Sew On, and So On...........

My friend Linda wrote a post on how she came to sew.

I figured I would do the same - it might be interesting to some, or maybe not!!! I wish I had pictures to go along with this tale, but I do not............

My Finnish grandmother was a seamstress, a corsettiere, for a time.I am not sure if that is a real word - she made corsets!!! Her father was a tailor, and I was always under the impression my grandfather's father was a tailor also.

My grandmother made my doll clothes, and she made me dresses when I was in elementary school. My favorite was a 2nd or 3rd grade grape colored print dress, with a full, full skirt that twirled beautifully when I spun around!!
I still have a small collection of some of grandma's ribbons from her corset making days that I treasure, and use from time to time in different projects.

My mother sewed, but not to any great extent.She is artistic in many other ways. She taught me to sew, and I made some clothes in jr. high and high school. Granny dresses were in then- remember them???

I took home economics- I still remember the teacher's name - Mrs. Biggs! We were always at odds - because when it came time to learn to sew in class- there were steps you were supposed to follow- making a muslin sample, basting, lots of things I don't remember now - because I never did them!! I had all the sewing shortcuts my grandmother taught me - and couldn't be bothered with all these "unnecessary", time consuming steps!!
My first class project was a rust brown wool A-line skirt with pockets! I wore that thing to death during the school year!! I think I got an "A" on it too!!!

I continued to make my clothes, and after high school, made hippie blouses out of cotton Indian bedspreads and sold them! I was always making something and trying to sell it - go figure...!!!! I worked in a bank for a while and made all my suits.

One of my first home based businesses was as a seamstress doing alterations, when my son was born,and we lived in California. I grew to hate doing that - but met alot of interesting people! There was the lovely little elderly man, who brought me a slew of his suits - many from the 'zoot suit' era - he needed them taken in and modernized a bit. One woman needed a full skirt and peasant blouse for her dance class- made out of some beautiful Guatemalan fabric- wish I had a picture of that! Another man, a spaced out Manson type, needed his drawstring pants altered - as it turned out, it was just an excuse to get me to keep measuring his inseam - YUCK!! Fortunately, my husband was home- and was a policeman, so we got him out of the house!! That kind of ended my alterations at home career.

I then took a class on quilting - made a pillow in the log cabin pattern. I still have that pillow in the closet somewhere. That class piqued my interest in quilting.
I did craft shows, also made dolls, stuffed animals, went thru the teddy bear making phase!

When we moved to Va, I joined a quilters guild and a doll making club.

I discovered I liked applique, but not piecing. I liked creating my own patterns,but following other people's - not so much! I like starting new things,but my mind is constantly discovering new things to do - thus - alot of UFO's over the years!!! Once I learn something how to do something- it's kind of like, been there, done that - on to something new!!!

I continued to sew,until the mid 1980's, under the name "The Fourth Generation", making custom draperies.My proudest moment was seeing some of my window treatments in a beautiful home that was open for an annual house tour.

After some long nights trying to meet deadlines and please customers- I came to realize, I don't like to sew for people!! I like to sew because I want to, not because I have to!

So, I still sew - love to make new things, sometimes sell them, sometimes give them away. It's all part of the creative process.

Well, there ya' have it - how Pat came to sew.......spellbinding, wasn't it??? LOL

I'd love to hear how you all came to sew!!!!

Spreading Myself Thin.....

......is what it feels like when I am trying to manage 2 blogs, a Facebook page, Myspace, an Etsy shoppe, and actual shop, and an occasional eBay listing!!!! Yikes, what have I gotten myself into!!

But , I couldn't live if I couldn't get my words on 'paper', so I'll do my best to keep up!

My household is fighting bronchitis - I have an appointment later today to get some meds before I end up with walking pneumonia! Yesterday, I took it easy and managed to get a little sewing in- I have some cute little pincushions that will be in the Etsy store in the next day or so.
In my stash, I have a bunch of neat old flour /feed sack fabrics, that really needed to be recreated. They go perfectly with these old zinc canning jar lids.
It was too cold in the studio to sit at the sewing machine (w/o the woodstove lit- brrr!), so I plopped in front of the tv and handstitched them all. More would have been done, if I had used the machine, but oh, well!

The other picture is one of my fabulous thrift store finds- a 1930's-40's Dresden Plate quilt top. All the vintage fabrics, some feedsack, are pieced into Dresden Plates and then were appliqued on a whole piece of fabric. I'm looking for the perfect backing, then will send this quilt top out to be machine quilted. Can't wait!!!