I used to do quite a bit of sewing many years ago. I took my first sewing class at the age of 12 and made a wrap-around skirt for my first project. I remember being so proud of it when I wore it to church. I took sewing in both junior high and high school and always enjoyed it. My favorite part about sewing was looking through the pattern books. I always had big dreams when I perused those books.

I can’t remember exactly when, but my mother-in-law bought me a used sewing machine one year. I’m guessing it must have been a Christmas present. It was quite clunky, but it did a great job. I had no idea how much I would end up using it. I started off by making a puff quilt when I was expecting Alex. I would stitch the squares and Jeff would stuff them with batting. We called him “batman” for this and I love the memories of that project. It turned out really cute and looked great in his crib with polka dotted sheets and a bright blue bumper. We had a darling dinosaur mobile and several stuffed dinosaurs around the room. It was the same year that Jurassic Park came out and dinosaurs were all the rage.

Later on, I made myself some dresses. I wish I had pictures of all of them. Those were film camera days and don't have many photos. This one from 1995 is pretty goofy - no idea what my husband is doing here? but it shows the pretty fabric I found for this dress.

I also made pajamas for Alex and my brother Zach and aprons for both Alex and Riley. It was always so much fun to go to the fabric store to pick out fabric for these projects. I always knew when the sales would happen and often got very good deals. Alex loved these Looney Tunes pajamas!

This was also the time in my life where I used my sewing skills to pay the bills. I started sewing blue muslin wraps for a testing laboratory. Our apartment (and our first home) was always filled with piles of blue fabric. My kids even loved playing with the scraps. I borrowed my mother-in-law’s serger to help me with this project. It wasn’t steady work, but it would come in bunches. I was also working from home as a book keeper for my Dad’s business so I ended up with some long days sometimes, but we were always grateful for the extra money during this time and it saved us more than once.

My very best sewing project was the dress I made for Riley’s first Easter in 1997. I worked so hard on this and tried to make it really look professional. I did not make the bonnet, I found that at Kids R Us, but I made the dress and apron. It turned out so cute! Riley was always full of smiles when she was a baby (we even nicknamed here Smiley Riley) but for some reason she wouldn't smile when I got her picture taken in this dress.

I burned out on sewing after a few years of doing it for work and took a break for a time. I just used my machine for repairs. I eventually got a new one and it was so much easier to use. It was a Brother and I don’t remember the model, but it was not very expensive. In fact, this article about sewing machines under $200 lists a Brother model as their top choice.

In 2005, we were getting ready to go on a Disney cruise with my husband’s family and we wanted to dress up fancy for the formal night. Riley and I searched through pattern books for the perfect dress and we ended up combing ideas from a few patterns to design this dress. It was a really tricky sewing project because the fabric was so slippery, but it turned out really nice and she loved it! We all looked pretty snazzy in our black and white formal wear.

I worked on some sporadic sewing projects over the years, mostly when it was needed for costumes and such. I made a quilt for Riley’s room. I made fleece blankets. I also spent a little time teaching Riley some basic techniques and letting her play around on the machine. I even made a scrapbook page about that back in 2010.

Riley didn’t do much with sewing while growing up, but the other day she told me she might want to give it a try again so she can make cute bandanas for her dog Piper. So fun! We are even working on getting some of our designs for sale at Spoonflower soon so I’ll keep you posted on that.

These days, I have a fancier sewing machine, a Janome DC3050 that I purchased in 2011 and still love today.

That model is outdated enough that it’s not for sale anymore. It looks like the Janome DC1050 would be the modern equivalent. The interesting thing is my mom has had several sewing machines over the years (I’ll have to document her sewing one of these days) and she tells me that she loves using her inexpensive lightweight machine most of the time. There’s nothing wrong with that!

When we moved to our new home last February, I lost my sewing room. I’m ok with that because I haven’t spent much time sewing over the past few years. I do have a nice closet where I can keep all of my sewing and crafting supplies and a spare bedroom with a desk that can be used as a sewing table. Maybe someday I will get the urge again? I have thought about trying to make some skirts because I have such a hard time finding ones I like. But the pandemic sort of took care of that need for awhile as I certainly haven’t needed to dress up over the last year. Maybe as that starts to change, I will pull out my trusty machine. Either way, I have fond memories of this creative outlet and I’m grateful for all of the items I have made.

If you are interested in sewing, you might enjoy the sewing section of Crafty Hangouts. Lots of great reviews and resources there. Sew fun!