Funny story! After giving myself that elaborate “keep moving forward” pep talk, I closed my laptop, started working on a project and promptly broke the sewing machine needle for the very first time! It was a stupid mistake that I’d read about thousands of times in the manual, yet it still happened. I’ll never forget to remove the zipper foot again!
So… now what?
1) Watch that “Keep Moving Forward” clip for the zillionth time.
2) Pull out the manual and learn how to change the needle.
3) Keep. Moving. Forward. 🙂
It’s been more than a month since my last blog post. In general, the longer I wait to write, the more and more pressure there is to write something astounding, similar to when an antsy crowd is waiting for a speech and goes silent as the speaker steps up to the podium. That pressure just makes me procrastinate more as I prepare my next what’s supposed to be my next earth-shattering move.
But truthfully, a lot has happened in the past month, and I’ve been wondering how to address it. When I started this blog, I wanted the focus to be on sewing, not my personal life. But obviously, my sewing is intertwined with my personal life, and the things I experience day-to-day will affect how, when and why I sew.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about the major themes woven in and out of my personal life lately, whether it be my empty blog, exciting changes at work or horrifying letdowns in my personal life. And I realized that lately, my mantra for all of the above has been the following: KEEP MOVING FORWARD.
One of my favorite Disney movies of all time is Meet the Robinsons. If you’ve never seen it, PLEASE do yourself a favor and watch it immediately! The screenshot above showcases a phrase that is used over and over throughout the movie: KEEP MOVING FORWARD! Here’s an inspiring (non-spoiler) clip from the movie to wet your appetite and show you the emphasis of the phrase throughout the movie.
So, what does “KEEP MOVING FORWARD” mean to me?
It means that no matter how wide my blogging gap, my goal should be to simply pick up where I left off without feeling pressure. Each day deserves equal opportunity for a blog post, regardless of what happened yesterday or the day before. Keep moving forward!
It means that when exciting changes at work come with a bigger margin for error as I try to learn the ropes, I shouldn’t live in fear or making decisions, meeting new people or trying new things. Keep moving forward!
And when I experience the ultimate betrayal in my personal life , all I can do is continue to put one foot forward at a time… hoping, trusting and having faith that happiness is just around the corner. Slowly, slowly, slowly, but surely… keep. moving. forward.
Getting me through it all have been a variety of creative endeavors, whether it be sewing or making silly videos with friends. But more importantly, I’ve taken on a handful of new sewing projects throughout the past month which I anticipate that you’ll be hearing about very, very soon!
Ta-da! Introducing… a cover for my nook! (My Barnes & Noble e-reader) …
I searched for a nook cover pattern awhile ago, but there wasn’t much out there since e-readers are still fairly new to the world. I recently stumbled across this amazing pattern on etsy.com that included patterns for the nook, nookCOLOR, Kindle 2, Kindle 3, iPad and KOBO, all in one PDF file!
I printed the pattern at home and decided to use scrap fabric – the fabric from my old “Hot Seat” – for a first draft to make sure I knew what I was doing before invested in new fabrics. The pattern was easy to follow with lots of helpful photos, and I couldn’t believe how quickly I finished the project! The cover is sized perfectly for my nook.
Only one boo-boo took place during the first draft – once I finished, I realized I had some leftover fabric pieces, and my nook cover didn’t have any extra pockets on the inside. I read the pattern ten times over and realized the reminder to sew the pockets inside must have slipped through the cracks, because it was never mentioned. I sent an e-mail to the person who created the pattern, who thanked me for my input and said they’d update the pattern. Yay!
With my first “draft” safely behind me, I excitedly allowed myself to buy new fabric for the cover I actually planned to use.
I even got adventurous and strayed from the pattern, using a magnetic snap instead of the recommended button. My first magnetic snap!
I was so excited to take my freshly covered nook to my book club last week… with the second set of pockets and all!
It’s projects like this one that make me truly appreciate the power of the internet. With e-readers being such a new product, it’s unlikely that I’d be able to find an “official” pattern like this anytime soon… so I’m thankful that I can tap into the talents of others via the world wide web!
I initially didn’t find the experience to be blog-worthy, but I think it’s only fair to document downfalls in addition to the victories. I was really hoping to cross “make something wearable” off my list of goals, but it doesn’t look like that is going to be happening tonight!
Because I consider admitting defeat an accomplishment in itself, I do not plan on sharing any photos of this hideous project. 😉
The world of sewing is not always a magical one, but I will continue to chug along anyway!
I’ve lived with roommates my entire adult life, so I’m a long way from my dream home. What’s my dream home? Who knows. I couldn’t tell you a thing about it, other than this: It will have a generous space devoted to crafting.
I can’t even fathom a timeline when said room might actually take shape, but I dream about it anyway. Out of curiosity, I started browsing the internet to see what other people’s craft spaces looked like. I was blown away by the creativity that went into these spectacular sanctuaries. But really, I shouldn’t have been surprised that innovative people create innovative workspaces!
When the time comes, I want to whip out my craft room blueprints and make my dreams a reality. I need to be ready! So I created an inspiration board to show how I imagine my craft space.
(Source: I Google-imaged all of these and lost track of where they came from, so leave a comment and I will give you credit if your photo is in the mix!)
I want shelves upon shelves of see-through storage with colorful containers and tidy labels. I want countertops that stretch on for miles. I want racks hung up in rows with rainbows of ribbons and threads spilling down the wall. I want a sunshiney space where time stands still and seam rippers are never touched. I would appreciate enough floorspace for victory cartwheels and craft parties with friends. And in a dream world, I would top it off with one of those ridiculously priced but RIDICULOUSLY PERFECT pink or green desk chairs from Pottery Barn.
But at the center of it all will be sewing, crafting, creating… because that’s what it’s all about!
Really excited about this book I picked up at a Borders going-out-of-business sale this weekend…
One Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Projects; Look how much you can make with just one yard of fabric! by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins, complete with a packet of patterns inside!
Now, I don’t think I can adequately review this book until I actually try some of the projects, but I am already excited about a whole bunch of them! I’ll be sure to note which future projects are “One-Yard Wonders” so y’all can follow along as I attempt to make every single thing in the book. Okay, maybe not every single project, but the thought sure is tempting…
The more my fabric collection grows, the more I’m convinced that collecting fabric scraps is equivalent to collecting memories.
Tonight I was digging around looking for scraps for the first draft of a new project (yes, a new project is in the works, woo!) and found this memorable scrap. My college roommate and I used it to cover an armchair in our dorm room sophomore year. We decided to call it “The Hot Seat” and added the iron-on letters and everything. I honestly don’t know what we were thinking.
I’m embarrassed to admit that it may have even been my idea. Hey, our college town was in the middle of a cornfield and we didn’t like parties. This (and studying) was how we chose to fill our time, which I think our parents really appreciated. Anyway. Stand by while this scrap gets turned into something new and exciting -because that, my friends, is the beauty of recycling fabric. 🙂
In a few weeks, I’ll be spending a weekend camping out under the stars. It’s a trip I look forward to every year, although this year will be extra special because I actually own a tent! I usually have to rent or borrow, but this year I had a very lovely tent with my name on it under the Christmas tree!
While starting to prepare for my camping trip, I was reminded of this amazing sewing project I once stumbled across on the Obsessively Stitching blog – a play tent for kids, made to fit over a kitchen table, using a set of sheets and some PVC piping.
WOW. Talk about inspiration! Is this not the coolest thing you’ve ever seen? What an amazing mom. She even created a drawstring bag out of one of the pillowcases to store the tent.
I’m still some years away from having kids, but I couldn’t help tucking this tutorial away in my files knowing that I’d like to revisit it again someday!
Aren’t you just dying to hang out in that tent for a bit while your mom cooks dinner? Yes, please!
Ahhh. The return of the Friendship Bag. I promise that one of these days, I will learn to sew something other than Friendship Bags and tissue box covers.
But in the meantime…
Wall-E inspired Friendship Bag eye candy that I made for a friend! Well, I guess you could say that it was actually inspired by Eve, the sleek white robot in the film. Details, details!
What I love so much about this bag is how much leftover fabric I was able to incorporate. The only materials I had to buy were the white calico prints. The black calico fabric was leftover from the Minnie Mouse Friendship Bag, the light green calico print was leftover from my first set of Friendship Bags and the dark green was leftover from Mike Wazowski’s eyeball. It’s almost as if I was able to stitch little pieces of my memories into this bag – and that makes it feel even more special!
Living in a warm climate, I planned to wear a dress for my special birthday dinner outing last week. But the evening of my birthday was cold and rainy – boo! I decided to wear a dress I bought a few years ago in St. Augustine – a convertible dress by Elan-USA that can be twisted and tied in lots of different ways. The plan was to fashion a dress with sleeves to keep warm.
But as soon as I put the dress on, I was reminded why I rarely wear it: it’s too long. Being five feet small, the dress is almost ankle length on me, which makes it feel a little too formal. But the dress itself is made out of a jersey-knit material and is supposed to be a semi-casual dress. I would never actually wear it for a formal occasion.
I picked up the hem of the dress to examine it, wondering if I could attempt to hem it myself, and was shocked to see that the dress had no hem at all! It looked like freshly cut, jersey knit fabric. How come I had never noticed that before?
With only 30 minutes to spare before my birthday dinner, I pinned the heck out of the non-hemmed-dress and grabbed my rotary cutter. There was a moment of hesitation where the rotary cutter just hovered about the fabric while I panicked. What if I ruined it? But if I wanted to wear the dress to dinner, there wasn’t time to think about negative consequences…
So I cut. And cut. And cut. Then, the moment of truth: Dress + Lindsay + Mirror.
It… was… PERFECT! I think I’ll be wearing it more often now that it’s the proper length. And now I have a long, thick remnant of fabric leftover that I can use as an extra sash for the dress.
I wouldn’t have had the confidence to make the cut without my newfound interest in sewing. I never would have looked at the hem of the dress in the first place!
Sew Lindsay, Sew! 