Moving along... from Paper to Fabric

{my first "serious" quilt}

Wow, it seems like forever since I have blogged. A lot has changed around here as I have sort of changed directions on my creative journey. I have always loved paper crafting but what I enjoyed the most was the process. The creations only served as eye candy for a while and would end up getting recycled, re-purposed or given away. What I really was in search of is a creative outlet that served practicality. So I started making quilts. Just easy quilts. I found it fulfilled my love of putting patterns and colors together, much like I did in paper crafting. BUT, after making 7 quilts- I had more quilts than bodies to wrap them around. I did learn one valuable thing through quilting though, and that was to be patient and precise. After learning I could be patient and precise, I figured why not jump into making my own clothing? Now my mom taught me to sew in grade school- but I didn't really have patients so I frequently just cut squares out and sewed them together and added elastic! When I did try patterns, I cut them out haphazardly, ignoring things such as grain line, darts, and notches. I just cut, threw right sides together and sewed. And lets not even talk about seam allowance- I just sewed along the edge and made things match even if they didn't. That was cause for a lot of uneven  shoulders, crooked necklines and bad hems. As with most of my creating I am self taught- AKA Internet taught. There is such a wealth of sewing information out there! I discovered the whole Indie Pattern Making universe and Sew A Longs. My favorite being the Ginger Jean Sew Along from Closet Case Files. After I familiarized myself with doing some simple patterns, I was ready to start tackling some real challenges- like Jeans and  a tailored shirt! I highly recommend Pamela Howards "The Classic Tailored Shirt" Craftsy class.

{my tailored shirt from Pam Howards class- live and in action at work!}

Now I have gotten past the shyness off sharing my handmade clothes and will start sharing here on the blog my sewing adventures!

{My first "practice" jeans. I of course wasn't thinking about the grain line and didn't buy enough fabric- so they were too short! No problem I added a little cotton cuff at the bottom- but lesson learned