Day 2 - Confeccion de prendas de vestir

April 17, 2015.


In addition to the sewing machine (the SY machine, from Ikea - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60208974/), my friend Eva also loaned me a book:  Confeccion de prendas de vestir.

Now that was a challenge!  Not only learning how to sew from-scratch, but doing so in Spanish!  LOL!  But... I do like a challenge!  So I pressed-on.

The book is actually quite good.  It walks through most of the basic techniques - stitching, basting, interfacing, various approaches to hemming, inserting zippers in a variety of ways - and explains the situations where you would chose one or the other approach.   The latter half of the book contains patterns (download to print-at-home) and the patterns refer back to the earlier instructions so that you can look-up the details of each technique required by each pattern.

I spent a couple of days reading the book, cross-referencing the instructive parts with some YouTube videos to be sure that I understood the Spanish :-)  then I picked a simple skirt pattern from the end of the book, put it on paper, and cut it out (only 4 or 5 pieces).  I then returned to the fabric store, picked some old curtain fabric out of their bin (less than 1 Euro!) and sat down with the Spanish instructions for the pattern.

Okay, I am faced with a zipper in my very first pattern!  So I watched a few YouTube videos, read the instructions again, and got started...

My first darts:

Assembled except for the back seam and zipper:

Finished!

I was actually quite proud of myself at this point!  It's not pretty, of course, because it's just rubbish curtain fabric... but it's a skirt! ...it even looks like one :-)  With my appetite whetted, I popped out to the fabric store (this time, a fabric store for clothing) and picked up a few pieces out of their "remnants" bin in order to repeat this success using "real" fabric.

At this point, I should talk a bit about my friend (and colleague) Eva.  One thing that you immediately notice after a few meetings with Eva is that she has a passion for colors!!  (She actually has a bit of a color ritual... but I wont give away too many of her secrets!).  When she initially loaned me her machine, the deal was that, as soon as I was capable, I should make something for her!  As such, when i went to the fabric store, I had colors and designs in my mind... the next "edition" of this skirt had to be colorful and interesting!

Long story short - on April 18th I created this:

In the next post - Eva models the skirt!  (yes, it fit!!  :-) )

The Beginning - April 12, 2015

Hello readers!  Welcome to my "Midlife Crisis Ceative!"  

My purpose in creating this blog is to document my exploration of a new hobby - sewing!   What do I expect to post here?  I'm not sure yet.  Among other things, lessons learnt, reminders-to-self, do's and don'ts, and frequent requests for help and advice from more experienced sewers.  I don't know where I will go with this blog,  but for some reason I simply felt that I wanted to document my sewing journey... if only for my own enjoyment later!  :-)

So, here is my first post - The Beginning, April 12, 2015...

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I'm an odd duck!

For many years I have been collecting sewing-related things, without ever trying to sew! Sewing patterns for dummies (4 different patterns!), a book on "efficient sewing" (published by Singer)... a myriad of things that, for some reason, I thought I would eventually have a reason to use. For at least 10 years I carried them around, moving them from city to city, even from country to country! ...unused...

Then, one day in early April, 2015, at the age of 47, I was having lunch with my friend Eva. I said "Eva... I think I am going to buy a sewing machine and start sewing!" She was surprised (to say the least!) I then showed her the pattern that I had just purchased on EBay - Vogue 2890:

"This is for motivation,", I explained, "one day, I want to be good enough to make THAT!" Ever-supportive, Eva told me not to buy a machine, but rather that she would loan me hers for a while "just to see if you are really serious". I accepted that offer, and on April 12th I brought her machine home and set it up on my kitchen table. I then went to a fabric store ("Tejidos" here in Spain - this one specialized in fabrics for the home) and dug around in their leftovers bin for a few pieces to practice on. I spent about 3 euros, including thread, and rushed home to try the machine!

 My first line :-)

My first seam :-)

Okay, good start!  I can sew a line!

The next thing to do was to hunt for the "Sewing patterns for Dummies" packets that I had been carrying around for years... I selected the one with patterns for bathroom accessories, and decided to make the tissue-box cover.   Here is my first "object":

Nothing to write-home about, but I really enjoyed making it! 

And that was my first day of sewing! Future posts will follow my journey from "absolute zero" to... well.. wherever I end up!

Wish me luck! :-)

Mark