SEW I Can... and SEW Can You!

My basket of sewing essentials...

My journey started during a trip to BC visiting friends in September 2012. The female half of our host couple showed me a beautiful tote bag that she had made in a sewing class. I was simply amazed. Because until that moment, it had never occurred to me that people "sewed" anything other than clothing, blankets and quilts. Where had I been?

For the whole next week, I couldn't get the image of that tote bag out of my mind, along with the thought that, "I used to sew. Why can't I do something like that?"

I watched my mother sew clothes (for herself, for me, for my cousins, even for my Barbie dolls) for the longest time. During my high school years, I took what were then called "Home Economics" courses (apparently they may still be called Home Ec, surprisingly enough), and became quite a skilled little sewer myself. The experience culminated in my sewing my own graduation gown... yes, this was back in the day when grads were less like weddings. I recall completing a couple of projects on my Sears Kenmore sewing machine even during my university days.

And then, nothing. I left my sewing machine behind with my mom when I moved out of the family home. I think I borrowed it a couple of times to do the odd hem, but otherwise, nothing. I fell out of sewing like one falls out of love.

That is, until I came back from vacation in late September of 2012 with the overwhelming thought that, if I could once follow a pattern to sew an advanced piece of clothing like a denim jumpsuit, then why not a tote bag?

Why not, indeed? This blog is the evolution of that thought...