Learning.

As I mentioned before, I am learning to sew. What is particularly exciting for me about this is that I can now alter all those clothes I have that don't fit quite right, which is quite a fabulous thing since I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores, often without even trying them on. (Yes, I know that sounds crazy, but I have gotten quite accurate at choosing things that fit and are flattering.) The problem is...sometimes they just need minor adjustments....like that dress I have had a couple years that would have been perfect shorter, but I didn't know how to hem t-shirt material. But now I do because I learned to sew by modifying and re-purposing old t-shirts. And I have the courage now to just try sewing things. Here's what I have done so far:

• Hemmed the aforementioned too long black jersey dress to a cute length to go with leggings
• Re-hemmed two skirts whose hems I had ripped out this summer
• Put darts (for the first time ever) in a full skirt that was just a little to big in the waist
• Altered four tank tops to fit more narrowly (they were too wide and looked sloppy)
• Hemmed a pair of sweat pants that I had gotten at camp long ago and had always been tripping over (since I am short...)
• Made an elaborate Christmas-y project out of re-purposed t-shirts which I will later post on
• Shortened the dress in the above photo. I still need to narrow it though because the skirt is wide/poofy enough to look rather circus-appropriate
• Almost finished making a skirt out of re-purposed t-shirts
• Altered a pair of shorts to have the waistband in a permanently "turned down" position, since this is how I prefer to wear this pair of old college logo shorts
• Attempted to alter a pair of old scrub pants to fit better. This project has not yet been successful.

There are many more projects I am eager to attempt, but I have been ordering them so that I can build my skills up to the level to attack more complicated alterations. I feel I am ready to begin with slightly more challenging things, and it's pretty exciting to think about narrowing a blazer I bought, even though I knew it was a little too big, because I loved it so much. And of course, then there is always the Swiss sheep herder dress that is going to hopefully become a little edgier looking after I shorten it.