The Story of Alice

It was one of the last garage sale's we stopped at this memorial day weekend. By the time we had arrived they had already started marking the item's they didn't want to haul back inside as free. The kids picked out a few movies and stuffed animal's and I grabbed a few bed sheets to use as fabric.

The distracted lady who was holding the sale offhandedly mentioned that they had more item's for sale inside the garage.

There you were in the back corner of the garage, camouflaged behind a sea of nick-knacks and cloaked in dust. My heart skipped a beat for a second. What an odd looking dress form you were. Some sort of wire cage with a pin-able form on top. You had large gaps between your sections and what looked like an on/off water valve on your top. I had to have you. 

My finger grievously counted the remaining four dollars in my pocket, and it seemed that all hope was lost. I turned to my sister and said, "I wish I could afford that."

My sister, who is still young enough to be optimistic about most things, but old enough to carry a debit card asked the sales lady how much it would cost us to take you home. "I don't know, the sales lady responded, how much will you give me for it."

I've never been a good negotiator, Alice. I must apologize, because I thought I had lost you for a moment when I stupidly blurted out. "I don't think I can afford it."

Thank God my optimistic sister was there to save the day, with her quick response and cash on hand. "I'll give you $20."

The sales lady paused for a moment. She was thinking about it. She didn't know much about sewing, or dress forms, but I could tell she wanted to free up the space in her garage. "Sounds good." She responded.

And then I started breathing again. I hadn't realized I was holding my breath, but it's a good thing she responded when she did, or else I might have passed out.

I took you home with me, and had to wait a full night and half of the next day before I could find the time to really get to know you. I found over a dozen wing nuts on your inner cage that made you more adjustable than any modern dress form. You also have a large key like mechanism that lets me adjust your height up and down. You can even become a table top form. You have bones of cast iron and solid wood. No wonder your still in great shape at your age.

And then I turned to Google, to learn as much about your past as I could. I learned that you are most likely a tailors form from the 1940's, and that you are a bit hard to find these days. A lot of people are looking for you as decor pieces, and they would pay well over $20 to have you. But you don't have to worry about any of that Alice. You're not going anywhere. You're home now, and I will not let you become some boring old decor piece. We have work to do. We are going to make beautiful things together.

My Lost Sewing Groove

Does anybody else stop at the lost and found after every school concert you attend? I do, and almost always collect some sort of treasure. Usually a glove or hat to complete a matching set. You know the one that mysteriously disappeared even though nobody will admit to actually loosing it.

The same thing happens with my sewing groove. I don't remember misplacing it, but somehow it's just not there anymore. Maybe I should check the lost and found.

The Steps I Take to Find my Groove

1. Give yourself permission to take a break

Usually when I loose my groove I stop sewing for a little while, but I feel guilty about it. There is no reason for that. Sewing is my hobby, not my job. I don't owe it to anybody to sit down and sew every day.

According to ProBlogger, creative minds crave rest. So take a break and let your mind rest. Whether you need a day a week or a month is up to you and nobody else.

2. Read all about it, but not to much

If you are a sewing blogger, you most likely have an email inbox or RSS feed that is overflowing with blog posts to read and comment on. I am sure that they are 100% worth the effort, but they can wait. At the moment you are on a sewing vacation, so pick out a list of  your top 5 blogs to read daily. The ones that you look forward to the most. These are your pleasure reading blogs. For me they are:

Coletterie - It's like hanging out with a sewing mentor
Sews and Bows - She shares my love of sewing doll clothes and incredibly friendly
Melly Sews - Tons of inspiration and tutorials
Simple Simon and Co - Great to read, excellent writing style. It's like having a laid back conversation with a friend about sewing, and mothering, and life in general.
Karen Mom of Three Craft Blog - More doll clothes and crafts. All things doll related

3. Clear away the clutter

There is nothing I hate more than cleaning my house. I can't think of anything worse. But it is a proven fact that a creative mind can't function as well in a cluttered environment. Spend a day decluttering your creative space. Even a small improvement in clutter can give you a big boost in creativity.

4. Find the perfect jump start project

Your criteria for a perfect jump start project will most likely be different than mine, but there are a few things that will work well for most people.

• Fun and not to frustrating
• Include a new skill (new experiences cause the brain to create dopamine) 
• Something that you want to make and not something that you were asked to make
• Can be completed in less than a day and provide instant gratification

A few more criteria that are specific to me

• No fitting required
• Includes hand sewing
• Small enough to fit in a bag and take with me

This time I chose to make a travel sewing kit from Sew for Home. I just loved how well it fit with all of my criteria, and it was something just for me, so I didn't worry about imperfections. In fact I think imperfections add character to this project. 

How do you find your sewing groove when it gets lost?

Tough Choices

Browsing Etsy is a perilous hobby. I could easily spend a month's worth of income and still wouldn't be able to order everything I want. The latest risk to my financial stability comes in the form of window shopping indie patterns. I could fill a book with my wishlist. With a significant amount of effort and only a tiny bit of pouting, I've managed to narrow it down to just two shops for now, but I still can't choose which patterns to try from those shops.

What do you say? Could you help a girl out? All you have to do is choose your favorite pattern from each of the poles below. Then I'll do the rest.

First up is the Handmaiden's Cottage

I need the petticoat dress pattern. I am planning to make Bella's birthday dress with it. But there are two options to buy to get a little something extra with it. I could get the dolly and me version and make a matching doll dress, or I could go with the Petticoat and Pinafore and make her birthday dress a little more special. Which one would you choose?

Handmaiden's Cottage
	Petticoat and Pinafore
	Girl and Doll Petticoat
pollcode.com free polls

Genniewren specializes in doll clothes patterns and has a fun whimsical feel to all of there items. I want everything from this store, but for now I'll settle for the top choice (or maybe top two choices)

Genniewren
	Dora Girl and Doll Dress
	Sorrell Dropped Waist Dress
	Carla Coat
	Knit Basics
	Rosie Romper
pollcode.com free polls

In order of appearance: Dora Girl and Doll Dress, Sorrell Dropped Waist Dress, Carla Coat, Knit Basics, Rosie Romper

Please help me decide. It's just to many choices. Thanks a lot. I'll check the results of the poll at the end of the month and show you what I made from the patterns soon after!

Signature Style : Casual Romance

Bella's style, and my favorite style to sew is romantic. But of course, flowing dresses and skirts alone, only make up a small portion of her wardrobe. The rest of the time we have to put a more casual spin on things.

I also managed to check floral shorts and a ruffle front tank top off of Bella's Spring/Summer 2014 sewing list list. 

I used Greenstyle's Baily Tunic pattern for the top. The pattern includes a bib, but I decided not to use it. I also changed the ruffle up a bit and took in the armholes which were a bit droopy. The fabric is Vivacious Pink Solid Cotton Spandex fabric from Girl Charlee. It was my first time ordering from there and I was ecstatic with the results. The shipping was fast and quality was extraordinary. Customer service was incredible as well. I will definitely be ordering from them again.

The shorts were made from a stretch woven fabric in my stash. It was gifted to me a while ago with a few other stretch wovens and some quilting cottons. I used Oliver + S's sketchbook shorts pattern, shortened by about 4 inches. I used a flat front and elastic in the back with a faux fly.

My favorite part is this little bird by the pocket.

I'm always a little sad to see Signature Style Week on Project Run and Play because it means another season is at an end. I can't wait for next season to start, but in the meantime I'll be getting ready for Project Sewn.

Totes for Ta-tas

I was feeling kind of crappy this weekend. My old pain decided to flair up on me. I really wanted to finish sewing my a top for Project Run and Play, but the tracing and cutting was to much to take on. Instead I focused on a project that was already cut, and had been sitting in a pile waiting to be sewed.

MJ of  MJ's Lost Cause has set a goal of collecting 100 handmade tote bags by Mother's Day. She has asked for embellishments to be added as well, but in my current state I was only able to embellish one of my five bags. I plan to add a pretty pin to the other four before shipping them out. I also dug deep into my fabric stash to find the best stuff that I had been holding onto for something special.

Two of the Bags are reversible

 Reverse Side of Hearts Bag

Reverse Side of Pink Zebra Bag

It's very rare that my family agrees on anything, but we did make a unanimous decision that floral bag was our favorite.

If you happen to have some free time (the bags take less than an hour each to make) and some spare fabric you can make a couple yourself. For every five bags you make you can pick one free pattern from  Sew Like My Mom. You also get the chance to make someone who is feeling crappy (like me) feel a little bit happier. The bags are needed by Mother's Day (including shipping time to Texas) so you have a few weeks left. I could barely walk across the house this weekend, but managed to get five bags sewn. It really is an easy project.

If you are looking to do some other crafty good deeds check out my Pinterest board. I try to update it every time I see something new. If you know of any charitable crafting projects let me know in the comments section and I'll add them to the board.