Preamble
In another dimension, I learned to sew at 10, designed and made everything I wore, and never lost interest in colors, fabrics, clothes, and looking nice.
In this one, I kept buying sewing supplies and promising myself I’d learn how to use them. And not finding the time, because I was a workaholic who was at the office from dawn till midnight.
That’s not precisely healthy.
Of course I got sick. Horribly. Had to leave my job and move across the ocean, where luckily I have a loving family to take care of me.
Then – very recently – I regained enough health to sit up and walk about, but not enough to go back to work. Basically I’m retired (except for not getting a pension. But that’s okay. My parents kindly feed me, and I have very few other expenses. I’m just a tad more expensive to keep than a house plant.)
Seriously, family is the best. My mother and aunt have showed me how to use a sewing machine, and Mom let me have her spare one.
All my supplies, not to mention a houseful of clothes I’d like to alter/refashion (and also wear) are still across the ocean. Who cares? I have a sewing machine, scissors, a bit of thread, and a bag of “junk leftover fabric” my aunt donated, and told me I could ruin as I liked. Not to mention all the tutorials on the Internet. 40 years later than my alternate-dimension self, I shall learn to sew!
Where to start?
I have a teeny house here, and it feels very disorganized. Really missing all my beautiful baskets, closet organizers, drawer dividers…
That’s it of course.
In a magazine decades ago, I saw someone make nice-looking DIY drawer dividers by stapling fabric to cardboard. If I instead sew sleeves for the cardboard, it will give me a chance to learn how to sew a straight seam – or start to.
Process
(1) Cut up a likely box to get cardboard. All I want is to section a wide drawer, and I mean to keep the cardboard in place by folding either end in opposite directions, and leaning those folds against the front and back of the drawer. This long and narrow box seemed ideal:
(2) Measure and cut the fabric, then make the sleeves by (a) folding the fabric in half, wrong side out (b) sewing two edges (c) turning the sleeve right-side out, inserting the cardboard, then stitching the last edge closed.
(3) Fold the dividers and place in the drawer. Then repeat the process with other bits of cardboard, other fabric scraps, and other drawers. Viola, a much neater dresser!
(4 – Bonus) If you’re fascinated by the process of sewing things and then turning them right-side out through narrow openings you leave, you can make some ribbons and bows with the last bits of left-over fabric. Zero waste AND prettier pony tails to lounge around in.
Postscript
Took longer than simply stapling the fabric to the cardboard; but it’s nice that I’ll be able to remove the sleeves and toss them in the washer when I want to.
Lesson learned: Slippery fabric sucks. It dances about as you try to measure/cut/pin/baste/sew. It throws itself under the table and thumbs its nose at you. Not going there again for a WHILE. I just wanted to use this up, because I loathe yellow AND large floral prints, so it’s good to stick this specimen inside drawers – or behind my head.
Gained Proficiencies: Not much. Can’t really sew a straight seam yet, but no one will see these, so it was a fantastic starting project.
Except… I keep wanting to send the pictures to people and say, “Hey! I made a thing!”
Hence the blog. To spare my poor friends.
If you read it, you only have yourself to blame. 🙂
Bigger Years 