Last year I became the proud owner of a sewing machine. I never could figure the thing out. It frustrated me to no end. I put it in the basement and never really thought about it again until a month or so ago when I decided I wanted to sew some aprons. As I've said before, I have a great love for toile fabric. In fact, a couple of years ago I was looking for some when I was in Colorado, and I asked the friendly fabric woman at the local Wal-Mart to direct me to some by properly pronouncing it as "twall" and she had no idea what I was referring to. I finally found it, and when I took it to her, she said "ooooohhh, you mean 'toylee'. Sure. :) I always wonder, what is the appropriate response in a situation like that? Should I sound like a snob and correct her? If not, and I refer to it again, do I call it "toylee"? Awkward. I think I just smiled and shut up.
Anyway, back in the summer, my gargantuan super Wal-Mart decided to replace it's fabric area with the more popular "party center". All fabric was reduced to 50% off it's lowest price. I bought all the toile they had left. Now, I had no idea what I was going to do with said fabric, but I liked it, and I brought it home and stuffed it into the cabinet with the sewing machine. Fast forward to November. I had the fabric and a sewing machine that I am incapable of using, and since unemployment can only be stretched so far, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to sew up some aprons...or maybe find a kind soul to do it for me. I posted to the homeschool group and one mom volunteered to make them...to the tune of $30 an apron. She also provided the option of teaching me to sew, but that was going to be $25 per hour. Neither of these options really fit into the budget so I decided to scrap the whole idea. Then, through a series of conversations, a lady at church volunteered to come to my home and teach me how to sew aprons. She came over three nights and I have been a sewing fool ever since.
I have made 15 or so reversible aprons for Christmas gifts. Then I decided I would really like to have a nicer sewing machine, and maybe even one that could embroider. Grandma sent me my Christmas money, and I used that...as well as some of Michael's :) to purchase a sewing/embroidery machine. It's totally awesome because, let's be honest, who DOESN'T like to have their name or initials stitched on things? Run down to the dollar store and buy a package of cloth napkins, put them in the embroidery machine, and for $1 you have a cool gift! Then, I also decided last weekend, that I wanted to make the girls some Little House on the Prairie type outfits with matching outfits for their dolls...all before Christmas! Everything was going according to plan, and I was totally pleased with the two bonnets I had completed, when the sewing machine started to malfunction. Good times. It doesn't look like I will get everything completed before Christmas, but I am so excited that I have developed a new skill.
Here are a couple of pictures of Madeline modeling one side of the apron, and Meghan the other. The side that isn't toile is made from old pillow shams I saved, just because I thought they were cool. See...it pays to save e-v-e-r-ything. Once I ran out of fabric, I started looking for old sheets and curtains at thrift stores. I like the vintage-y look and it's so much cheaper than fabric...especially if you go on half price day. As soon as I locate my camera, I'll post some pictures of the bonnet. It's adorable.
8 comments:
Oh I'm so with you. I have made purses out of silky department store banners, a wonderfully vintage 1970's peace wallhanging made from felt, blue jeans, and old quilts. And I have apparently outused my cheap sewing machine as it stopped working last week too. Which stinks because I was home for several days in a row with nothing to do and I couldn't even sew. And I have a quilt that needs quilting which I was planning to give my mom for Christmas but obviously I can't do that with a sewing machine that doesn't work. I was in 4-H for years so I've sewn since I was little. But I learned to sew with my mom and it was usually painful and full of arguements. (Teenage girl angst driven arguements, I'm sure.) Now that I'm doing it on my own, I am enjoying it a lot more.
I love toile as well...I have a sewing machine, and went nuts with it for a year and then stopped. Now I want to start again, but I forget how to use my machine, and it is complicating at first...but your post has just inspired me to do it, plus the girl that originally showed me is in town for a week, so maybe I can get her to show me again...nice aprons, thanks for the nudge!
Hi Kayla,
I often look at your purses with envy. ;) My next project is going to be a quilt and then I would like to try my hand at a purse...and do some free arm quilting to make it look artsy.
The machine I purchased is the Brother SE 350. I really love it, and couldn't find a bad word about it in any reviews. I started having problems two days in and they compounded. I called troubleshooting and they said I needed to call about having it replaced. I think that's really unusual, and overall, I love the machine.
At my Wal-Mart they have fleece lap blankets priced 2 for $4, so I bought 12 and embroidered names on them for personalized cheap-o gifts. The colors left were brown and black, but with a girls name embroidered in pink it looks really cute. :)
Let me know if you get a new machine what you decide to go for. My old machine, the girls are now using. It's a Singer Prelude. The 72 or so stitch functions on the Brother are so fun! I stitched on one pocket with a scalloped stitch...totally cute!
Nichole...I posted just for you!
Whatcha going to sew???
What fun! For a while I made srcub tops and sold them on e-bay for extra income. Then I made a ton of sheets and I haven't sewn since. But I think I too am inspired!
Thanks,
Christina
Always wanted to sew. Bought a White sewing machine about 5 years ago and couldn't figure out how to do anything. Got discouraged and gave up. Then my daughter "borrowed" it. She lost the plate that closes the bobbin. She really didn't do anything with it except lose the plate... now I have useless sewing machine and still no idea how to sew.
But maybe I'll dig it out after christmas, find another plate, and ask someone how to make aprons... really, I love the idea. Thanks for reminding me I want to sew. Terry
Forgot to say, Merry Christmas to you and your family!
I ended up getting my machine fixed. It was something to do with turning the handwheel while the bobbin winder was switched on. A clutch inside slipped or something. Anyway, no new machine for this girl. (Which is good because if I need to get a new machine, I want a nicer, more expensive one which we really can't afford on our current income.) But I did just tear apart two quilts from the 70's to make purses out of. And guess what I found inside of one of them? Another quilt, from the 30's! It was apparently getting old and had a few too many tears so they decided to use it for batting inside of another quilt.
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