Like a little round seamstress, I am

If I asked you to guess where my attentions have been, and you guessed “nesting,” it would be a very good guess.

It would be wrong, of course, but very close: Sewing. Sewing with a maniacal, crazy firey passion.

This pregnancy thing, man. Whoo. I get an idea in my head and then bam, that’s all she wrote, I’m lost to the world.

So! That’s where I’ve been this last week. Sunday night I decided I could totally sew my own maternity shirts for this last trimester, and by Monday evening I was cutting out this pattern on an old sheet.

I haven’t sewn anything garment-y since, oh, high school, maybe college, so it took me a few days. By Thursday the first shirt was done and by Thursday night the second was done and if I make it upstairs to my sewin’ room tonight I’ll have the third one done (I swear the view I’m making is not so horrendous).

So. Having practiced on old sheets, this morning I took Owen to the “sewing store” to buy real fabric (eyelet! gauze! calico!), and now I’ll be able to sew up some more shirts, in other patterns, for post-partum and Regular Old Supa wear. Am a touch excited, I must say.

A side note about shopping with Owen: holy monkey. It’s fun. (At least it’s fun if you catch him bright-eyed and bushy-headed, and not twenty minutes past bed-time on a no-nap day). I set him loose in the quilter’s calico section of Joann’s with the warning not to touch, and so I hear echoing from across the batiks, “No touch the people’s fabric.” Or maybe it was the People’s fabric. I’m sure there is some sort of republic of Peoples and to fuck with their fabric would be very bad indeed.

He also would pick up random little items at toddler-level and cradle them as we shopped — a book of stickers and, a little more weirdly, a ceramic picture frame in the shape of, if I recall correctly, a cat in a boot. (Hey. It’s Joann’s, and it’s Owen, and there you go.) He was a mite bit upset that I didn’t let him purchase and subsequently bring home this little picture frame but c’est la vie, I told him.

And when I sidled up to the cutting counter with six bolts and precise instructions for the lass on the other side, he was churchmouse-quiet the whole time. Think of the temptation available to a toddler at a cutting counter and then imagine, if you will, the self-restraint. Damn but he’s amazing.

Anyway! A trip for the ages. As I was saying: After I master shirts (I have two more patterns to try), and after I finish the other stuff I said I’d master … I’m going to sew my own jeans. No really. I will finally have pants that fit.

‘Course, if I don’t get to it before little Owen the Second is born I may never get to it, because I’ll have two kids and no more pregnancy insanity, but the idea is there. Someday. Someday.

March 18, 2007 | Filed Under create, pregnancy, sewing

Comments

16 Responses to “Like a little round seamstress, I am”

Maliavale on March 18th, 2007 9:07 pm

I feel like “Little round seamtress” should be a song, much like “I’m a little teapot.”

I bought the world’s tiniest sewing machine today! I do not know how to use it a bit, but I can read a manual from the 1970s like nobody’s business. The yard sale people said, “It doesn’t sew backwards.” Oh. OK. I didn’t … know … I needed that. Fine by me!

Also, the shirts are mad cute. Much like your son.
victoria on March 18th, 2007 9:16 pm

you are killing me with the creativity and the productivity. i’m lucky to actually drive myself to a store, much less buy fabric, take it home and make something. i think you may officially be my hero.
supa on March 18th, 2007 9:17 pm

[quote comment=”17542”] but I can read a manual from the 1970s like nobody’s business. The yard sale people said, “It doesn’t sew backwards.” Oh. OK. I didn’t … know … I needed that. [/quote]

Ha! Sewing backwards is for the repressed. You want a forward-sewing machine. For your forward thinking and your liberal ways.
supa on March 18th, 2007 9:22 pm

[quote comment=”17544”]you are killing me with the creativity and the productivity. [/quote]

see, it’s a particular productivity, though. and I’m not kidding when I say “obsession.” it keeps me up nights.
minnie on March 19th, 2007 10:57 am

cute shirt!! it looks like you did a good job on that. i am impressed that you had the patience to even do a mock up, i never do.

i sewed an awesome skirt this weekend that i can only hope to be able to try on in a few months.
supa on March 19th, 2007 11:08 am

sweet, minnie! you should take pictures.
Ada on March 20th, 2007 1:51 am

“because I’ll have two children…”

wheeeeeee!!!!!
nana on March 20th, 2007 4:53 am

Nice handiwork, MB!- You look absolutely gorgeous in your new threads!
LetterB on March 20th, 2007 9:03 am

So glad to see you are harnessing the pregnancy insanity for good. I just used it to eat my weight in ice cream every night.
Tina C on March 20th, 2007 1:31 pm

why are those BBW patterns so expensive? are they that much better than regular ole patterns?
supa on March 21st, 2007 9:25 am

@ ada.

thanks, Mom!

letterB, I am going to confess to the ice cream thing as well. I can’t help it. DAMN YOU, ben and your friend jerry.

pssst, Tina C — they’re made by simplicity, so pick them up at JoAnn’s for 30% off. I got mine for $8.97. Although I love the fit and the cut so much that maybe they are worth full price.
otter on March 21st, 2007 12:19 pm

Color me impressed! With both the top and Owen :~)
otter on March 22nd, 2007 9:02 am

Ok, I already commented yesterday, but I need to update that to add…Damn you! Now I have been bitten by the sewing bug (thanks to your cute top self), and I want to make a dress and I just remembered that I only know how to sew curtains. Shit. You don’t mind me bugging you with a few thousand questions, do you?
supa on March 22nd, 2007 9:12 am

ott-TAIR! a dress is but curtains with armholes. and a neckhole. you can totally do it.
We Love Baby! » Sleepover for Thursday, April 12 on April 12th, 2007 8:35 pm

[…] I’m not the most talented seamstress ever, but I like to sew anyway. My friend Mary Beth over at Supafine! has been busy making some very cute maternity shirts for herself. Seeing her success inspired me to dust off my sewing machine. I have fabric, thread, a clean kitchen table to work on. Now I just need to score a kid-free afternoon. […]
Other blogs : Sleepover for Thursday, April 12 on April 12th, 2007 8:51 pm

[…] Filed under: Blogs, Crafts, Creative projects, SleepoverTonight I’m on the prowl for crafty blogs, because I am thinking that as long as I’m making something I can put off the big-time spring cleaning for just a little longer. I’m not the most talented seamstress ever, but I like to sew anyway. My friend Mary Beth over at Supafine! has been busy making some very cute maternity shirts for herself. Seeing her success inspired me to dust off my sewing machine. I have fabric, thread, a clean kitchen table to work on. Now I just need to score a kid-free afternoon. Mary Beth had a link to a craft blog I hadn’t seen yet, called Sew, Mama, Sew! There are tons of projects on the blog, including this entry with a few tutorials. Check out the dishtowel “dress” hanging on the oven door! I’m going to have to try that one.ArtsyMama has all sorts of springtime crafts and projects up on her blog, and Step Into My Thimble has great knit peices, a cute baby who is about to turn one, and one of my favorite blog banners. I also found this, umm, cake, while surfing craft blogs. I have a son who can’t have dairy, so maybe instead of a non-dairy cake for his birthday next year, I’ll make him one of these. We’ll see. […]