I made a skirt (yes, really!)

The major item on my Christmas wishlist last year was a new sewing machine.  Jeremy took heed of my not-so-subtle hints and procured a sewing machine for me.  (Actually, I just realized that I got everything on that wishlist, except for the Veronica Mars DVDs...awesome!)

As soon as the dust settled from our Christmas morning celebrations, I pulled my new sewing machine out of the box and sat down with the manual to learn how to get started.  Much to my surprise, it went pretty smoothly.  By the end of the weekend, I was trying out different stitches on scrap pieces of fabric, practicing sewing straight lines and curves.

My sister and I worked on these headbands/bracelets, and I made a few other "scrap bracelets" for the girls.  Laura (who took a sewing class many years ago, at maybe 13 or so?  She has always been more 'domestic' than me) told me to sew something together, promising it would make me feel very accomplished, and she was right.  I had have a long way to go, but I was proud of myself for even learning how to thread the machine!

I haven't had a whole lot of time to devote to sewing in the weeks since Christmas, but I do pull it out occasionally when I have a free hour or two.  I have pinned lots of ideas to my Learn to Sew board, but so much of it is either way out of my league or would require time I just don't have right now.

When the girls decided they want a Wizard of Oz-themed birthday party, I began to consider the idea of making them blue gingham skirts and matching "3" t-shirts.  I set off looking for a simple skirt pattern.  I quickly found this one, via Pinterest of course, and marked it as something I might be able to accomplish.  Though the girls have now set me straight on the fact that Dorothy wears a DRESS, not a SKIRT, I kept the idea in mind.

Saturday night I pulled out some fabric and pulled up the tutorial on my computer.  I guessed at the measurements, and went a little shorter in length in order to use the fabric I had on hand, but within two hours, I had produced...

an honest-to-goodness, fairly decent-looking skirt!

I knew Mackenzie would love it--she loves purple--and I was right.  She couldn't wait to try it on.   To my (and Jeremy's) amazement, it fit!  Mackenzie was carried away with her new skirt, and wore it over her pajamas all afternoon.  (We all usually change back into pajamas after church on Sunday...it's my favorite afternoon of the week.)

Naturally, I couldn't wait to try again, so I let Addison pick out fabric for her skirt on Sunday night.  I made this one a little longer and a little fuller, and I am happy to report that it took much less time...maybe an hour total.  

My Mackenzie is a little obsessed with skirts and dresses, or "ballerinas", as she calls them.  When she saw that the second skirt was fuller and slightly more poufy (like a ballerina's should be, I guess), she quickly negotiated a trade with Addison to take over the second skirt.  Luckily, Addison is pretty easygoing sometimes, and agreed without argument.

I don't have a good picture of the second one, but Mackenzie is wearing it while trying out a couch at Costco on Monday:

And Addison was perfectly happy with the purple one (and my Diet Coke):

Naturally, my first attempts are far from perfect, but I'm still ridiculously proud.  I MADE something! Stay tuned--it could get all kinds of crafty up in here...