About

I’m going to tell you a story about a girl who dreamed of making clothes for herself.

I hope you find it encouraging as well as inviting as you begin your journey into the domestic arts.

The ten-year-old girl came from a large family. Fancy clothing was not a priority for her parents. And, really, she didn’t want to make fancy clothes; she just wanted her clothes.

So, this little girl began to fiddle around with the sewing machine that belonged to her mom. It was THIS machine, actually.

Made in 1957, this Singer was over twenty years old when that little girl got her mitts on it.

But, it sewed, and sewed. A ton of things she made from prairie skirts and peasant blouses for 4-H to yellow knickers and bubble skirts. When she was in middle school, her mom shopped at K-Mart and Hills. “Gross,” is what she always thought of those clothes. She begged her mom to let go of some of her old fabric. This girl made just about everything she put on to go to school and didn’t care one lick what the kids said about her. She knew some were giggling and poking fun but deep down she knew they were just jealous. 😉

Making her clothes gave her a feeling of purpose and it made her confident in the other things she took on. She excelled in music and sports just as well as her sewing. It also opened up new opportunities for her as she grew.

Prom came, and the girls in school knew she could sew some totally gnarly dresses. No duh. It was the eighties after all. So, this girl began sewing prom dresses. The high school girls felt great in the gowns they drew in their notebooks and watched come to life.

This special man even commissioned a zoot suit during her junior year of high school. What? Yep, she did it. She had no idea what a zoot suit was until she met this boy (who unbeknownst to her would ask her to marry him ten years later).

While brothers and sisters had weddings, three of them had dresses that were made by this 17-24-year-old. She hadn’t planned on doing this when she first sat down at the Singer 401A, but she loved every minute of it. Watching her family wear her creations gave her a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.

One of her best friends was getting married right out of high school and hired her to make her wedding gown and bridesmaid’s dress. The bride described what she wanted, and the girl turned out exactly what the bride had envisioned. After a hundred hours of hand beading, this wedding gown was thus far the most involved project of her sewing career.

I almost forgot to mention her very own wedding dress.

While she lived with her parents she sewed in her bedroom. This is a picture of the finished dress in her closet full of packed boxes ready to leave after the wedding.

Although she only paid $30 for this dress after gathering lace from this lady and satin from that one she thought she was the Belle of the ball.  The people in her town knew how she sewed and brought her all their old wedding gowns so she held onto them. It was designed from the cover of TV guide (remember those?) when Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman was featured.

Oh, did I mention that at this time, in the late eighties and early nineties, there was no internet to speak of? Everything this little girl learned as she grew she taught herself from books and magazines, trial and error.

Her mother sewed, but after this little girl grew into a formal wear designer/seamstress, her mother told her she could never sew those things like that.

These lines are only the beginning of the story. I wanted to give you an idea of what can happen if you really want to do something. You don’t have to know anything about it to become an accomplished seamstress, knitter, crocheter or any kind of domestic artist!

Stick with me here and find out what happened to that girl as her life continued. Let me give you a hint… I never stopped sewing.

This is what I’m about, and I’ll show you how you too can accomplish the dreams of making your own ANYTHING!