wild ride on the bumper cars OR it can be like a heartbroken lovers song? It can take you up this path and down that trail, leading you on new adventures - teaching you lessons as you follow it along, sometimes with much kicking and squalling - and then at other times with quiet defeat - seeking out this dream that your heart is yearning for. This dream can be much like a lover who leads you on with promises of hopes and desires yet to come and yet when met with failures - the hurt of betrayal can cut you to the very soul and leave you wondering what this is you are searching for?

So, what do you do? Give up and take another path OR do you gather your forces and resolve to try a different maneuver?
To all my sewing friends - what do you guys do when you find yourself stumped and disillusioned and "in over your head"???

This time I begged my step father-in-law for a manual and he managed to get me one . I studied it religiously and applied my wee little brain to threading the machine . Then I studied the tension and practiced and practiced and sewed a gazillion "bird nests" under each piece of fabric that I stuck under the needle. I did a lot of praying for help and I did a lot of Crying as that machine and I had war - one Battle after another.

Finally some miracle occurred and the fabric started to move through the process and I accomplished my First little sleeper. How thrilled I was !!!!!!!!!!! It was beyond my comprehension how this could be happening? My last process was learning how to put in the little zippers and put them on my baby girl. Here was a nice clean, brand new little sleeper and I was inspired and in love! Next came a whole wardrobe in all different colors and even mix-matching the sleeves so as to use up all little scrapes of fabric.

That got me through the cold months and finally the warm months moved in and I advanced on to doing those little "onesies" and now using little grippers between the legs and again I was overcome with the desire to learn new things and create a "one of a kind" wardrobe for my little one. Warm weather turned into colder once again and I changed back into sleepers that were heavier and they kept her warm as she now attempted to learn to crawl around on our cold floors. I also made her a little blue fleece jacket and I know I was more thrilled than she was.

By now the machine and I still Hated each other, I was winning more battles than I was losing - But there was very little "love " between us!

I Had A Dream To Sew

It seemed all my life I had this yearning inside of me that I wanted to lay thread to fabric and bring it to life. My only delimna was that I did not have the knowledge to pull this off in the manner that I dreamed of. When I was a small child I had a little toy sewing machine that was red metal (that was in the days Before plastic was Queen) and it had a little handle that your turned to make your needle go up and down, but I was never able to pull off any creations for my dolls that looked like anything except trash.

Next as at about the age of 8 my Mom taught me a little about the art of hand embroidery. I learned a few of the basic stitches and really strived to the best of my ability to perfect my stitches. Sometimes Mom would trace objects from my coloring books onto pillowcases and give me something to practice on. It did not matter that I was not yet creating works of art - I was spending time with the greatest lady in my life and for that I was grateful. Now that I am older I guess that she was trying to find ways to keep a youngest occupied and out of her hair so she could get some work done. My love for the embroidery grew and I loved added the beautiful colors to make gifts for others to let them know how much I appreciated them and then later when I married at age 17 to make our home have what I thought to be the signiture of someone who yearned to inspire her nest to take on its own unique characteristics, full of love.
I made simple new curtains for our first nest and yearned to make quilts - like those ladies that I saw that inspired me - working with their hands. I actually did piece together my very own , Dutch Girl quilt - which turned into a disaster when I attempted to quilt it myself and ended up with something that made me think of a limp sleeping bag , with the filling flopping from side to side - like some wild creature that would not be tamed.

Time moved on and in 5 years we welcomed a new baby girl into our lives and with the help of a friend giving us a baby shower we received several little sleepers - which I fell in love with. But the little one quickly started to outgrow these sweet creations and I did not have the money to purchase the new ones that were needed so I looked to the fabric store that we had in a local basement and found myself falling in love with fabric all over again. Each piece seemed to call to me - teasing me with ideas of things yet to come , and I gave in to the call and purchased a small , soft piece that whispered to me that it could become my precious baby girl's new sleeper. I took it home like it was a purchase of pure gold and waited for the time my child would fall asleep so I could tackle this new dream? I carefully took apart the old sleeper that the toes were wearing through and measured how much more we needed in length and drawed out a pattern on an old brown grocery bag. Next I drug out the sewing machine that my Mom had purchased used for me ,from my husband's step-father - who was a used sewing machine salesman. My dream was coming closer to being a realization. I carefully and lovingly cut out each precious piece of the puzzle from the soft material and laid it on the sewing machine and took my first test drive , wondering why the stitches did not look like I had imagined - Only to discover - a big mess of tangled threads on the back of my new wondrous project? O NO - what in the world had I done wrong? There was no manuel with this machine that I could turn to for advice. There was no internet that I could turn to - to ask from help from others who had walked this path and there was no other human being that I knew who knew how to sew. There was only me- with a dream.