Let's Get Stitchin'

This summer, I rekindled my passion for crafting. After five and a half years and a Bachelor's degree and twenty-one Grad credits later, I have finally picked up my crocheting and knitting needles once again. Not to say that I have not touched them at all in the past five and a half years; however, this time I picked them up in earnest, determined to stretch my skills and learn new stitches. Just a few week's ago, I used double pointed knitting needles for the first time and made a super cute hat. I also learned how to do a cable stitch.....something I had not dared to attempt in the past, and I must say, cable stitching is much less daunting than it sounds. :)

With this renewed love and interest in creating, I felt the pull to learn how to sew....to really do it, not just want to! Up until this summer, my dealings with a needle and thread  have consisted of a little sewing box with needles, threads, and a thimble that my parents gave me when I was around ten and sewing a few buttons and pieces of scrap material by hand to make my barbies some "outfits". In June on my book reviewing blog Across the Pages, I mentioned that I was reading Sewing Basics: All You Need to Know About Machine and Hand Sewing by Sandra Bardwell. This was the start of it all. I religiously poured over the first few chapters of this book, but not having a sewing machine made it a bit difficult for me to put to practice what I was reading. And I am one of those individuals who learns best reading and doing simultaneously. Well this last week, last Saturday to be exact, my mom let me take her old Singer sewing machine home. I have gone sewing crazy since. It started with a simple little pillow case and went to my first attempt to make my almost two-year-old niece an Ariel dress for her second birthday. (She is Ariel's biggest fan!) In between these projects, I made two trips to Jo-Ann's to add to my slowly growing sewing supply (try saying that fast three times!). During one of my trips, I bought another book on sewing called The Complete Guide to Sewing. I love this book for many reasons, including the large pictures that accompany the instructions and the index at the back of the book that makes it easy to quickly find instructions for a specific stitch. Yesterday, the book successfully got me through my first attempt at sewing gathers. I felt very accomplished. :)

Anyways, I will get to the point of this blog. I decided a few days ago that I wanted a place where I could journal about my adventures of learning to sew, which led me to blogging. Though at first this blog will mainly be a series of posts on my sewing discoveries, I eventually want this to be a blog where I can share the different projects I am working on, whether they involve sewing, crocheting, or knitting. I titled this blog "In Stitches and Stitches" for two reasons. First, I sometimes feel over my head with all the stitches there are to learn, whether one is sewing, crocheting, or knitting. Second, I felt it was a fun play on words, because with all this stitching I am bound to break out in stitches and stitches of laughter. So you are welcome to join me "In Stitches and Stitches" of laughter as I create and sometimes have to recreate with stitches of all kinds! :)