My Newest Passion

I decided to enter the blogging world once again after two failed attempts. The good intentions were definitely there, but then I got bored or lost track of time, and months ended up passing by between each post. Before long, I quit updating the blogs all together. With a baby due in 5 weeks, I figured I'd give the blogosphere another go. Since I'll be a stay-at-home mom in Bahrain, I should have plenty of stories to help keep the blog updated regularly!!

When I came home in May, my goal numero uno was to learn how to sew. I had a great teacher (thanks, Mom!!!!!) who was so patient with me. I know I had a great time learning from her, and I hope she had a great time teaching me. We started off with a baby dress, which taught me much more than I ever learned sewing a pillow in my 8th grade home economics class!!!! I'm already passionate about baking, and now I can add sewing to the list. There is still A LOT I need to learn to become proficient, but you have to start somewhere, right?

I've really enjoyed picking out fabrics for various projects. I can literally spend HOURS in fabric stores (our credit card statement can prove this)!!! Some fabrics are deceiving, so after some trial and error, I'm learning how to pick out fabrics that look as good on the rack as they do when made into the finished product. I'm not sure how fabric shopping is going to work when I get to Bahrain and there's no JoAnn's or Hancock's, but I know I'll manage somehow.

My ultimate goal is to become good enough that I can make my own designs and sell them on Etsy. Yesterday, I sewed a baby dress that had additions and changes I made to the existing pattern, but I haven't yet designed a dress completely from scratch. My sister will be a great reference point when I feel ready for that since she majored in fashion design. Until then, I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the dresses I've made for the baby through some frustration and error, but mostly joy.

The dress I sewed yesterday. To the pattern I already had, I added lining to the inside of the dress, a waist tie, longer shoulder straps so that they could be tied into bows, and two decorative buttons:

A little "ruffle" dress with a vintage bird pattern:

A sweet corduroy jumper. I've made a few dresses with this pattern because I love the simplicity of it. I also wanted to "master" a pattern before I went on to learn new techniques:

This was the very first dress I made (with my mom's help). It's the same pattern as the dress above. You obviously can't see all the stitch work involved, but hopefully I've improved at least a little bit since we made this dress in May:
Same dress as above, only a different print:

Same dress as above, only different print:

This dress ties at both sides just under the armpit. It's completely open from the tie down, so it's nice and "airy" for the warm Bahrain climate:

You can't see the back of this dress, but it has cross straps and two sweet accent buttons: I was supposed to add an applique to the chest (the brown fabric), but I couldn't find anything I liked. Every time I look at this dress now, I think something's missing. Oh well: