I am a self confessed bookworm. As a teen I remember hiding out under my doona late at night torch in hand devouring the latest teen thriller I could get my hands on from the school library. For the amount of books I consumed I should have been top of the class when it came to spelling….in reality though unless I had spell check I was lost. My year 7 English teacher actually suggested to my mum that she restrict the number of books I was reading as I was speed reading and skipping ahead instead of absorbing the words and learning to spell them. I always had a dream to become an author one day but I am yet to write my first book. With the big 4-0 fast approaching I thought now was as good a time as any to become an ‘author’ and kick it off with a blog. It was here that the idea of ‘Sew Arty Crafty’ was born.
Growing up my mum was a hobby sewer making many of my childhood outfits, I remember on numerous occasions her trying to teach me to sew various items, even enticing me with a couture barbie wardrobe that I could design myself. Reality was back then I just wasn’t interested and found any attempts at sewing too boring, time consuming and challenging.
My next encounter with sewing was when in home textiles at high school in which we had to cut and sew a blue apron with a pocket. I distinctly remember it today complete with the ‘straight’ hem that was reminiscent of a worm wiggling….definitely no A+ there!
I think it was around that point that teen me admitted to myself that sewing just wasn’t for me, I had far more interesting things in life like sports and books. Fast forward to my early 20s and my boyfriend at the time (an avid sailor) decided in his wisdom to buy me a sewing machine for Christmas one year so that I could repair his sails…..even novice me was pretty sure an industrial machine would be required for that! Not to be rude I graciously accepted the gift and spent the next weekend labouring over the first sewing project I had attempted in more than 10 years. Finally, after two days of what felt like constant sewing, unpicking, needles breaking and resewing my first project was complete! I had done it! I had turned two tea towels into a plastic bag holder!!! We all have to start somewhere…right?
It was at this point I was quick to remember why I had given up all those years ago and the gifted machine was quickly relegated to the rear of a cupboard. Then when the relationship ended I passed the machine onto a friend who could actually appreciate it.
Fast forward another 10 or so years and in my mid 30’s my partner and I were expecting our first child. As any first time mum in today’s society does, I was soon delving down the depths of facebook, instagram and pinterest checking out the latest in cute baby clothes when suddenly….BAM! It was like a switch suddenly flicked on and I decided that I (who could previously not even do a straight hem) was going to buy myself a sewing machine and make baby clothes for our impending arrival.
So off to Spotlight I marched knowing very little about machines and their features to buy myself a sewing machine. In the end the choice was fairly simple…given my (erm..cough…past love of sewing) I didn’t want a machine that was going to break the bank and it had to be pretty. Then out of the corner of my eyes (cue the choir with Hallelujah) it was like a ray of sunshine beaming onto a pile of machines with a big yellow and blue sign featuring my favourite words…..SALE and there we have it folks, love at first sight! My soon to be new weapon of choice was a white and pink Pfaff Smarter 160s marked (at the time) from $499 down to $150. SOLD!
A few quick raids of Spotlight’s remnant bin, some free bib and burp cloth patterns from google and I was off! It’s fair to say that my first few makes were more functional than pretty. However with each make I sought advice from the amazing online sewing community, watched plenty of youtube videos and continued to practice.
Perhaps one of my challenging, sentimental and proudest creations was back in 2017, less than 12 months after purchasing the machine. Our daughter was around 6 months old when we farewelled my beloved Gramps in a St Patrick’s Day Funeral. Being of proud Irish heritage we think he would have got a kick of being farewelled on St Patrick’s Day with the attendees wearing green to celebrate his life. In the leadup to the funeral I spent countless time shopping online and visiting an array of baby stores unable to find a single green dress. So out came the machine and armed with some fabric and the Tadah Seaside pattern I was off to make a dress…. the first ever piece of clothing I had attempted. Many mistakes and a heavily modified pattern later I finally finished sewing the dress and matching headband around 11pm the night prior to the funeral.
Somewhat surprised and definitely proud of the end result (see above) it was here that my love affair with sewing was born…..and sew it began.
Sew Arty Crafty 
Leave a comment