Sewing
My brother gave me a sewing machine because he couldn’t bring himself to buy two $80 buckwheat pillows from our gift registry. His solution was to buy one big pillow and have me turn it into two. I loved the pillow as it was. The sewing machine collected dust for five years.
When we moved across the country, my wife and I got rid of most of the cheap, secondhand things we’d accumulated. I brought the sewing machine and decided to make curtains from Ikea fabric. I didn’t know how to thread it. I completely destroyed the tops of the curtains.
From a distance, they looked fine. That was enough encouragement.
Since then, I’ve made clothes for myself, my wife, and our daughter, along with bags, hats, and things for the house. An old fleece blanket became a dragon cape. Fabric meant for curtains ended up on an ottoman.
One of my daughter’s birthday dresses took four nights. I stretched the lining, made the opening too small, and embroidered the hem before checking the fit again. Eventually, I got it right. While fixing it, I was already thinking about what to make next: rainbow skirts, frilly overalls, a princess dress with a mechanic’s name tag.
It brings me great joy to make something useful, choose how it looks, and try an idea I haven’t found in a store. Below are some of the things I’ve made, with the experiments and mistakes along the way.
