One of my goals for long time has been to learn to sew. My nonna is seamstress, so I tried to learn from her a few times, but she usually ended up doing everything for me. Last summer my aunt let me peruse two giant boxes of vintage patterns from my grandmother’s collection. My nonna didn’t want me taking all of them, so I only kept 10 patterns, which was okay, because they sat in a bag in my basement for 8 or 9 months anyway.
Two weeks ago, I went to the fabric store with Jon’s mom, Deb, and took the first steps towards making my own dress. When I set out to do this project, I had certain ideas in my head about how the process would work. It was very different from my expectations.
With Deb’s guidance and assistance, I started to learn to sew. There were parts of making the dress that I loved, and then there were parts I despised. I hated cutting out the pattern and the fabric. I am not great with scissors, which prompted Deb to ask if I’d gone to Kindergarten. I did but I apparently failed at cutting. Surprisingly one of my favorite parts was hand-sewing hidden stitches into the neckline, even if I refused to hand-sew the arm hem or the bottom hem, instead opting to let the stitches show and use the machine.
All in all, making the dress was an awesome experience. It was nice to get to spend time with Jon’s mom and learn a lot about sewing and garment construction in the process (Thanks Deb!). And I got such a lovely dress out of the time we spent together as well, (even if I now need to purchase a white belt to match). I still have a lot to learn, and I’m not running out to buy myself my own sewing machine tomorrow, but I’m really excited to continue to explore this new craft. I just need to decide what my next project will be.
