Sewing for Me

Last fall I started to get an itch to sew clothes again. I hadn't done much fashion sewing at all in many years. Actually, I hadn't done that at all since moving to the Twin Cities, and it was especially painful to consider for a while because it reminded me so much of my mother, who passed away in October of 2003.

But now that time has smoothed a bit of the edge off the pain of losing one so dear, I'm finding it very sweet to honor her memory by sewing clothes for myself again.

Last fall, I sewed two peasant-style blouses and a simple six-gored skirt with an elastic waist. I also started the purple dress that you see here, but I didn't finish it until Easter this year. I was going to wear it to a wedding last fall, but I ended up wearing it to a wedding this spring. And now I'm thinking of more clothes for spring and summer.

The pink blouse on this post is what I finished two weekends ago. It's similar to the peasant blouses that I made last fall, except for the ruffle on the sleeves. It looks rather sloppy on the hanger, but I received three compliments the first day I wore it to the office. I plan to make another blouse like this soon, perhaps with flutter-style sleeves. I'll use this pattern for the body of the blouse and another for the sleeve variation.

I'm also considering another dress. The purple one above looks really nice on me, but the princess lines were challenging. Without my mother's help to handle the fine details of fitting princess lines, I'm finding that I really should make myself a dress form. My husband's willing to help me, and I know that it would be handy to have. I just need to find a good weekend to do it. In the meantime, I'm dreaming of making a dress with a sweetheart-style neckline in a lighter fabric to wear for the summer.

Sewing for myself is really satisfying. Not only can I make clothes to fit my unique preferences, but it's also creative and practical. And so much of what I see in the stores these days is far from what I'd consider modest. A plunging neckline only seems appropriate in the privacy of our home.