I Made That!

Remember Housewife Challenge #4?  The one where I said I was actually going to use my sewing machine…but then didn’t really follow through on (except for one Christmas dress)?

Well this weekend I got serious.  Really serious.  Because I actually do want to do it; I don’t want my hobbies take a back burner to everything else.   Often, I don’t start projects because they seem so big and daunting and where am I going to find a whole hour in the day to make a dress?  Well, I realized that I’m looking at it all wrong.  It’s not about the big picture, it’s about taking the first step.  I realized all I have to do is commit to 20 minutes, 2-3 times per week sewing and I’ll have at least one new thing each week. So now I am going to sew at least 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

So far, so good.  I planned to only sew for 20 minutes, but probably spent 45 on Monday, because I was on a roll.  I started simple with a new pillow and pillowcase for Nora’s “big girl” bed.

And then used the fabric I cut off of my thrift-ed Betsy Johnson dress to make Nora a little skirt.It wasn’t what I originally planned for the material, but I couldn’t resist the cliched cuteness of Nora and I having mother-daughter matching outfits next fall.  It’s a little big now, since I used a 2t skirt as a guide for the elastic, but her big cloth-diapered bottom managed to hold it up for a photo shoot now.

And because those projects were so simple and fun, I decided to get fancy and try my hand at up-cycling…and I turned this [incredibly poor shopping decision]:into this:Let me tell you, that ruffle looks way better on Nora than it did on me.I am so excited about how cute this dress turned out and how easy it was, which makes me ready to take on this massive pile of too-big clothes, 20 minutes at a time.

Up-cycling, here I come!