I love to sew! I byte at it, but I love to sew! Does anyone here like to sew? Do you sew by hand? Have a machine? A basic machine? A serger? Do you Crochet? Knit? Do you Embroidery? Do you Quilt? I like to make things, like bags and clothes. I have a VERY basic sewing machine made by Brother. (Although I want a fancy shmancy one that does cool tricks!) I am still learning how to read the fabric patterns. I have a book and I buy only the SEW EASY or SIMPLE sewing paterns. It takes me sometimes two hours to completely read the directions and completely understand all the steps needed to complete the pattern. (Hope it gets better!) Ok. Just curious. I do not get on every day right now due to the holidays, so it may be a couple of days for me to reply. But I would love to talk about sewing! I am curious that if I have questions, or ideas, who would be interested? Thanks!
Jen, I might not have the answers you need on sewing, but when I graduated from high school, I could remember having had only two bought dresses in my entire life, other than hand-me-downs from cousins. From the time I was an 8th grader, I sewed ALL my own clothes, including a fax-fur coat & a dress coat. Not that it was anything to be proud of, it's simply the way life was. And not that I always enjoyed it: if I wanted new clothes, I made them or did without. Since then, marriage & four children have made Goodwill & clearance sales look very attractive, & I haven't sewn much recently, as a result. If our children would like "fancier-schmancier" clothes than what we offer, they get to buy them themselves. I offered dd (now 15) that if she wanted to sew, I'd buy the fabric & she could do the work. She FLEW with that idea! 'Made an Elizabethian gown for our hs spring tea that made even my head spin, reading the instructions! Made several skirts, dresses, a split skirt, & has gotten requests from others to sew for them. She has also made some simple quilts & is working on a harder one. We have a basic machine & a serger. I've knit, crocheted, embroidered, & quilted & would like to learn to tat! ('Can't read crochet or embroider instructions well--'learned by watching others.) I, too, am limiting my time on here, but I do enjoy "talking sewing."
Oh I love to sew but never have the time. I keep telling myself I will be able get back at it someday. I have three regular machines and one serger. I like them all for different reasons. I especially like my Singer. An older model but very well made and sturdy. I also have an old model that was my great grandmothers that you have to pedal with your feet, my grandmothers cabinet singer from my childhood, and my first Singer from our earlier married years and they all still work. I sound like a Singer commercial. I do have a Brother and it is great. It is fancier and sews so smoothly. I love to make crafts, clothes for Emily and sometimes Crystal. I am better on smaller kids clothes. Fitting older kids is harder for me. They are more particular I guess. I love to make quilts especially baby size ones. I used to knit but haven't in years and I have always wanted to learn to crochet but I just can't get the hang of it. I love counted cross stitching but it is hard on my eyes. Wow, suddenly I have the urge to get into my sewing room and mess around for a little while. Oh you might find this interesting. I used to sew the little bags that drug dogs are trained with. They had to be made out of very heavy canvas and closed with velcro. I made so many of those I could have done it in my sleep. I would not do those again. They are hard on the machine because they are so thick. But it was for a good cause. Have fun learning to sew. I started when I was about 12 or 13 on my grandmother's machine. I pretty much taught myself. Beth
I can sew, but don't do much of it. I have a machine, and Rachael has done two sewing projects for 4-H. I like to quilt, but don't have the time. I've made curtains for both the girls' room, and for Phillip. Phillip's curtains are done with an adorable teddy bear print; I made a comforter for his bed with the same material. The girls' curtains are yellow gingham, and I'm especially proud of them! One of these days, I'll finish yellow gingham comforters for their beds, too. I have a twin-size quilt that I started piecing by hand before I was married. After Carl came along, it got put aside for a good number of years. I'm close to completing it, but haven't worked on it for some time. I also like to do cross stitch, but don't do much of it anymore. I need to start sewing dresses for my girls; I can't seem to find appropriate ones in the stores anymore! Beth, I'm like you! I had in 7th and 8th grade Home Ec class, but other than that, I'm self-taught!
My mom started us off when we were about 7 or 8 making pot holders. My sis, Beth, has gone on to do who knows how many quilts but has difficulty with a pattern. I haven't done much lately but I need to for the sake of the girls. I've done basic curtains out of bed sheets but that was the last thing in awhile. I'm supposed to make my dgd a Christmas stocking but haven't found any material that I like. I like to cross-stitch but my eye-sight was never good and is worse with age!! I'm making Jane an afghan right now: a veragated cream, beige, gold that is really pretty. I was given a basic v-stitch baby quilt pattern when Joyce was a baby and I love it because you can make it as wide as you want. I have made baby blankets and bed size ones out of the same pattern.
I also had homemade dresses as I grew up. My mom sewed alot. I learned how to sew in 8/9th grade. I loved to sew. I took a quilting class when I was about 30 and loved it. Couldn't get enough of it. My mom also taught me how to knit (I lost too many stitches and could never find them - so I gave that up. She taught me how to crochet,too. I made many afghans and loved every bit of it. I cross stitched until my eye sight got too bad. The only sewing I have done lately is hemming skirts and jumpers - I'm only 5' and most things are too long. I wish I would have more time to get out my machine and sew a quilt.
Oh! It is exciting to hear from you guys! Thanks for all the stories! I could just blab! (Sorry!) I am so interested in the serger machines! My only sewing machine is a brother brand, I got on sale at Wally World for about $90. It has 14 stiches and that's it. But it gets the job done, eh? I may get a serger in the future, but I am not sure what they add to the exprerience. I know they use three and four threads, but in a nut-shell, what are they for? I have a few photos of some things I have made. Most receintly, I made three fleece blankets for my critters to cuddle up with, while watching TV. I had a yard of solid colored fleece for each. One Pink, one blue, one green. I also had squares of printed fabric from "My Little Pony", "Cars", and "Madagascar". I lined up the little squares (30) across each blanket and sewed them in a grid. Then I simply folded the edges over and sewed those down. Finally, I added a tag that says "Made with love by MOM". Since they are fleece, they are super warm and soft! But, this was VERY simple sewing with no pattern. The diaper bag that I made a couple of years ago, came out VERY good, considering it was done free hand with no pattern. I had some Care Bears quilting squares and just started folding and pining here and there, until I figured that I could make a near duffle-bag sized diaper bag out of them. It came out swell! (I will get a photo of it tomorrow.) I went to the fabric store, today. I found some multi-colored thread, and bought two different colors. I had no idea there was multi-colored thread! haha! I am in sooo much trouble!! haha! Oh, and P.S..... I remember taking a home-Ecc class in high school, but it was a joke, and only covered an intro to sewing as we also had to do cooking and so on... I remember nothing! haha! Also, my whole life has been store bought. With the exception of my grandmother, but she died when I was 16, and was mentally gone since I was very young, so I was not exposed to sewing. So I am alone in all this on my end.
Jen, my class was also more or less an intro, too. Cooking half the year, and sewing half the year. But it was just enough to get me interested in sewing! Did you know that cooking is no longer taught in most schools today because of insurance reasons? You might find a class where the teacher will give a demo, but the kids aren't alowed on the stoves any more!
wow Jackie didn't know that. I know when I was up home in the fall my niece told me that they are talking about taking drivers ed out of the ps too. It's costing to much to do and keep the cars insurance up on them.
There hasn't been any drivers ed in central Ohio for some time now. I know my DSS had to take it privately.
They still offer it here where we are in SC but it is very limited slots. Thank goodness my son got a slot because it helps a little with his insurance. As far as home-made items, my mom fell out laughing last night when I told her how much I enjoy a bathrobe I took from my son when he outgrew it. It is one she made for my brother when he was a fresman in HS and he is now 37! It is in beautiful shape and unless you took the time to look, you would not know it is homemade. Growing up if it wasn't homemade, it was hand-me-downs until we were old enough to buy our own things.
Jennifer, sounds like my school years. My mom worked for a restaurant while my dad was laid off. They had a girl a little bigger than I was and she handed me down some clothes one year - WOW - that was exciting. It was the most expensive clothes I had ever owned. I felt like a princess. I never did get any more - my mom worked there for only a short while - then dad went back to work.
My kids don't mind hand-me-downs, I'm glad to say! They get plenty of new from their grandmas. Rachael doesn't get too many, because she's at the "top". Her clothes go to Faythe, and then are passed on to my one SIL who will then pass them on to the other SIL. Rachael commented that Faythe is "lucky", because she gets so many hand-me-downs. When I buy for Rachael, it's often at a re-sale shop.
Cooking in Home Ec for us included yeast bread making, preparing & serving formal meals, and even canning vegetables! Sewing was actual garments--from aprons to wool suits made with bound buttonholes. Times have changed... sigh. (Another reason for homeschooling!) Jen, a serger is wonderful for finishing edges, sewing seams, and putting together patchwork quilts where you want a straight, sharp, even seam. There are certain things you cannot do with it, however, like top-stitching, most hems, & complicated corners. It's not strictly a necessity, but it adds a professional touch. It'll be fun to see your pictures. .
Prairie, I took in 7th and 8th grade. The high school class made yeast breads, and cakes from scratch and pie crusts. And during the Teacher's Strike, the home ec teacher didn't go on strike. All of us kids came to school, because we knew that if not enough kids came, we would have to make it up in the summer. But very little learning was taking place. The home ec teacher didn't go on strike. I asked her if I could come in with the dress I was making for the dance, since she only had two or three kids in her class. She helped me as much as she would have any other student of hers!
In my Home Ec class, we were to make blueberry muffins. They looked wonderful when we were done. When we started to eat them, ugh!!! They tasted terrible. We couldn't figure out what went wrong. The teacher came over and told us to go back over the ingred. and see if we could recognize what we forgot. We forgot the SUGAR - I will never forget that. I love to bake now and I have never forgot the sugar since. It's great to have those memories.
You had a special home-ec teacher, Jackie! 'Sounds like you did, too, Ohio--a wise one to let you discover what the problem was, instead of figuring it out for you. We girls also learned a lot in 4-H, but most of all, from our beloved mother, starting from the time we could sit in her lap.
SQUEAL! I actually finished an article of clothing and it seems to be just awesome! There are more photos, HERE. This was fun and now the boys have me making something for them. Cool Beans! Oh! And there is also a photo of one of the "TV Blankets" I made for the babies on the above link...
