Second (okay, third) completed project!

Don't worry, I won't number every project. The novelty will eventually wear off.

This week in sewing class we made zippered pouches, in order to practice putting in a zipper in preparation for making our skirts. This was the first week where everything didn't go completely smoothly - the zipper installation was fine, but I had some issues sewing the topstiched box around the zipper. First the thread snapped, then my bobbin ran out, I forgot to backstitch when starting again, and then I got very confused about which direction I was sewing. So it was a pretty ugly decorative feature.

I wanted to make sure I had the zipper thing down, so I made another one at home from leftover skirt fabric, which went much smoother. Hooray. I'm now using it to carry sewing supplies to and from class.

The why, what, and how

On our first day of sewing class, the instructor had us each introduce ourselves and talk about why we were taking the class. Quite a few of the people had mothers who sewed, and were looking to pick up a little of that themselves, which I thought was interesting. My mom also sewed - before I was born and when I was little she had a small sewing business, making clothes for people, usually in exchange for random crafts. Hey, it was the late 60s. It also explains why the house was full of macrame while I was growing up. And she sewed a lot of my clothes when I was a kid, as well as one fantastically hilarious wedding dress from a sheet for a Halloween costume one year.

But for me, the urge to sew came from looking at my wardrobe one summer, specifically at the skirts, and realizing just how simple they were in construction. Surely, I thought, I could sew that, even as the least crafty person I know. And so I bought a sewing machine...

First completed project!

...unless you count two scraps of fabric sewn together. Hey, the seam edges were finished, that's something.

I made this drawstring bag in my sewing class. And it was super easy! The hardest part was getting the materials - I braved one of the scary fabric stores for professionals (which was GIANT and full of all sorts of gorgeous unlabelled fabric), but then had to go all the way out to Fabricland to get thread that wasn't industrial sized.

So there you have it: the start of my sewing adventure. And hopefully the first of many more projects!