My latest creation is a long sleeve t-shirt for Nathan. I recently made myself a long sleeve top out of the same stripy fabric, and Nathan wanted one the same (now he wants us to wear our tops at the same time so that we match!!). I made his and then decided it needed something on the front. Nathan requested a car appliqué, so I used one from an Ottobre magazine and tried sewing it on with a stretch stitch that does two stitches forwards and one backwards, thus making the sewn line thicker and more noticeable. I had never done it like that before, and it took me a while to work out the best place to turn….it ended up being after the first forward stitch, which is quite logical if I had stopped to think about it. I decided it was too hard to do this stitch on really tight curves, so I just did normal stitching around the windows and the inner circles of the wheels.

I’ve discovered that I quite like sewing, but I am definitely no seamstress. I can carefully follow a pattern so that it works, but when it comes to making any adjustments I am totally lost. I remember making clothes when I was a teenager, and got really frustrated if something didn’t work because the sizing didn’t fit me perfectly. The kids are pretty much a perfect shape, so there is little, if any, adjustment needed with the patterns I am using, though Toby is a bit on the skinny side and I foresee some changes to patterns in my future for him. I think I am certainly capable of making a t-shirt skinnier for my little boy, for example, but I am still lothe to make anything for myself.

To get some more confidence in making adjustments to patterns when sewing for both myself and the kids, I have decided to do a pattern making course at CAE. I have chosen a course that is run on two Sundays for 6.5 hours each day. It will be the first time I will be voluntarily away from Toby for more than an hour (or however long he was with Andrew and Nathan on some short walks they have done together), and only the second time we have been separated (the first being when i was in hospital having surgery on my toe). So doing this course is going to be a big deal for all of us, with Andrew having to cope with toileting, sleep time, and the two kids on his own, Toby who will have to cope without me for a day (he is very much a Mummy boy when tired or upset), and Nathan….well, he just loves being with his Daddy so he will have a ball no matter what happens.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 7th, 2011 at 10:53 am and is filed under Sewing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.