Sewing My Fingers Together

It was about a month ago when I made my first glorious venture into the Christmas section at Wal-Mart. I saw the Christmas stockings and realized that Joe would need one. Then I got the crazy idea of making it myself. Wouldn't it mean more to him to have a one of a kind stocking his mama made with TLC rather than a mass-produced stocking that was probably made by some bleeding-fingered child in China? I could use my childhood stocking that my Aunt Betty made me as a pattern. How hard could it be?

Then I imagined the possibilities of having a sewing machine. We can't afford to buy curtains for our whole house, but if I knew how to sew I could make my own! I imagined my future daughter all decked out in pretty little dresses I make for her. I could hem my slacks and jeans! (As a short person, hemmed pant lines are a must, but since I can't afford to have all my pants hemmed they drag on the ground. I probably look like a hoodlum.) I could fix my husband's clothes!

I could also learn how to make home-made gifts. I know some people cringe when they hear they are getting something home-made, but I love these types of gifts! They can become treasured family heirlooms. Think about it- most baby blankets or quilts that are passed down from generation to generation aren't from Target or Babies R Us. They are usually handmade. This is probably my Pollyanna view of the world peeking out, but wouldn't you rather snuggle up in an afghan made with love by your aunt or grandma?

The problem with making Joe's Christmas stocking was that I have never touched a sewing machine in my life. However, I was determined to teach myself how to sew with one. Long ago I taught myself how to crudely hand-sew when I figured out how pillows were put together.

I love doing crafty things, but due to frustrations and procrastination a hobby never develops. I tried to teach myself how to knit with one of those "Teach Yourself" books and that turned out to be a horrible yarn-y mess. I tried to teach myself how to crochet with yet another do-it-yourself-guide. That went a little better. Thanks to YouTube I finally figured out the weird diagrams in the book and got off to a somewhat good start. I can make a nice little square, but then I lose tracking of counting stitches and it ends up lopsided. I've gotten those tiny little cross-stitching kits and can usually finish one of those... unless the thread gets tangled or I screw up a row and end up throwing the darn thing across the room.

I have dreams. I want to be crafty. I want to make beautiful things and sell them on Etsy and make money from home. I want to be that woman that everyone wants to invite to their baby shower because they know they will get a beautiful handmade quilt from me. I want to be able to make super awesome Halloween costumes for my kids that are much cooler than the store bought ones. I want to make rosaries for my family to use in their devotions. I want to make purses to give out to cancer patients. Am I sounding a bit over-ambitious yet?

My mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I said, "Well I kind of want a sewing machine." Why "kind of"? Well I figured if I actually got one it would just sit there gathering dust next to my exercise ball. I have dreams, but I figured they would never come to fruition. Besides, I had looked up how much sewing machines were, and I couldn't justify someone or myself spending $150 on a machine that would become a place to dry noodles on or something.

Black Friday rolled around and my mom pointed out that there was a sewing machine on sale for a reasonable amount at Wal-Mart. We drove 33 miles to Wal-Mart and I was worried that since it was in the middle of the afternoon that all the sewing machines would have been bought out or that they weren't on sale anymore. Well I guess not everyone wants to be as ambitious as me- there was a whole crap-load of them on shelf, still on sale. We bought one and picked up some fabric.

I took the sewing machine to my house and opened it up. I opened the instruction manual and right away was overwhelmed. What do I do when I am confused and overwhelmed? Call my mom. "What the hell is a bobbin for and why do you have to put thread in the bottom compartment thingy?" She explained as best she could over the phone and I hung up a little less confused.

I sat there examining the different parts. There was tape and cardboard underneath the presser foot (yeah I didn't know it was called that until later... at this point I called it the metal thingy.) I needed to lift this up to take out the cardboard packaging. I looked at the manual and couldn't figure out which one was the lever to lift it up. 15 minutes later (I'm not kidding) I finally figured out that I knew where it was, I was just using it wrong. This was going to be a looooooooooong process.

The sewing machine sat there for a few days. It was on a desk right next to the doorway to the kitchen and every time I walked past it I could sense it was mocking me. "Haha, why don't you give me a try? You won't sew your fingers together...or will you? MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Thank the Lord in Heaven the sewing machine came with an instructional DVD. I popped it in and saw how they threaded the machine and all that good stuff. It looked so easy. I could make a bobbin! Setting the thread underneath? Didn't look hard at all!

Psshh.... yeah, right.

I made a bobbin with no problems. I threaded the upper and lower threads with relatively no problems. But bringing up the lower thread was a hassle. As I tried over and over again and kept running to my TV that was paused on the section on how to raise the lower thread I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be an epic fail. Was sewing going to be like training to be a ballerina or Olympic gymnast- you have to start young, you can't start when you're 26 years old to be successful. Was it too late for me to get a handle on this?

FINALLY I got the lower thread up. What I did differently this time, I had no idea. So the machine was all threaded and ready to go. I got an old pillow case to practice on. I started sewing and realized I didn't have the presser foot down. D'OH!

I practiced for awhile. I was nervous to start on Joe's stocking. Then my dear sweet trusting husband decided to let me fix one of his shirts. As you can see in the picture, it didn't go very well. But I say it adds character, and half of the shirts you find in stores have funky stitching. It's the style!

Finally I went for it. I put my mental soundtrack on of the theme song from Rocky to pump myself up. It was time to sew Joe's stocking.

Long story short (and I do mean long!): I did it!

It's not perfect, but that's OK! It resembles a stocking plus I didn't sew my fingers together! That's a success in my book!

Below is my stocking that I used as a pattern.

Next up is sewing a stocking for Ryan. After that- the possibilities are endless! (Right? Just humor me, people!)