I am the
type of person who always has tons of projects going on at once. I blame my mom for this but
at the same time I secretly like it. For
one thing, I am never bored. Most of my projects are in neat piles in my craft
room lined up on this extra table I bought to have room to actually do my
projects on but that is another story. I even had my husband put up a wipe
board for me so that I can list all my projects and easily see what I want to
get done in order for me to use spare moments as I have them.
Typically, I
get to most of my projects even though it might take a while. For instance, I
got really excited last spring when I saw this pattern at JoAnn’s for an “easy”
pillowcase dress. I picked out really cute fabric and thought I could get it
done before the baby was to born last summer. Yeah right. A year later I am still staring at the fabric
and the pattern. A few weeks ago, I decided that the time was right to finally make
it. I got everything out and began reading and the farthest I got was to cut
out the actual pattern. I need to mention that I have difficulty spatially. I hated
Geometry in school. I love the actually process of sewing, but patterns confuse
the heck out of me. The irony here is that I inherited all of my mom’s sewing paraphernalia
so if you were to walk into my craft space you would think that I am a seamstress
and really knew what I was doing. I never even took Home Ec. as my middle
school pushed academics over electives and students were encouraged to take an
extra social studies or a foreign language instead. I did finally take a sewing
class as an adult, but it was years ago and sadly, I am one of those people who
easily forgets skills if I’m not using them.
I think part
of the problem was I was actually scared to start, to make a mistake. I just
couldn’t begin. I came up with a way out though, or so I thought. I have a
friend who goes to my Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group, Olivia, who
sews and actually used to sew as a side business. She made my nursing cover up
and I loved it. I would tell new moms about
her all the time and brag on what great cover ups she made. I sent her an email
asking her how much she would charge to make my dress that way I could get it
off of my crafting “to-do” list once and for all. She quickly responded that
she wanted to make one for her daughter too but had been too busy to make one. She asked me if I wanted to come over for a “sewing
playdate”. I have to admit I was really
skeptical that this would work. I could just envision all of our kids going
nuts and my baby crawling around and getting into her things and destroying her
house like she does mine. Not to mention the fact that I am one of those nerdy
people who needs quiet to concentrate and you put four kids together and quiet
just doesn’t happen unless they are getting into something and don’t want you
to know about it and then things get really bad. But I was desperate to get
this dress made. So I took a risk and said yes.
We got together
a few days later and the whole experience was amazing from start to finish. First
of all Olivia’s house just oozes this great vibe of creativity and a “go with
the flow” attitude. It just felt good to
be there. It instantly made me wonder if my home feels as welcoming and
inviting to others. Then the kids simply got along really well. There was
little fighting and they never got crazy together which is just short of
amazing. They remembered each other from being at MOPS together which did help
of course. Even Lillian my baby did well despite being in a strange environment
not completely “baby proofed”. So we
started our sewing adventure around 10am and by 2pm I had a completed dress. Olivia was the best teacher and between the
two of us, we were able to help out the kids when they needed things. No one
argued or got mad the entire time which amazing for that amount of time and the
fact that we were all pushing things way past nap time.
So,
sometimes it is worth taking a risk especially when it comes to women helping
other women. I was able to get a dress made, develop a friendship, and help my
children develop their own special friendships. It was all so worth it. The
funny thing is Riley was so excited that I was making this dress for her and
has she worn it even once yet? A big, fat no. But I outsmarted her. I made the
dress a size bigger so she can still wear it next year and then after that
Lillian can wear it too. Mommy’s are good like that.
