Maybe Next Time

I was a fierce competitor in Jr. High 4H sewing. Fierce. I do believe I always took the cake while modeling my creations at the annual fashion show. And I recall a few "best of show" ribbons at the Colusa County fair when all judging was said and done in the sewing tent. I owe it all to genetics (my mom is a mean seamstress) and a great teacher in Mary Massa.

Fast forward 15 or so years and a few years into marriage. Matt heard of my legendary sewing skills, scraped together some pennies that were very hard to come by during our Wisconsin years, and bought me a sewing machine for my birthday. We scraped even harder and bought a little table for my sewing machine. I was in love. I sewed away many long, dark, cold nights at that little table. My endeavors mostly consisted of curtains and aprons and one lone quilt. I have since realized that two things made for the perfect sewing environment back then: Wisconsin winters and a house with no children. Just a few years into my new found love for the homey hobby Henry was born. And all my sewing ceased.

Fast forward again nearly 6 years to present day where I discover the ultimate motivation to revive my seamstress hand ...

There is just something about a little girl that screams, "Sew for me! Adorn me in handmade dresses and bows and ruffly things." 

So a few nights ago, after waiting 7 days for my machine to be serviced, I decided to make something for my baby girl. I put the kids to bed and eagerly dove into stacks of material that I've held onto for 6 years. I found the perfect print. It was soft, and pink, and covered with roses. It just looked like Claire. Now while I may enjoy sewing, I hate reading patterns, and cutting and pinning and ironing. So I decided I would just "create" the perfect dress for Claire. And that's what I did. From 8pm to 11pm I thought and schemed and cut and sewed and seam ripped and sewed some more until this perfectly simple creation was born ...

 

 

I stared at it for awhile before I fell asleep, eagerly awaiting the moment I would hear Claire's first morning babbles so I could get her dressed for the day. The moment arrived 8 hours later. I walked into her room with the dress in hand and slipped it gently over her sweet little curls. Um. Well, it actually looked a bit more like this ...

And like this ...

 

 

Before she and I both realized it just wasn't going to happen.

 





 

 

Lesson learned. Perhaps I do need patters. And measurements. And maybe my sewing skills peaked during 4H sewing when I was 13 years old. Oh well. It turns out that Claire's future dolls will have a darling dress one day. In fact, this dress already made it's way onto a friends teddy bear. And I do believe that teddy bear was quite happy with my skills.

 

By the way, I carved out an hour the next day to sew Claire a little something. A redemptive shot at a dress for my baby girl. It's a pillow case dress. The easiest design out there. But I do believe it looks just darling on her.