I'm an active member of an online sewing community. I've learned many many things there, but one of those is that people sew for many different reasons, and my own personal reasons are just as varied. I've always been crafty. . .I guess I can thank my mother for that. When I was young, she painted and cross-stitched, and did all kinds of crafty hobbies, including wood-burning. She endured and encouraged my craftiness, providing me with salt clay to sculpt with and scraps to hand-sew clothes for my Barbies. I even went through an origami phase, and she bought me a book and paper to fold and refold.
I think I was about 13 or 14 when I decided I wanted to make myself a wrap skirt. My mother dug out some fabric from the bottom of the hall closet and gave me a crash course on the sewing machine. I didn't have a pattern, so I measured myself and cut 3 rectangles of fabric, which I sewed together with 2 straight seams. Mama gently recommended that I should probably at least slightly curve the top of those side-seams to accomodate my hips and waist. . .well, yeah. She also gave me instructions on how to sew facings for the waistband of the skirt and found a hook and eye for me to use as a closure. When I was finished, I wore that skirt proudly, and I begged her to take me to the fabric store for a pattern and fabric.
That's where my love of sewing started. There were, of course, large stretches of time where I didn't sew, but every year or two, the bug would bite me again, and I would pull out my machine and some fabric and create something for myself. When my oldest daughter was a baby, I decided to make her Halloween costume, and I haven't stopped since.
My husband puts up with my hobby. . . which is no small feat since my house pays the price. I'm not the best housekeeper, and I like to sew in my free time, not clean. I also leave my sewing machines out on our dining room table at all times, and our china cabinet doubles as fabric storage!
I sew because I love it. I sew because I'm a very analytical person by nature, but I'm equally creative. My career satisfies the analytical part of me, which leaves my creativity screaming for an outlet. I sew because I crave the satisfaction of taking a piece of fabric and some thread and ending up with something beautiful. I sew because I don't like that many of the ready-to-wear (RTW) clothes for little girls are more provocative than they are cute and age-appropriate. I sew because I can.
Why do you sew?
I love learning why people like to sew so it was neat to read your post! I like to sew because it satisfies my need to create and it's always fun when that vision you have in your mind becomes a tangible piece of clothing. Plus it's great to be able to sew clothes that really fit...in my case, especially for the kids.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cindy! I don't know how old your kids are, but my oldest really likes it when I let her design a dress or an outfit that she wants. She draws a picture, and then we look through my fabric, so she can choose the one that brings her "vision to life" :)
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