Projects (July/August 2010)

Besides making freezer jam with my mom, I also learned a little more about sewing! She brought my grandmother's sewing machine with her when they came in July and helped me with some projects.

#1 Making my first-ever skirt with my own hands

(and those of my highly-skilled mother)!!

#2 Hemming my jeans that I previously had to roll up. No more ugly rolled jeans! Thanks mom! (No pics of that one)

#3 Making my second-ever skirt, again with the help of my mom.

#4 Fixing a hole in Ben's jeans where his belt loop attaches. This one was tricky. I bought a patch at the store (the iron-on kind), but it just would not stay put! We followed the directions to the T, pressed and pressed and pressed, all to no avail. It was the strangest thing. Well, we stitched the patch into place and then just darned the area, essentially making new fabric. It actually looked pretty 'darn' (haha) good! :)

#5 Mom took Ben and me to the dry pack cannery that is just right down the road from us. It is pretty new, and although I have never been to one, Mom said it was quite nice! Mom helped us learn how to can some things for food storage, and even bought several of the cans for us! We were able to can some dry milk and apple slices. If I remember correctly, everything else had already been canned and there was enough left over for us to take what we needed. It was actually pretty darn cool, easy, and fun! I didn't take a camera with me, but I wish I had. I could take a picture of the box of cans, but that's boring. :)

I don't think I'll ever be a great seamstress, but I have a much better handle on how to use a machine and the basics of it all now. I do like the idea of being able to make my own skirts (limits the amount of searching for something cute, in my size, that looks nice and is modest), pajama pants, baby blankets, and other more simple things. I do still have a hard time understanding the new language used on patterns and the fact that the sizing can be quite the headache to figure out, but I can do it!

Thanks for all your help and gifts, Mom!! :)