Some cook, I sew and write: creativity brings joy

Now I've finished my first, fairly easy garment.  What next? My experience using the See and Sew pattern was so positive that I went back to that rack at JoAnn Fabrics and found a New Look skirt pattern for my daughter who is leaving on a church mission in two weeks.  Not quite as simple because it has a separate waistband and zipper.  Having sewn a number of zipper projects in the past year, I shrugged off the challenge with a fairly laissez faire attitude. Oops. Umm, zippers.  And sizes.  And directions. The zipper directions.  Not clear and the pictures didn't help.  That on top of me misunderstanding the directions for facing the waistband cost me HOURS !  Since it has been a few years since I last added a waistband, I muffed it. (A different picture accompanying the directions for the waistband and zipper would have greatly helped my understanding too.) I finally unpicked the whole thing from the skirt and will cut ...

I have around 4 quilt tops ready to be quilted and free motion quilting abilities that are faltering due to aching thumbs and wrists (probably arthritis) SO I am shifting focus.  I have long been intimidated by garment sewing so that's what I'm conquering next! My first project?  A See and Sew pair of pajama pants.   Very basic, very easy.  Elasticized waist without pockets.  Next time, I'll add pockets.  First, the finished product: I'm going to show some techniques that run contrary to what many bloggers and YouTubers demonstrate so let me share my credentials (or rather, the credentials of those who taught me.)  My mother, who taught me, paid for a long series of sewing lessons from a professionally trained, high-end clothier.  She passed many of those dressmaker tips on to me while she taught me to sew.  Her hopes of giving me a practical and creative outlet failed for decades because I was too fixated on p...

I wrote my last post when I finished the cross stitch and forgot to add a picture of it framed. TA-DAAA!