BWOF 09-2007-116, Tulip Skirt

I figured I should review this January project while it's still cold somewhere! It's not warm in DC--you still have to wear a jacket--but it is definitely Spring! The air is softer and we keep having gentle rain and when the sun finally comes out it really is warm. I am so happy about this.

When BWOF first published this project in September 2007 I was not sold on the tulip shape. However, over the course of a year they wore me down. When I was contemplating what to make out of the olive wool plaid I got from Joann in December I knew I didn't just want a straight skirt, but neither did I want a pleated skirt (not that I had enough fabric), and I'm kind of off A-line skirts right now. Then I thought of this pattern and decided it was perfect.

Because my wool is rather thick and coarse (it is wool, but still Joann quality) I left off the hip pockets because they would have been way too bulky. I would keep them in a lighter fabric, such as a crinkle satin--again BWOF has influenced me! When I first started getting the magazine I thought their obsession with crinkle satin was ridiculous, because satin isn't my style and then crinkle satin? and then satin for day? But it has insinuated itself into my brain and now it seems like a sort of reasonable fabric.

Plaids are totally obnoxious to cut and sew, as we all know. When I originally cut this out I cut the waistband in the same direction as the skirt. I matched the plaids at the sides of front and back because the front has pleats and the back has darts, so the plaids were only going to be able to match at the sides or the center but not both. I wasn't overly pleased with the result, and when I saw the pictures I decided it was too awful this way, especially at the back with the two dark lines next to the zipper so clearly offset from the dark lines of the skirt.

I ripped off the waistband--a much harder task now that I have a serger--and cut a new one on the cross grain. When (re)finishing the top edge of the skirt I managed to serge through the zipper I had so carefully picked out of the waistband so then I had to rip the zipper out and redo the entire back seam. Ugh! The back plaids do not match up, which is very frustrating, but I was not going to spend any more time messing with this waistband! Despite all my troubles and frustrations, I really like the shape and design of the actual waistband itself. The width is good and it sits right about at natural waist, which is very on trend right now.

My only complaint about this design is that the front double pleat is slightly off center, which is annoying. It's not far enough off center to look intentional (though looking at the BWOF photo it appears that is the design and not my error), but it's just enough off center to be noticeable. So I generally end up wearing the skirt a little crooked, with the CB zip to the right of my spine instead of at actual CB.

All this after the pleat gave me so much trouble! The large center front pleat on this is two pleats, and the directions were needlessly complicated. Basically, you pinch out the large pleat and fold it to the left, and then take about half of that and fold it to the right (at least this is the conclusion I reached, and the pleat appears to be correct). The BWOF directions first have you do the smaller pleat and then the larger and I just could *not* figure out how they worked together.

But that's minor and overall I think this is a fantastic skirt, and it's very comfortable and easy to wear.

All photos are here (I am having weird issues with flickr not always showing all of them but they are there) and the pattern review is here.

Back from Miami

I had a great time in Miami! I managed to make four new wardrobe pieces (plus my birthday dress from last year) so I felt all styling, though I kind of wished I'd made a short dress. I didn't want to look like the Young Things on their Spring Break (it appears to be a "thing" to wear your booty shorts unbuttoned and the fly peeled back to expose your bathing suit and, in one instance, your underwear), but they reminded me that I used to looooove wearing short skirts when I was younger. Somewhere around age 30 my skirts settled at the knee and have stubbornly refused to budge ever since. Even when I think I'm making something short, it only barely skims above the knee. I need to put a genuinely (but not obscenely) short dress on my Spring/Summer sewing list.

I was there with my sister. We have wanted to travel together since we were teenagers, but she started having my nephews in her early 20s and by the time either of us could afford to travel she couldn't leave the kids. The youngest is now 4 so we had a window and we took it! It wasn't the trip to Italy we planned so long ago, but we both were desperate for warm weather, sunshine, and lots of relaxing.

I used Priceline to get our hotel; we ended up at the Renaissance Eden Roc Resort and Spa. It's right on the beach and has four gorgeous pools. Our room had an ocean view but no balcony, but for what we paid I can't complain! The bar area was gorgeous and the gym had up-to-the-minute equipment.

I loved the boardwalk, though I fear they are replacing it with a ground-level cement path, which is neither as comfortable nor as romantic as a traditional boardwalk. It goes all the way down to the bottom of the spit of land on which Miami Beach is situated and most days I took a long walk down, got ice cream, and walked back up.

The weather was good, which was so nice after predictions of rain for most of the days! It was a little cloudy, but there was always sun (even on my last day, which was mostly cloudy and a little rainy). It was warm in the sun, but cool in the shade. I love the beach but burn like crazy and I usually sit under an umbrella the whole time. It was too cold under an umbrella so I got a little burned, despite my liberal and frequent application of 50 SPF sunscreen with titanium dioxide. The worst place? The back of my hands! When I reach into my purse it scrapes against them and hurts!

I slept late, read books, had nice workouts, ate a lot of dessert, and lounged in the sun to my heart's content. I wasn't quite ready to come home, but I suppose better to leave with a little longing than bored.

You can see all the photos with a concentration on my wardrobe here on my sewing flickr, and a slightly different set with more concentration on the scenery on my travel flickr here; I haven't gotten my sister's pictures yet so there will be more eventually.

My Sewing Back Story: Part 3, All Grown Up

College

I lived in the dorms all four years of college so I didn't do much sewing. Every year I managed to make my Halloween costume while visiting my parents during the summer or during Fall break, and of course the infamous "ugly dress" for my 21st birthday and graduation. College graduation is pictured at left, with my mom and sister. As I recall, I made my mom's dress as well--she had the fabric and pattern but hadn't gotten around to making it.

I also did a little sewing on campus. I did a play with the theater department (Hamlet) and was in the dance company. For the theater I was able to get my tech credit hours taken care of with sewing. Sweet! So much better than painting a set. The costume shop had a row of New Home machines (my first unpleasant exposure to this brand) and a gravity feed Rowenta iron.

For the dance company, I sewed just because I liked being involved. My whole life I had fantasies of being a dancer. However, my parents preferred giving me music lessons to dance classes. When I got to college I immediately started taking dance classes. Unfortunately, it turns out that I don't have much talent for dance beyond an innate sense of rhythm. I am not flexible, have very bad balance, and get dizzy just turning my head too fast, much less doing chaine turns across the floor. So sewing was a way I could excel in the dance company, because I sure wasn't doing it on the floor!

I missed sewing during those years, and when my parents said they wanted to get me a nice graduation gift--I had graduated at the head of my class with a 4.0--I said I wanted a sewing machine.

Post-College

After a little bit of drama--my sister got engaged two days before my graduation and my parents completely forgot about getting me a gift--my mom took me sewing machine shopping at the end of the summer of 1996. Unfortunately, the budget range was pretty small and the machine shop guy convinced my mom to buy me a New Home. I had been working with this model in the costume shop for the past four years and already knew I hated it. Partly this is because I was spoiled because the only other machine I'd sewn on was her Bernina 930 (here's a link to another lady who looooves hers). Now *that* is a fantastic machine; I hope to inherit it many, many, many years from now. I kind of wanted to tell her that I'd actually rather buy myself a nice machine than get a bad one as a gift, but figured it would have been ungracious. I think wish I'd spoken up then, though. I could have saved myself 10 years of heartache.

I had a roommate and no dedicated sewing space for the next two years before I went to law school. I also had my first real job making what felt like a princely sum and I enjoyed myself clothes shopping. I didn't sew much because of these limiting factors, except of course for the annual Halloween costume and birthday dress! I was a nanny directly after graduation for a little girl whose birthday was also in August, so I made us matching birthday dresses. I still have mine, the daisy flowered full length sundress on the left. This must have been for my 22nd or 23rd birthday.

Law School

In law school I again had a roommate and no dedicated sewing space, and absolutely no free time. I think I sewed pretty much only my Halloween costumes for those three years. I do remember giving my roommate a sewing lesson (the skirt tutorial from Amber's blog) so maybe I sewed a little more than that. But not much. I had to set up my sewing machine on a little wooden tray table that vibrated like crazy when I got going.

I participated in the law school's musical theater group, Assault & Flattery. We did an annual production of a famous musical with satirical law school lyrics and plot. It was so much fun and I met a lot of people doing it. I was an editor on the Law Review and so I spent most of my time with that crowd (all of whom I loved, don't get me wrong). A&F was an entirely different group of people. I again took care of my tech hours through costume sewing. Another score!

Post Law School, Pre Sewing Room

My first act upon graduating from law school was getting my own apartment. While I was fond *of* my roommates, I was not fond of *having* roommates, not least because I couldn't leave out my sewing machine. My first year after law school I clerked for a judge in Austin and it was really the first time in my life I had had free time on weekday evenings. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that I couldn't sew on weeknights. Sewing gets me really riled up, and if I'm in the middle of a project I can't fall alseep because I obsessively mentally sew and re-sew every single seam over and over again. To this day I don't sew much during the week, though I think I've learned to slow down my brain a little bit. Insomnia was a huge problem for me through most of my life until a switch flipped sometime in law school. I got so tired that I was able to fall asleep most of the time without any problem. Thank goodness I retained this ability after I graduated!

To fill the creative void I started making jewelry. I got really into jewelry-making, almost to the exclusion of sewing, for several years (it was in this first year after law school that my Nana passed away and I didn't think to take any of her sewing things). It's a lot easier to do on weeknights, takes a lot less prep time and space, and creates finished objects faster. I still did some sewing, of course. The birthday dresses and Halloween costumes have been constants throughout my life.

My birthday dress the year after I graduated from law school was a pink silk burnout chiffon over a pink underlay. I wore it on a cruise with my then-boyfriend and the zipper stuck as we were getting ready to go to dinner one night! Luckily, I had my jewelry tools with me and I got him to yank down the zipper tab as hard as he could with the pliers. He was worried about breaking the zipper but I was like, "I can't live in this dress!!!!! I will have to replace the zipper anyway!" He accidentally ripped a hole in the silk, about which he felt terrible, but I tried to assure him I could easily mend it (and did) and I *had* to get out of the dress somehow.

When I moved out of my Austin apartment I could see there were beads, sequins, and glitter everywhere in the carpet. Hee.

When I moved to DC I got another one-bedroom apartment by myself. I set up a dedicated sewing space, which I hadn't had in my smaller Austin apartment, and got into sewing again. I'd had trouble with the New Home all along. Cidell thinks it's actually just a defective bobbin casing. Whatever the source, I had terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE tension problems on it. It made me cry all the time and I don't think I ever did a single project without fighting the machine on at least one seam. Now that I was sewing more it was just unbearable. I don't know why it took me so long to replace it. I felt like it would be unappreciative of the gift to get a new one. Eventually I realized I'd been sewing on it for almost 10 miserable years and decided I had given the gift enough appreciation!

The Culmination: A Sewing Room and a Bernina

When I bought my two bedroom condo my dreams came true. I would finally have a dedicated sewing room. And I would buy myself a Bernina to put in it. I had accumulated quite a bit of stash at this point and had pared it down to move, along with purging patterns (like that beloved sailor dress pattern from high school, dang it). And then promptly started filling the stash back up!

At this time I was working for a law firm. I worked crazy hours (though I opted to work 12 hour weekdays and generally did not work on weekends) so I had a lot more time and energy for buying fabric than for using it. I dropped a lot of retail therapy cash at G Street and Joann's during that time. I only wish I'd had better taste in fibers then--a lot of this fabric is in bags to be given away. Even with my schedule, I still found time to sew. I remember staying up until 3 in the morning the night before I left for Italy finishing up my black and pink wardrobe!

When I quit that job and moved over to government three years ago my sewing time, energy, and interest really took off and I have been sewing like crazy ever since. I discovered Pattern Review in May 2006 by randomly googling a pattern number. Although I was an "early adopter" of the internet as a social networking tool, for some reason it had never occurred to me to seek out other sewists on the internet. Here was a whole new world for me! I immediately signed up for PR Weekend and started posting reviews. Then in 2007 I started this blog. You all know the rest of the story. `-)

The internet has had a huge impact on my sewing. I understand fit issues a lot better and have started altering my patterns; I found Burda World of Fashion Magazine; I met Cidell, Karen, and other wonderful sewing friends; and I get a ton of encouragement and positive feedback and just general camaraderie.

I'm 34 now and have been garment sewing for over 20 years, and I'm sure it will be a part of my life forever. I am not married and don't have children and really hope to have these things someday. I'm sure if it does happen I will have less time for sewing and may just do birthday dresses and Halloween costumes...for the kids. But eventually, I'd come back. No question.

My Sewing Back Story: Part 2, Learning to Sew

Sorry that I have no pictures to illustrate this phase! I couldn't even find a photo of my prom dress.

Childhood

Because I was around sewing so much as a kid, it was inevitable that I would pick up something. As I mentioned, my mom had a little business making nursing tops with a friend when I was a kid. This was her closest friend at the time, and they also had four kids approximately the same ages as us (there are four of us in my family), so we were all best friends and spent a lot of time together.

Starting when I was probably 5 or 6, possibly even younger, me, my sister, and the two older girls from our mirror family claimed our moms' scraps and hand-sewed lots and lots of Barbie clothes. Unfortunately, I don't think any specimens still exist. I suspect we just draped them directly onto the Barbies and had to cut them off; I don't remember putting in closures! Maybe as I got older a few elastic casings or the occasional snap. I'm not sure how other girls played Barbies, but for us the thrill was solely dressing them up and creating elaborate houses (using larger scraps of fabric to represent the floors of different rooms). Once everything was set up there was really nothing to do but take it apart and start over again with new outfits and new mansions.

I then became interested in sewing for myself. At first we made a lot of tube tops and tube skirts, still all hand-sewing. I think all those years of hand-sewing are why I really don't mind doing it these days. I mean, I groan about how long it takes, but the actual physical labor part of it I find pretty soothing.

I hoarded large fabric scraps (another trait that continues to this day) and made elaborate plans to enlarge my favorite Barbie outfits for myself. My sister had a Day to Night Barbie whose outfit I really coveted. It was a blue satin pencil skirt with a long ruffle attached, and a sequin tube top. You could wrap the ruffle around the skirt to make a peplum and put a jacket on her for day, and then for night give her a dramatic one shoulder look with the ruffle. I really should make this for myself one day, just to have! This is probably the oldest project on my project list--planned for almost 30 years. I can't find an image for it--everyone has the pink suit for Day to Night Barbie, but I swear this ruffle thing was blue and it definitely existed. I was obsessed with the Marchesa dress on the right a couple years ago; it definitely has to do with my fascination for that Barbie gown! (And I never did figure out how the Marchesa worked; I can't find a closure anywhere or any break in the lower ruffles for a closure.) I had a beautiful full length white lace sheath dress with a nude underlay for my Barbie; this was another outfit I wanted to duplicate.

The first sewing lesson I remember my mom giving me was not auspicious. My sister and I had gotten pale blue corduroy pants and, since we are short, they were too long. My mom had us hand-hem our own pants, sitting on the back steps in the California sun. I was probably 7 and my sister 5. It is hard enough for an adult to hand hem through corduroy, but almost impossible for a kid. I couldn't get the needle through the fabric and it hurt my hand. I'm not sure why my mom decided to start here, because I resisted sewing lessons for quite a while after this bad experience.

The next clear sewing memory I have is when I was about 12. My parents were having a party so us kids were upstairs. While my mom was occupied and couldn't yell at me about using the sewing machine I made a nightgown. I cut out a nightgown shape with dolman sleeves--I'm not sure how I came up with the dimensions and I don't recall if I made a pattern or just cut straight into the fabric but it fit so I must have done some measuring--then sewed up the side seams. It was in a pale green knit (it only now occurs to me that my mom might have had something planned for that fabric). My first self-drafted project. When my mom came upstairs I showed it to her. She decided I was ready for patterns.

We did a few formal lessons with patterns. I hated that she required me to finish all edges with a zigzag (to this day she doesn't have a serger, and isn't interested in one) and press every seam. What a drag. I was not convinced about the necessity of interfacing, either. She also taught me gathers with the aphorism "always sew with a relaxed bottom," i.e., the gathers on the underside. This caused me no end of trouble with the fabric getting folded and twisted and caught up. Only a few years ago I accidentally started a seam with the gathers facing up. Rather than stop, clip my thread, and turn it over I just kept sewing. A revelation! It is sooooo much easier and more precise to sew with the gathers up. However, I eventually came around to finishing all my edges (except knits), pressing all my seams as I go, and using appropriate interfacing.

I know I was comfortable enough with patterns by junior high to make the costumes for a production of Julius Caesar one of my classes did. A toga isn't complicated, obviously, but I know I used a pattern and wowed everyone else with my sewing prowess.

High School

I sewed for myself throughout high school, mostly dresses for church. I really wish I could remember or find any of the particular patterns. This was in the late 80s and early 90s and a typical dress would be a large scale pastel floral print with a tie sewed into the side seams that made a bow in the back. I started out putting in zippers by masking taping them in place and sewing over the tape, and eventually moved onto pinning. I got really good at zippers, though now I've been doing invisibles for so long when I have to put in a regular zipper it's a bit of a disaster. I don't think I ever did any buttonholes then.

I definitely enjoyed sewing during this time and spent quite a lot of my free time and my allowance doing it. Once we had driver's licenses, a friend and I took an expedition to the garment district in Dallas. I don't know if anything is there anymore; there wasn't much at the time (around 1991). There were a few warehouse type stores with mill ends. The cutters all spoke Spanish and so it was helpful I was studying it in school! I don't remember what my stash situation was at this time. Maybe I bought for one project at a time, as I had so little disposable income. I don't remember storing any fabric in my room, and my mom has very little stash or storage room.

I have always loved Halloween and costumes, so I made my costumes in high school. The costume at left is from early college, but you get the idea. I was in the marching band and marched the flag my senior year. I and the few other girls who could sew made all of our costumes for our shows.

One particular dress I loved I made in white with a navy collar as a sailor-style dress. I believe it had princess seams with the center front and center back panels cut in one length for bodice and skirt. The side panels were cut straight for the bodice, and the side skirt panels were pleated and inset. The collar was a single round piece and it had a center back zip. I only got rid of this pattern when I moved into my condo 4 1/2 years ago and I've been kicking myself ever since. I really wish I'd kept it, and/or had any idea what it was so I could find it again.

My biggest project in high school was my prom dress. There was a beautiful polyester satin at Hancock's that was black from some angles and dark green from others; I now know this to be fake cross-woven silk dupioni but I was no fiber snob at that time. It came in many colors and I had coveted it for years; when it was time for prom I knew exactly what I wanted. I had always dreamed of a full length prom gown, but that year (1992) long was completely out. So I made a knee length dress with a sweetheart neckline, fitted bodice, drop waist, and full skirt. I messed up putting in the zipper, accidentally catching in the fabric. When I ripped it out it left a line in my beautiful polyester fabric, so I wore my long hair down to cover it. Prom is still the only time I've had my hair professionally styled! Unfortunately, my dad was pretty sick the day of my prom so all my pictures were taken in the hospital. I didn't have a date; just went with a bunch of girlfriends. I felt great in my dress, and very proud of it.

I was soooooo ready to move away for college, but one of the things I knew I'd miss was access to a sewing machine. I had been well-prepared to leave the nest, in life and in sewing. By this point I knew how to use a pattern and sew at a moderate level of difficulty. I had never made a lined garment or put in a buttonhole (or, more's the pity, a fly front--I wish I'd learned this as a kid so I wouldn't fear it so much now), but I had the tools and confidence to tackle anything I cared to sew.

My Sewing Back Story: Part 1, Geneology

I'm in Miami this week. Hopefully these posts will post in an orderly fashion!

So LindsayT asked about this a while ago[ and I've really enjoyed everyone else's stories, so I'll throw mine into the mix. I warn you that I am a prolific writer. You'll probably need a coffee/glass of wine (depending on time of day) and a snack!

Both of my grandmothers sewed and my mom sewed as well. With all of them, it was at least partly a necessity thing rather than an enjoyment thing. It's hard for me to conceive of a time without cheap, mass-produced, [sweatshop], throwaway clothes but I'm told such a time existed. Both of my parents were raised by single mothers at a time that this was Not Done and money was very tight in both households. My mom stayed at home, so she did all the thrifty things as well.

Nana, My Paternal Grandmother

Unfortunately, my Nana, my dad's mother, had pretty much stopped sewing by the time my memory starts. I am told that she was really talented and turned out copies of all the fashionable clothes for her six daughters (and my dad), and I know she sewed for me when I was a little girl as well--and keep in mind I was one of 22 grandchildren and countless great-grandchildren! My mom still talks about her perfect blind hems.

She was very clever. In addition to making copies of fashionable clothes, one of my dad's favorite stories is that one year there was an It sweater brand. Apparently, people would come up behind you and flip your neckline down to look at the tag on your sweater and see if it was the right brand. The sweaters themselves were not actually anything special. So for Christmas Nana went to Penney's and got regular sweaters. Then she haunted thrift stores and rag piles for sweaters of the It brand that had been ruined and given away. She accumulated enough, cut out the tags, sewed them into the Penney's sweaters, and nobody was the wiser!
I have waxed and waned in sewing throughout my life and unfortunately when my Nana passed away I was in a waning phase and didn't want much from her sewing room. I regret this very much! None of my cousins do much sewing so nobody would have minded had I wanted more.

I took a bunch of buttons, which make all the projects I use them on very special. The top button on my Greek Tablecloth Shirtdress is one of hers, as well as the jacket button on my Vogue 8123 jacket and shift combo, and the halter neck button on the McCall 4444 dress I'm wearing in the tutorial Amber in Norfolk put on her blog for an easy skirt. This dress pre-dated my discovery of PR and blogging and is not documented anywhere so unfortunately no pics of the button. I made it for July 4th, 2004, I believe.

I later inherited two of her pressing hams when I asked my parents for a pressing ham for Christmas and my mom surprised me with them! I had no idea she'd claimed them from the sewing room and she knew how much it would mean to me to have them. I think of my Nana every time I sew.

But the most important thing I inherited from Nana was my fashion sense. She was a fashionable lady and she was never sloppy looking if she could help it (in later years she didn't have the strength or finally the mental ability to keep up her appearance, and it was really hard to see her like that). My mother and maternal grandmother are much more practical dressers. I can trace my Retro Fantasy directly to my Nana. I have a baby dress that she sewed for me, and one of her favorite RTW outfits. My Popsie wanted me to have it when she passed on. I put it on and he said it was as though she had just walked into the room. It is a cherished possession.

Grandma M, My Maternal Grandmother

My maternal Grandmother is plus-sized and always sewed for herself because it was impossible to find ready to wear. She has an old machine from the 50s that is still ticking. As a girl, I loved going into her sewing room and playing with her pattern weights. They were a white set of weights that were not quite cylinders because they flared out a bit at the top and the bottom was green felt. There were six of them in a special case and I had to be very careful to return them all to the case when I was done.

This Christmas she asked me what I wanted and I asked for something of hers. She asked what I had in mind and I said maybe jewelry, or buttons, or a dish, or something. She let me dig through her jewelry and I found some rings I just loved. I told her to choose which one to give me and she gave me three! I am hoping we can institute a new tradition. I would love to "inherit" something of hers as gifts rather than get something mass-produced from a store.

I'm hoping for buttons next, or maybe the pattern weights. But she might still be using them; she has her cutting board set up in her bedroom, and the sewing machine is out and dust free. Mainly she is a knitter, though. I always have several pairs of slippers in my pajama drawer, and I have two afghans she's made me that keep me warm in winter. The purple afghan on the left is one she made to match my decor (my mom crocheted the one on the right, also to match my decor).

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about sewing further back in the family tree, though I'm sure it was there.

My Mom

Growing up my mom sewed most of our clothes. Of course, as a kid I thought this was the worst! What had I done to deserve such punishment? I wanted the fashionable brand-name clothes my friends wore--I grew up in LA, after all. I felt the same way about her homemade bread. I thought pre-sliced bread was so superior to the loaves she made. Nowadays I sew most of my own clothes and make my own bread. It's terrible when you grow up and turn into your mom, isn't it?

I recall that going to House of Fabrics was a real treat. Not because I particularly cared for it, but it always put her in a good mood. Hmmm, I think this is a trait I inherited. I would climb up onto a stool and look at the big pattern books, where were stored on a metal file cabinet specifically designed with a slanted top and a ledge to hold the books. As I got older, I would sometimes choose my own patterns and fabrics for what I wanted her to make for me.

Although she sewed for necessity, she also enjoyed it. She took a Stretch and Sew class in the 70s--I still have one of her patterns and continue to sew from it. Since she sewed knits like they were no big deal I never got hung up on the knit phobia many sewists experience. At some point she and a friend started a small business making nursing tops. I don't know how far off the ground it got, but I know they were both excited about it.

She always made us new dresses for special occasions. She often made me and my sister matching or coordinating outfits, which we loved. We are two years apart but always liked to pretend we were twins; we were usually the same size because my sister grew faster than me and was always caught up even though she's two years younger. One Christmas she sewed me and my sister rag dolls. We were Mary and Laura Ingalls FREAKS and were very excited to receive real life rag dolls. They were made from nylon(?) socks and had yarn hair. I named mine Carrie (after Mary and Laura's little sister, natch) and she was my constant companion for many, many years. She is still somewhere in my parents house. Her face has so many runs in it there's not much left of it and I think she's lost a couple of limbs, but I could never get rid of her.

I spent long hours lounging around my mom's feet as she sewed. She didn't get a sewing room until all of us kids moved out of the house and her sewing nook was always in the master bedroom (my dad didn't seem to object; he never did any sewing himself). We would play with the scraps, and eventually started turning them into Barbie clothes. I mostly learned to sew by osmosis.

My mom doesn't sew too much nowadays, she is more of a crocheter, see afghan above and the little capelet to the right. But it is a big tradition that she always makes my nephews a new pair of pajamas for Christmas every year.

Coming up:

Part 2, Learning to Sew

Part 3, All Grown Up