Learning to sew!

It's Friday!  That wonderful day when work is furthest away, and the weekend stretches in front of you like it's never going to end (but of course it will).  I have big plans for this weekend, and they involve...learning to sew.

I've sewn a few things before...an apron when I was 9, a dress for my little sister Christina when I was 10, a baby quilt for a doll when I was 11.  But I've never actually learned how to sew.  This is about 80% my fault (for being impatient and not wanting to learn), and 20% the fault of my mother, an excellent sewer and quilter herself, who is also impatient and who generally finishes a sewing lesson with me by saying "Here, it's faster if I just do it for you."

But this time, I'm determined to learn (I really want to be able to sew my own dresses, instead of relying on the stores to produce adequate ones in my size for me), and I'm going to my parents' house today to make use of my mother's sewing machine and her wealth of knowledge.

(She has promised, this time, not to simply take over and sew it for me.  But we shall see how well she sticks to her promise :))

And what am I sewing?  McCall's Pattern #5094, shown at right.  The one I'm planning on making is going to be only slightly modified: I'm not planning on adding the contrasting ribbon., although who knows; I may change my mind.  With any luck, I'll have this dress made by September 29th, before David and I leave for his cousin's wedding in Massachusetts.  I told my mom I have no problem with coming over quite frequently in the next week or so, to work on it.  I just want it to be done in time. 

I picked out a really beautiful dusty pink fabric at the store, which I almost passed over, until I realized that it was patterned with Tudor roses.  Lovers of English history or historical fiction (or Philippa Gregory) will know immediately what I am talking about, but for those of you playing the home game, a Tudor rose was an emblem created by Henry Tudor  (Henry VII) after he won the Wars of the Roses between the English ruling houses of Lancaster (the red rose) and York (the white rose).  Taking both emblems as his, Henry VII created the "Tudor rose" -- a symbol of both families as rulers of England -- by putting the white rose inside the red. (See left)

 

Of course, because my fabric is a dusty pink color, the roses are done in pink and white, but I noticed just the same, and decided that, my love for English history being what it is, this was the fabric I had to choose.  

Real pictures of the progress forthcoming.  Hopefully I won't mess up too much and I will have a real dress to post pictures of within the next two weeks!

Happy Friday, and I hope you have a great weekend!  Enjoy the fall weather.  I know I will.