Why Sew Serious?

NOTE: I created this blog for a couple reasons, but one of them was because I wanted to include cool sewing puns (actually, just the same one over and over again) in the titles of all my posts. This time the title doesn't really relate (I won't be linking sewing to The Dark Knight, sorry.) But this does have to do with sewing...

I'm a terrible shopper. Shopping makes me bored, and when I'm bored, I go into youngest-child-hypermode. Just ask my family--less than a week ago I was pretending to be the hamburglar, stealing all the tennis balls so they would stop playing a very boring, long game of tennis. Robble robble.

Because I don't like shopping, I've never taken the time to figure out how to dress very well. It's not like I thought I was so cool that how I dressed didn't matter, cuz I kinda cared--just not enough to be a really intense shopper. So it was really nice when I learned how to sew because then I could dress how I wanted to by just making things for myself. And that's what I've started doing. It became really fun. Every project, I would try for something a little more ambitious. It started with a sun dress for the summer, then another dress for a dance and a wedding. After a while, I ran out of occasions and seasons that demanded new clothing. But whatever, I sewed myself clothes anyway because I thought they would be fun to wear. Here were some of my goals:

1. Make all my own wardrobe (or at least the tops) so I wouldn't be dressed in the same brand names and colors as everyone else.
2. Make my senior prom dress... and save a lot of bank in the process.
3. Never shop again (or keep it to a minimal, and just make everything I want to wear.)
   
4. Create a cool blog where I can post all my sewing creations. (Hey...)
   

Now as you've probably noticed, I've been writing in the past tense... like things are different now. And, well, that's what I'm hoping it will be. I, like my cousin Nate, have read The Irresistible Revolution and I want to figure out how to be a different kind of seamstress. I can admit, my endeavors in sewing, though few and extremely basic, have always been pretty selfish. I mean, yeah, I saved money and I don't really shop a lot, but I don't shop just cuz it bores me, and I spend the money I saved on myself in other ways. (I think I spend it on going out to King of Thai almost every Tuesday these past few months, which is totally unnecessary but I just do it cuz I get bored of bread and hummus for lunch. Plus, everyone else in the Social Studies office is doing it, and I don't wanna be lame or not spirited on King of Thai Tuesdays.) I haven't really tried to learn how to read patterns or sew correctly because I always just assumed I'll only ever make clothes for myself. In all the hours I've spent sewing, I've never even tried to sew clothes for other people. So here are some of the goals of the seamstress I'm hoping to become:

1. Learn how to sew for other people. (So far, I can only make clothes for myself cuz I just hold up the fabric to my body to know how much to cut and keep trying it on over and over again. It's the most inefficient, sloppy way of sewing ever, and I will settle for it no longer!)
   
2. Make clothes for people who need some (I can think of two girls already!! Know others?!)
   
3. Use the money I save less selfishly (and foolishly...) Still gotta think about what I will do with the money, though.
   
4. Make less clothing for myself. I don't really need it. Sewing clothes takes me a long time and I don't want to spend all my time working on articles of clothing for myself just because they make me feel a little cooler.

So, (or should I say, "sew,") this is exciting. Stay tuned for what else is going on, and leave comments! You have NO idea how much I look forward to comments, or how pathetic I sound when I complain to Sarah about my lack of comments.