Spring Fling

I have a confession to make.  I'm having a little bit of an affair...with my new sewing machine.
It's like I've been blind for 27 (almost 28 - eek!) years and now suddenly have 20/20 vision.  It's amazing.

But before delving into how sewing has changed my life let me digress, as only I know how to do...

I've been hard on myself lately.  Knocking myself for not expanding my horizons and doing more.  Mostly it's been in contrast to my ever learning challenging himself husband.  I've been kind of obsessing over Ian and all of his "self teaching/graph making/needing to learn ALL the time thing.  I mean come on boy, you spend your days as a neuroscientist!  Give yourself a break!  Just the other night I made some other comment about what he was up to "oh goodness, always learning, always teaching yourself something new".  He looked at me calmly, a sly smile curled his lips.  "And what exactly are YOU doing?"

I was sitting at the sewing machine.  Sewing my first patterned dress, for myself.  It was like a bolt of lightning went off in my head.  Hey yeah!  I'm learning too.

It's been happening for a while, this learning of mine, though I'm having a hard time pinpointing when it started.  Perhaps marriage, of course moving, certainly having babies and this new job of raising them.  At first I did things mostly the way my mom did, because my mom is awesome and I so value how I was raised.  Then the freedom of adulthood kind of dawned on me and I started exploring, finding my own niche and what felt right.

It's truly remarkable that in learning how to take care of my little ones, our home and ourselves, I've found myself.  I've not only a made a job out of it but a livelihood, a path and purpose for myself.  And this new sewing I've found?  Amazing.

It's opened such doors for me, and not just that I can MAKE so much more, but that I CAN.  I always shied a bit away from the sewing because patterns and precision and taking my time are NOT my strong suits.  I like to blaze through projects or mindlessly add row after row to a simple knitting project.  I like the freedom and exhilaration of making up my own patterns, going with the flow.  But as I learned early on, that doesn't always fly (baking anyone?)  Sometimes you need to slow down and be precise.  I'm discovering through sewing that I really needed that concentrated meticulosity in my life.

Yesterday I made Louise her summer sundress.  First I traced the pattern on interfacing, then pinned it on the washed ironed and carefully folded fabric.  Then I cut it out and stacked the pieces.  Then I READ, yes READ the instructions and went step by step, in order.  I turned on a little music and worked while the house napped and lost myself in the process.  And you know what?  By dinner time my littlest one had a new little dress.  Not wonky or oddly fitting, but kind of a little bit perfect.

ok ok I know it needs hemming and buttons and that the wrong daughter is wearing it, 

but we take what we can get 

And that precision sewing and conquering of a pattern?  It's led me to some new things.  For one I'm making the girls each a new lightweight summer sweater, in fingering weight yarn, in VERY intricate patterns.  I'm talking I have to look at the notes each and every row and count and pay attention.  It's a very different kind of knitting than I'm used to, a kind I've steered clear of in the past.

 Louise's sweater

Ainsley's Sweater

sweater yarn, lucious fingerweight (meaning super thin!) merino, 

Ainsley's is lemon yellow, Louise's is peony pink

But as inspired as I am I know myself well.  I need to balance out all these new meticulous projects with come quick easy ones.  I got the idea for a knit top, sewn bottomed dress for the girls a while back and was all ready to make up my own pattern for one when I stumbled across exactly what I was thinking of on ravelry.  The cross back design makes it grow with the girls so their dresses should fit for at least two summers.  Using thrifted fabric Ainsley and I found some contrasting yarn for the tops yesterday.  I'm pretty pumped for these.

knit top dress

Ainsley's choices

Louise's notions

So I am learning and growing.  Each time I try something new, venture a new path, I'm getting a bit more confident, crossing things off my list and finding new favorites.  It's really quite amazing this adult learning.