Category: sewing

1990’s Inspired Princess Seam Dress

When we were living in Meadville in 2019 and I was getting into thrifting, I found a lovely 1990s dark purple velvet princess seam dress. It was longsleeved and midi length with a scoop neck and stretchy velvet knit that draped lovely from the waist. I could tell from the label it was vintage. It had a different attitude. The dress reminded me of dresses I wore as a kid that were so special yet accessible.

I was thrilled. It was a comfy dress that I would style with lace-up boots, tights or leggings, and a moto jacket. It made me feel special during a period of my life where nothing felt that special. In 2019, I was bored, stuck in a dead-end job, looking for a new purpose, navigating some drama with my dysfunctional family, and getting used to a new city. It was a weird time.

Over the years my body changed and I donated it back but it continued to live in my head, wishing that I had kept it, so much so that the first dress I ever designed was a recreation of the piece which I talked about in #3 – First Sewing Project. Comparing the pieces I made side by side, I can see the growth in my skills and understanding of fabric which makes me pleased to see.

October 2020
March 2024

The left dress nailed the color but everything else about it was jacked up. The sleeves were poofy, and the skirt and bodice were draped well but I know the construction was questionable because it was the second item I sewed ever. I think if I can find this fabric again I’d like to recreate it with my current skill set. The dress on the right I cut out with my own drafted pattern piece based on my measurements. I cut it out in two pieces and sewed it with a zig-zag stitch with medium to low tension and tapered the waist with four princess seam darts. I also reinforced the shoulder with a second layer of fabric that anchored the shoulder seam.

I think I’m going to get a lot of wear out of out of my new princess seam dress. I’ve worn this dress over a few days when my local weather shifted from a warm stretch of 70 degrees Fahrenheit to a rainy, cool 50s and 40s. Because this dress is a polyester stretch knit jersey yet is lightweight, it was comfortable on a warm day. Yet when it cooled down I was able to pop on a sweater and found it easy to style with a pair of boots.

With a sweater, this dress looked like a skirt and it has transformed my approach to how I want to wear my clothing. It may seem elemental, but I’ve usually been a pants and top girl in the winter reserving dresses for the summer, but as my style evolves I’m finding that layering and pattern clashing is something I feel most like myself in.

Long story short, my new me-made dress has surpassed my love for the original, thrifted dress. I love the animal print and the fact that this was a remnant fabric from Walmart yet I believe looks like it came from a higher-end fabric store.

I’m excited to continue designing items in this silhouette and utilizing my own paper patterns which has been a huge step in achieving my vision for the garments I make. I’ve also been working in a lot of stretch fabric this year to gain more knowledge and improve my skills to keep growing as a designer. Without the practice and determination to keep going, not to mention patience because mastering any skill takes so much longer than the internet wants us to believe, this would be a different dress. It would not fit me well, it would not be constructed well, it may not have even made it through the sewing process, and would have been scrapped.

That is why practice is so important. And you know what the real big moments are? Not just your successes but being able to look back at the failures, and the mistakes, and see how far you have come. Such as this dress that I made in 2021, which although the design was cute, fell apart because I didn’t understand how to properly construct stretch fabric nor did I understand how to choose the right fabric for a garment for it to be successful. But now I get it and now I understand how to fix it and if I decide to remake it, I could! And that brings me a whole lot of joy!

Using Stretch Fabric and A New Technique

Stretch fabric and I have been at odds since I began sewing. I fight with it during the cutting process. The pins slip out while sewing. I’ve cut on the wrong stretchway and ended up with ill-fitting items and not enough scrap to fix it. My Heavy Duty Singer sewing machine which is named, Señor Senior Singer, tends to eat my flimsy knit fabric and lightweight gauze projects, dragging them underneath to jam the machine, and ripping the fabric in the process!

It’s overall been a losing battle, so much so that I have been wary to purchase stretch fabric unless it is on a ridiculous clearance sale because my patience is shot.

This is literally how I feel when the fabric gets trapped under the needle plate and the only way to jailbreak it is to rip it. It drives me bonkers! Why must it keep eating the nice fabric I cut, pinned, and draped into this beautiful form. Was it done so that you, my sewing machine could devour it like a snack?! I digress.

This is where I had to humble myself, accept that something was missing in my technique, and do some research. It turns out I needed to change my approach, which is progress! I first, took a break from my machine sewing, because we needed some relationship counseling at this point, and returned back to hand sewing. I took an approach that matched the speed of a tortoise, sewing small pieces together each day. Work on it no longer than 90 minutes or give my fingers a break or the tendonitis returns in my knuckles. It was tough to keep myself to this snail’s pace of a schedule. It took a week to sew one shirt. That is incredibly slow, even for me when I was hand sewing, but it allowed me to remember, and appreciate, why my relationship with my sewing machine is important. And why I needed my technique to change because this pace drove me mad.

It turns out the secret fix to my woes was adjusting my tensioner on the machine way down, like below five to a section of the dial I didn’t realize actually existed. I thought this would make my garments flimsy but instead, it allowed my fabric to feed under the needle without getting gobbled up.

Secondly, I needed to begin seams about an inch or two away from the edge and sew from there, backtracking at the end to finish the seam. This allowed the fabric to have a tail that guided it over top of the needle plate as I started sewing instead of getting drug underneath by the needle.

Lastly, Kyle helped me add some structure to my sewing table, by adding support under the middle of the table directly under my machine to keep the machine from vibrating and bouncing my seams into nonsensical shapes. I purchased an anti-vibration mat for my machine to sit up on and a matching anti-slip mat for the pedal to have more control and finesse in my sewing, instead of chasing my pedal with my foot.

It was a night and day difference. Dare I say fun? Yes, it made sewing the stretch fabric and the light flimsy fabric a blast. A quick, neat seam was no problem in my sewing studio now!

Here’s the result of my new-found knowledge – four new properly sewn stretch garments that make me feel properly chuffed! The moral of this story is to not give up but to have a teachable spirit when life throws you some curve balls. There is always room to grow and improve if we are willing to seek out the wisdom.

#48 – Craft Paper

An item that I added to my sewing tools in 2024 is brown craft paper and it has been a game changer! It’s not only transformed my creative process but has helped me create new garments that fit me better with less fabric waste. How cool is that?

Learning is Hardwork

As with every new skill, the first phase of creating is messy and full of flaws, this was my creative process. You have to start and in starting you are an imperfect sewist, fitting and pattern cutting are tricky and this really bothered me to accept. I like getting things right the first time. Learning to accept that this was going to be a journey, was frustrating at first. I have a vision in my head but I can’t always execute the vision at this stage. These things are part of the learning process, like using existing patterns to learn the techniques and accepting that things are going to fit poorly until I can learn to tailor them. Which is happening! With each garment I make, I can see a progression toward the goal, slow and steady but still moving forward.

But there has been a process I did not expect and that is making pieces with my silhouette and my body type in mind, not just my measurements. Things I want to make may not look fantastic on my proportions. That was a time of trial and error in my creative process that I wasn’t expecting because when you go to a store and try on clothing, the design decisions are already made and you only have to decide on which silhouette you would like to choose. But with fashion design, self-drafting patterns in particular, I realized what was going to make me happy was experimentation. Trying a little bit of everything and playing around with different styles to see what I liked and what looked good on my body.

Sometimes just an inch here, a lowered line there, a rise adjustment, or nipping in a shoulder can transform a project from a flop to a success. It’s subtle yet effective and a skill I see you are only capable of learning from experience, either from your own by the process of being self-taught or from the instruction of more skilled designers. It is sculptural, artistic, and honestly sometimes like architecture or construction. It may be fabric and tread but the same principles apply. The foundation is crucial, and the foundation of any garment is the fabric and how you cut it.

Enter the Craft Paper

How do you replicate a project that works? You need a template, a jig, or a blueprint. A pattern. I thought that understanding the dimensions alone would suffice when I am cutting, but there is nothing like having the template to keep my cutlines accurate for curves and hem allowance. It takes the guesswork out of this process which if you are cutting blind is like a chess match with the fabric and your memory of what you have made before. It’s too difficult so I needed to work smarter and make my own pattern pieces out of paper. There were two tops that I had designed that fit me quite well out of a stretch knit and before they were properly sewn together, I took the pins out and traced them onto my craft paper.

Two bodice types – one scoop neck, one v-neck, and one sleeve template. From this inexpensive paper I have found a cipher to make things with more finesse. A tried and true bodice and sleeve that can be used for tops or dresses. A foundation to build upon that has streamlined my making process. You don’t have to be an expert at your craft to make a template, I thought I had to reach mastery before I was worthy to do this, it is simply part of the making process to make things with excellence in mind.

Fix On

I’ve watched a few creators for too long without questioning why “good enough” was their motto. I in turn also fell back on this type of approach to my designs as I learned because learning is hard work. Striving to be better is not fun, it’s maintaining a critical eye and raising your standards for yourself. In this sewing journey of learning and making, instant gratification and impatience are my Achilles heel. I want to do things quickly because everything is done quickly now. I get stuck in that loop of making more, making faster, chasing after goals, and feeling left behind because I am still not selling my patterns or garments, still.

But “good enough” is fine for Youtubers who have an established brand and following, but that’s not going to get me anywhere near my goals of design. I have to continually “fix on” as Mingi says, to the goal ahead and stop paying attention to what others have done to achieve their success. They are already in that space and that is the path their life has taken, I have to find my own thing and continue to work hard.

I’m sharing this to encourage you dear reader to not settle and to challenge yourself to be your own person. I believe that God gave you unique talents and has a plan tailor-made for your life so fight the hive mind of our current world and do the strange thing – work hard, strive for excellence, and be uniquely you! I hope that wherever you are today you remember that you are special, you are loved, and that you have potential for excellence. No matter what has happened in your life and how gray the skies are above you, there is still hope for a future.

Skipping Stitches

Skipping stitches, a court of witches has taken my needle by storm.

Stretch knit slips. Stretch knit slips!?

Another scarred and tattered hem.

Gremlins in the machine? I think I’m going to steam!

From my face, the anger boiling in my heart…

Was this project doomed from the start?

#46 – Sewing Studio

One afternoon day, I hit a wall and found a solution in my workout room. You see I’d been sewing in the living room, not because I wasn’t provided the opportunity to have a sewing room, I think I was just being stubborn. Throughout 2023 though, I began to outgrow the living room setup, galavanting from the coffee and dining room tables. My projects were scattered across the first floor of our home. It was chaos. Fabric scraps, yarn fluffs, knitting needles, pins, computer, charger, sewing machine, sewing pedal, notebooks, paintbrushes, etc.

I hit a wall when I felt frustrated for the 1000th time that my sewing machine was bouncing against the circular antique table instead of being balanced on a proper sewing table. I then switched to cutting out a pattern on the coffee table, littered with life and projects, in this ineffective space I cut the wrong piece. In frustration, I realized this was a product of my own decision-making. It was time to level up and clean the workout room for a proper studio.

I think I had been thinking about this longer than I realized, because, after Christmas, I hung up my new bunny calendar and K-pop posters in the workout room, like a future studio. Even though I wasn’t planning the conversion to a studio, it all worked out seamlessly. I moved some things around, decluttered others, and brought the white folding table up from the coat closet. I brought my machine and sewing notions up, including my sewing treasure chest Kyle made me last year. With art supplies, notebooks, and my computer in toe, there was a magic that happened. It was perfect!

The only money I spent on the conversion were new curtains to keep the space warmer, than the repurposed sheets I had sewn into curtains. It’s the breathing room I need to create and the space from this work I need. Knowing I can step away from a project for the night, without having to clean up the items for dinner, is life-changing. I’m sleeping better.

I think since getting married and working from home, I missed that private space, like having my own room again. I can shut the door and escape into my own little world. That was one of my favorite things about life as a single person. It’s good to keep those things, after life changes. I love my life, but I like who I am more with this studio. I am a lot more patient.

My favorite part of this workspace is the natural lighting. It’s so bright and airy, that it lifts my spirits every time I walk into the space.

Making a Pocket for My New Phone

When I purchase fabric, I aim to use as much of it as I can. Whether this means altering the project to incorporate as many large scraps as possible, saving some scraps for future mending projects, or creating a secondary garment from the scraps – I’m in! My recent corduroy trouser project left behind a particular set of scraps, a set of pockets that I chose to leave out of the finished trousers. These made the perfect scraps to make an unexpected project for the new year!

Upgrading My Tech

Around Christmas, I saw an interesting sale – a discount on a phone with an impressive camera and quite attractive collaboration. Since leaving my family’s Verizon’s new every two for my own plan I’ve kept it cheap. I’ve had some bad spills with my phone like shattering my phone camera’s lens on I’m assuming my keys as it bounced around my bag. I also lost my most expensive phone, the LG Voyager back in 2009 by losing it in the ocean. I had it for a month when it dropped out of my pocket one fateful evening and made its way out to sea. The last thing I saw was the screen light go out as it was swallowed up by the incoming tide. So going above the USD 99-149 price range I was a bit nervous about myself and my propensity for mayhem.

This is the Galaxy S23 with the SL/BS JYP Entertainment Skzoo Collaboration case. I got it 50% off from Google Fi and bought the matching SKZOO Leebit Suitcard to theme the inside of my phone to match the case. It is also lilac, a shade of my favorite color purple. It was a delayed 30th Birthday present, to be honest, and a step forward to improve my photo-taking ability for my designs. The camera is absolutely crisp and sharp compared to my Moto Power which I thought was pretty nice for the $149 price tag. Was I swayed by the color, and Changbin’s song for this phone, yes, but it has shocked me how much the camera and integrated photo editing, like the magic eraser feature, have helped me capture better photos of my work on a budget. Safe to say I’ve been babying this phone – I do not want to ruin this one! 😉

A Pocket For My Phone

Because this is a newish phone, there was the upgrade of my wired headphones no longer being compatible – there is no audio jack. This means an adapter, which I wanted to keep organized while out and about with my earbuds and phone. Creating this little pocket made perfect sense!

To create the pocket, because of the corduroy fabric’s structure, I didn’t include a lining. I began with my two pocket pieces and cut one of them into a square and a semicircle. With three pieces, I matched the semicircle together and pinned and sewed the square onto the intact pocket piece, on three sides. This left an opening for the pocket. Next, I sewed the semicircles together. Lastly, I inserted a zipper to securely close the pocket. I love the finished product!

It’s a cute little pocket that is easy to place in my purse and in my pockets, it gives that extra layer of protection across the camera lenses and screen while keeping those loose little accessories in one place. This project has alleviated a lot of fear I had of breaking my phone in my purse again. As a result, I actually pull my phone out less unless I have a specific purpose for reaching for my phone like answering a text, a call, taking a photo, or listening to music. It’s subtly helping me be more present and in the moment which I greatly appreciate. 🙂

I also love the antique vibe of this pocket. It reminds me of pockets that used to be tied onto skirts in historical fashion. I guess this is the next version of the same concept, and it looks like a pattern from the 1800s, 1700s, etc. Always save your big scraps, they come in handy! If I had purchased a pouch for my phone, I’m sure it would have been fine but it’s an added expense that I want to cut out in 2024. It’s fun using the items at hand to make useful things and cut down on my spending while making use of the entire cut of fabric. Would you make a pocket like this?

#44 – Reset Over Resolutions

I’m not a big New Year’s Resolution girl, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seriously done that or just made a joking one in my head when I was a teen cause I thought that’s what you were supposed to do. What I do like doing instead is resetting my habits and schedule after Christmas. Because no matter what phase I am in my life that week between Christmas and New Year’s seems to wreck my daily schedule and motivation like no other.

Blocks of Productivity

My plan was literally to plan, I opened Google Docs and made myself a table for a daily schedule. I have tasks I want to be doing each day or every other day – devotions, exercise, Japanese learning, writing, sewing, knitting, art, and cleaning. Without the schedule, I tend to fixate on one thing all day or jump around not making progress on much of anything except for getting through my YouTube music playlists. My solution? Blocking my time like college. Spending a chunk of time, an hour or two, the most three on a given task to get things done and keep my motivation up.

In the morning I’ve decided I have the option to do devotions, Kanji study, art (natural light dependent), or writing. In the afternoon I prefer knitting, sewing, or writing. Intersperse cleaning and exercise in between tasks. The results? One week in and I’d say, I like it! I’ve made progress on my Kanji vocabulary goals – learning 60 Kanji between two lessons. Blocking the Japanese lessons for first in the morning for two hours is the best time for my brain to absorb it. Knitting or sewing in the afternoon has helped me through that mid-afternoon slump.

It’s also allowed me a way to walk away from sewing if I am not enjoying the process. Instead of devoting a whole day to sewing like I did in the past, blocking sewing to a few hours in the afternoon lets my mind feel like I can accomplish a project and still feel okay walking away after an hour. Because sometimes sewing can make me angry. Yesterday, sewing made me quite mad after my three of my hems jammed into the needle plate. The hem was driven down by the needle and unable to be removed without stitch ripping and eventually ripping a hole in the hem. I was angry and ready to be done and instead of angry sewing, I pivoted to something else knowing I could pick up tomorrow and I would because of my new schedule.

Balance in Writing

Another motivator that prompted me to reset my daily schedule was the writing ideas I had. I mentioned before that I have a fiction idea that I have tabled for now for a more pressing idea, a non-fiction fashion research project. This is going to be a big project that needs structure to get done because I have not researched since college and it intimidates me a bit to think of doing that again without the access of inter-library-loan. I don’t know how straightforward the process is going to be on my own without the resources and my mentor to encourage me forward.

I’ve started writing poetry again, mainly to cope with big emotions, something I want to discuss further in a separate post. I’m enjoying it. I enjoy how it makes me feel to write for the fun of it again. I’ve been writing for the fun of it more and more. Last week, I wrote two lengthy pieces that could be blog posts, but I’m not sure if they are “done” yet if that makes sense. And then there is this blog, I need to be more consistent. A reset I am after this month is to get consistent and if necessary make a content calendar to keep myself on task like I used to in my digital marketing job.

Sunshine Come Back

I want to paint more, to sketch daily, and I truly feel handcuffed by the weather. This fall and winter it has been exceptionally dreary. Like we get hints of sunshine and then the gray rolls in. Today, it is mid-morning and the sun has technically risen but I can’t see it behind the sleet, the dark shadows cast by the gray clouds, and the racing wind. It is hecking depressing and I like rainy days and spooky gray skies, but this is truly messing with the art. I need to figure out a lighting situation. Once I do that I hope to get sketching and painting consistently again. Either way, Spring will come or my lighting solution will.

Seasons of Fashion

My sewing and knitting waves of creation follow seasons, the weather seasons, and not the fashion seasons because I can’t keep up and tend to forget that fashion seasons are the opposite of what you would think they would be. That being said, I made a big push in the fall to wrap up cold weather projects before December and since November, I have taken my foot off the gas pedal. But this coasting has to come to an end at some point and that is what this schedule is for because I have purchased fabric for some big, ambitious makes and those are going to take time. For knitting, I’d like to develop more knitting patterns and start looking at launching a shop in some capacity either with patterns or finished goods. I feel more confident in my knitting skills right now than in my sewing skills, but I am going to challenge myself to track my patterns for sewing this year.

This reminds me, I need to transfer a self-drafted pattern I cut out yesterday to my brown kraft paper before I sew up the side and finish the garment. I should go do that before I forget!

#37 – A Notched Lapel

Last night, I decided to be productive. I gathered my scissors and descended on my fabric stash. To the cuts of fabric, I’d left for the first hint of 30 degrees, to make a tweed coat and plaid trousers. Oh how excited I was to have a tweed fabric that was free from wool, and on clearance no less. What a thrill!

For months, I browsed Pinterest through the forest of street-style pins to the flowing river of coat inspiration. I studied the silhouette, the collar, and the button placement. Oh yes, I was going to do this right. I referenced pattern against pattern, for the right feel. The right lapel.

For moral support, I played a fellow chaos sewist in the background, Stephanie Canada, and laid my fabric on the floor. I determined my cut lines and set them to work, as Stephanie set to work on her #grimgrinninggarb I set my scissors to work carving out the back coat panel.

With a smile, I draped it against my frame to see that the arm holes were placed correctly. The opening for the neck, cut as a slim yoke, compared to the wandering necklines of my past attempts.

Next the sleeves were ready to take shape, a careful gusset planned for the armpit. “What mobility I will have,” I thought, “sweaters, hoodies, flannels – none will be too bulky for this!”

But then the summit appeared in the distance. The jacket front and collar! It was time for the big hurrah, the moment I studied and planned for. I smoothed the yardage to the floor with care to ensure the edges were plumb. With a careful swoop, the arm holes were placed. I steadied myself for the neck opening and lapel.

I stood, I pondered, I cut. A neckline sloping down, reaching outward towards the heart. A lapel. Large enough to fold over and sit regal down the coat. With satisfaction brimming, I carried on to the collar. Easy peasy right? After such a feat! I referenced my pattern one more time and cut it. I placed. I saw what I have wanted to see for years now. A coat with collar, notch, and lapel to follow.

Alright! This is going to work. This is my dream coat. A piece of outerwear ready for Friday Night Dinner. It was sharp. It was, just one. But two? Where’s the second piece?

With horror, I realized my mistake. I laid the second piece to see that I once again forgot to mirror the pattern. It was perfectly cut, backward. The lovely lapel was inside out. I had two lefts and no right.

And I had no more yardage left, on a clearance find remnant. Game over.

No tweed coat. No coat project at all. It was over. Fin.

Sewing humbles me every time. I know one of these days all my practice and failures are going to produce something made with care and wisdom. But dang, I feel so dumb!

If you are feeling discouraged today, remember, that we’re all in this together. 🫶 Hopefully we can all find a way to laugh through our mistakes and keep looking toward what the future holds. We got this! 😁

#29 – The Satisfaction of Mending and Alterations

I’ve found there is something serene about mending your own clothes. I find it almost a joy to launder the items and collect them in a pile for a day of slow, methodical stitches and problem solving. It makes the chaos of holes and rips into the calm of rejoined fabric and orderly hems. There is a satisfaction in fixing an item that was broken, making it as good as new. It reminds me that in life when the problems come, and there will be problems big and small, that it’s not over when trouble comes.

Like last night, when a scratching and rustling sound echoed from our chimney to the fireplace below. All I could picture was that scene in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation when the squirrel terrorizes the living room, scurrying from table to chair, knocking things over and crawling on Clark.

Of course this happened after dark, naturally as it does, when the stores are closed and the exterminator or animal control would be closed. In a frenzy we grabbed a sheet of plywood from the wood shop and covered the hearth opening. I called my neighbor, who has become like framily (friend-family) to me. They shared advice from their own experience with critters in their house, wrapped me in a hug and calmed me down with some good laughs. When I came back home, although the bat or squirrel or whatever it is, may still be on the other side that plywood I felt okay.

Having caring and friends who love and support you is the mending thread of our lives when things get weird.

Seams and a New Gadget

Today’s mending agenda consisted of re-attaching a missed seam on a pair of underwear I bought from a big brand, the pieces of fabric were connected across the seat seam with a serger aka overlocking machine and it either ripped the fabric which dislodged it from the seam or the pieces did not get sewn together in the first place. I have a love-hate relationship with the practice of serging ends and seams. I know it saves time and uses less fabric to finish seams but dang, they tend to unravel like nothing else. So, is it really better? I’m not sure. But that’s my opinion.

I’m doing a repair on a tank that I made from a burnt orange knit fabric. I made an unwise decision to take it in at the armhole which made the fit around the bust odd. It’s pulling and the stitches are placing too much stress on the knit fabric, which I saw the aftermath of while unpicking the stitches that made the armhole smaller. There were some big rips! Now the underside of each armhole looks like it was chewed up. Which to honest made me feel a bit stressed out because I enjoy wearing this piece and I don’t have any more fabric to patch the whole with. Thankfully my new gadget made this process of closing each rip easier – the palm thimble!

As I mentioned before in #21 – Sewing When I Lost the Love For It I have developed tendinitis in the knuckle of my middle finger of my sewing hand. This is what drove me to stop hand sewing in general and get used to using my Heavy Duty Singer machine. But alas, there are still times when you need to sew by hand like when inserting a zipper, mending rips and holes in fabric, and button and buttonhole insertion. I ran into this problem whilst completing this vest for my father-in-law. Just a few hours of hand sewing these buttons and button holes, awaken my injury and my knuckle was not happy. It’s made hand sewing a bit tense for me because what if it keeps getting worse? I love doing this, I don’t want to stop making things or knitting.

But, I was browsing my Instagram feed a few days later and behold a creator I follow named Geri In Stitches was sporting an intriguing accessory – the Sashiko thimble by which she pushed the needles through the fabric with her palm instead of putting stress on her finger. I used mine today for mending and it was a completely difference experience! My finger is not in pain, the knuckle is not inflamed or swollen. It worked! I’m over the moon excited about it.

Taking in Garments

Along with mending today, I also took in three pairs of shorts that were just draped to the point of looking silly. It’s an interesting feeling when I have to take items in because there is that feeling of, dang, now I have to fix something that wasn’t even broken just for the right fit. And there is also a feeling of accomplishment because I have been getting healthier.

I’m tackling my inflammation from food allergy and stress, toning up through interval training sessions, and making healthier choices that is helping me slim down a bit. I went through a decade of gaining weight and not understanding why I couldn’t lose it. It was frustrating and discouraging to feel so out of control. If only I had the wisdom to see how much the mind and the body are connected. The food allergy was giving my body anxiety and inflammation, making it difficult to maintain let alone get in better shape. Mind was so foggy from the stress and emotions of that time period that I didn’t want to take care of myself because I thought – what is the point?

When I have the opportunity to do these alterations, it’s this little moment of progress without having to weigh myself on a scale which is my ultimate trigger into a unhealthy spiral, but also to feel this moment of this will be an easy sewing project today. The item is already completed, and well loved. It’s relaxing compared to garment construction when I can still screw things up.

Later on today, I have another round of alterations, replacing a waistband tie on a pair of shorts and adjusting the fit on another pair of shorts. And then it will be time to put my thimble away and leave process for the next time. But with each wear I will remember the time and love put into these clothes to keep them in good order. A well loved closet.

Do you mend your own clothes? Have you ever taken a garment to be altered or do you just make it work? Before learning to sew, I would just accept my fate if items broke or stopped fitting. It’s a freeing feeling to not be stuck in letting the clothes decide for you. I’d recommend giving it a try or finding someone who can help you with their own sewing skills. It truly makes a difference.

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