Third dress

Get this, people. Not only did I make a third dress, but I also put in BUTTONHOLES. I read and reread the manual, and I had to add this massive contraption to the sewing machine, but I did it! I put in two buttonholes and ADDED A POCKET.

Look how excited that kid is!

Okay, well, the picture doesn't do her or the outfit justice but suffice it to say that she wore it to school and told everyone her mother had made it. I feel so accomplished. Who wants one next?

I am a seamstress

My MIL has created a monster. A sewing monster. I must keep sewing. I can't stop. Mary Anne left for vacation, so I am on my own, but I shall prevail! Because I am determined. Hooked. Full of renewed confidence.

Darcy and I went to Wal-Mart, and she picked out three different types of fabric. I have no idea if the material is of good quality, but I'm not creating dresses to be worn at the Academy Awards. These were on sale, so I'm taking advantage. I choose a design for kids that said, sew in 1 hour.

My kind of sewing, thank you very much.

I asked the saleslady to cut two of the fabrics according to the new pattern and the other one for my latest design. Of course, the amount was different for each pattern.

I picked out buttons, thread, pins, and a good pair of scissors that cost more than the fabric! I bought them because a good seamstress needs her equipment. We returned home, and I immediately began cutting out the new pattern. The one hour pattern. First, I opened it and read the directions. My last pattern had five steps. This one had twice as many, and it had a ZIPPER. What? I don't have a clue about zippers. Jeez, I don't even know how to sew in a buttonhole because I didn't pay attention during that lesson. How the hell can I do a zipper? With my teacher out of town? I store that pattern away and pull out the other one. 

Darcy: "But I want the Barbie dress first, Mommy."

Of course, she does. Tough. That's a no can do kid. I went back to the other pattern and managed to cut out the fabric and apply the interfacing. For steps one and two. I had to stop for a while because my back began hurting. Sewing is tough on my back. All that bending and hunching over the table. I gave up for the day and returned to it the following day.

The material is a Winnie-the-Pooh pattern. Cute, but not durable. I must keep that in mind when I pick out stuff for Madison's dress. I might have to go to the fabric store on that one. Wal-Mart, with its low prices, isn't exactly better quality. You get what you pay for. Lesson learned. 

Another thing about sewing is the ironing. There is a lot of ironing in sewing. I hate ironing. I mean, genuinely hate it. My husband goes to work with wrinkled shirts. My kids go to school in wrinkled clothes. I don't iron if I don't have to. My mother sighs in disbelief when she sees my family in rumpled clothing. She loves ironing. She finds it peaceful, and she hates wrinkles. 

Well, she won't be complaining any longer. NO MORE WRINKLES. I have taken up ironing now that I'm sewing. I mean, might as well iron some shirts while the ironing board is out, right?

I finished steps three and four. I had to read the chapter on buttonholes in my sewing machine manual. I have decided that the dress doesn't need buttonholes because it is large enough to go over Darcy's head. Why add another unnecessary step? I decided to sew on the cute buttons permanently. What a great idea. Brilliant even!

I finished the dress. There were a few problems. I cut too close to the stitches when I trimmed, and I did have to redo some things, but it came out decent. I'd give me a B-. Okay, maybe a C+.

Yep, call me a seamstress. I'm working on a dress for Madison next. Then I'm going to make every girl I know a dress. Because every little girl deserves a Cara homemade dress. 

I AM A SEAMSTRESS!

Sewing Part II

I have tried to sew. My MIL Mary Anne purchased a book on sewing for me, and I have read the entire book. I made it through the first two instructions, which were to sew around the collar of the back and front pieces. I had to do this twice. The first attempt was brilliant, but then I realized that I had not backstitched. Backstitching, according to the book, is VERY important. The machine I am borrowing backstitches automatically in the beginning, so I thought I was okay. It does not, however, backstitch at the end. Which must be done. It is imperative. I had to take out the stitches and start over. I got very frustrated.

Instructions number three had to do with the interfacing mentioned above. Honestly, I'm still clueless about interfacing. I'm not sure of its purpose even after studying the pictures and reading the instructions. I also had Tom study the images and read the directions because I figured he learned from my MIL, so he must know, right? No, go. I had to call my MIL. She laughed. Then she explained. I still didn't get it. She laughed some more and suggested I bring it with me when I come to her house for dinner. Whew. That's a relief.

I brought the sewing stuff. The woman is a genius. A true seamstress! She explained step #3 and took me through it. I now understand interfacing. What a great concept that stuff is. I zipped through that step and right through step number four. Darcy then tried on the dress, and I measured her for the hem. Then I got to use my MIL's $2,000 machine (she bought it used she says) and oh, my, what an excellent tool that thing is compared to the one I'm borrowing. Smooth. Electronic buttons. Snazzy. Slick. I'll probably need one of these soon now that I'm getting the hang of this sewing stuff.

Mary Anne took over and put in the buttonholes. I took the time to stretch my back and did a puzzle with Madison. I realized later I should have been studying the master so that I could learn how to do my own damn buttonholes. Oops.

Mary Anne turned it back over to be for the next step, and then I sewed on the buttons. That I am very good at doing. The buttons are cute little duck buttons I found, and they match the dress fabric. They are a pain to get through the newly sewn buttonholes. I guess I didn't think that one through. Sigh. Thank goodness the dress is big enough to fit over Darcy's head without unbuttoning.

I now consider myself brilliant. I have created something. I have sewed a size 3 toddler dress!

Behold!