You are at the start of a journey……

Welcome to sewingjourney.com

I can’t believe this is really happening!!!  I am typing on the keyboard; letters are becoming words and words are turning into complete sentences.  I am writing a blog.  Ahhhhhg!  Just so you know, this is scary and exciting–all at the same time.  Exciting because I love sewing, writing, and traveling and now I get to do it all in one place.  Scary because what if no one reads this blog?  Or worse, what if people DO read this blog and it is lame and boring and now those who know and love me have to be polite and evasive—You know, participate in the literary version of “No that dress doesn’t make you look fat……”   But nonetheless I said a prayer and am plunging in.  No guts, no glory and no fun.

This is a sewing speed date……

When I was learning to set up a blog site I read that you should write an introduction of yourself in the first few blogs. I thought “Really, where is the mystery in that?….”  But what do I know. This is all new to me and I am pretty sure the lovely people at WordPress know A Lot more than I do about writing a blog. So I am starting with an introduction. “Hi.” For fun I thought we could set it up like speed dating.  I get fifteen minutes to introduce myself, share my reason for writing and tell you what you can expect from this blog. Also, I have to use that time to convince you that reading Sewingjourney is such a delight you can’t wait to do it again. Sound good? I do get to go back and edit but nothing more than cleaning up mistakes. Other than that it is like a proper speed date and there is only 15 minutes to win you over.   Okay, stopwatch is set.  Are you ready? 

Hi, my name is Kristi. I learned to sew from my mom and most of the girl’s clubs I belonged to as a kid…..Campfire, Girl Scouts and 4-H. My first full garment creation was a powder blue shift dress I made in 4-H. The fabric was this sweet blue eyelet and the bodice was lined. In those days, you sewed the hem by hand. I probably used a Simplicity pattern and I remember ripping out seams as much as I remember sewing. This is when I learned one of the first important maxim’s of sewing “If you haven’t ripped something out you aren’t really sewing”.

At the same time I discovered sewing I found out I loved to write. During the shift dress period I would also hang out in Beth Leggett’s bedroom while we pretended we were “Little Women” authors writing stories, poems and small books. I tried to write “for real” a couple of times, but I could never land on the thing I wanted to write about. Until now. You, my dear friends have created a perfect intersection for a love of sewing and a love for words. Thank you for giving me a reason. Also I have a super cool idea for throwing in travel. But that will come later.

I sew mainly clothing. Actually, I sew home-made and re-made clothes. Homemade is when I pull fabric from the stash, cut out a pattern and put something together, stitching and ripping as I go. Remade is when I find something cool from a thrift store, cut it up, alter it or make it into something else. My projects are about 50% home-made and 50% re-made.

This is where the magic happens people!

The last detail to share is that I spent many, many (many, many!) years working in education; both as a teacher and principal. So you can definitely expect to see some learning thrown into the writing. You just can’t wash off being a teacher in the shower. And everyone loves to learn. Right?

Ahhhhg! The timer went off. Date’s over. How did we do? Are you thinking you might want to try this again? If you do I promise it will be fun.

A little taste for our next blog.

That’s right, in the next blog we will actually talk about sewing!! You wondered if we would ever get there didn’t you? I have a make and a remake that I am working on. It will be a two-for-one special. See you soon. And remember, “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”

A cozy dress made with sweater knit from Marcy Tilton.

An oversized top from a thrift store. It’s made of burned out velvet and silk. I have already added some lace and am not sure what I will do next.