Brain Exercises

I have been saying for a few weeks now, here and there, that I have some sewing projects that need working on. My friend Lindsey is coming over on Thursday for a sewing day, and I took today to get some of the prep work done to be ready for the big day. OH MY STARS!! This is soooo harder then it looks, people!!

The book we are using is a Japanese pattern book that Lindsey found called "Girly Style Wardrobe". Apart from the patterns being labeled by letter (ex skirt 'c' or shirt 'b') there isn't a lick of English to it. I have always been good with patterns, I rarely read the instructions anyway when I sew. I have always been that way. It just makes sense to my brain which way things go and come together. But man oh man did my brain need to form new synapses to get these patterns figured out!!

All the patterns, for the entire book, are on one giant sheet of paper! All sizes, all shapes, overlap, intersect and are multi parted (meaning a section of one shirt is also the section of another shirt). I had to take pattern paper, find the piece of the pattern I needed and trace it, then cut it out of the pattern paper. Sounds easy enough, but it you scroll down on the link I shared up there and actually look at the sample of the pattern, you'll see why I had so much trouble. One pattern took me 45 mins to figure out... it was three pieces.

I spent a total of 2 hours tracing three patterns, 1 skirt and 2 shirts. I think it will be well worth it. I am proud to say, I didn't give up!! How could I? If you knew just how much I have invested in this little project, you would think I was nuts!! Between buying the book, the fabric, thread, pattern paper, and notions... Lauren is going to be wearing some of the priciest hand made clothes any preschooler has ever seen. My stars... but then sewing is a long term investment, I think. The more I make with all that fabric I bought, the lower the cost per item goes, right , lol. Oh well, that isn't really the point is it? I am going to have a wonderful day with my friend on Thursday, spending time with her and our daughters... and Lauren is going to have things no one else has, made just for her by her Momma.