Happy Sew Be It Day!

September 10, 2021, is the 165th anniversary of Elias Howe receiving his patent for the lockstitch loop method of mechanical stitching (AKA the sewing machine as we know it today). Howe knew there had to be a better way to make clothes than by hand; he found it, and has changed the way we do work with fabric. Beautiful, gorgeous, fun fabric…

I am no stranger to crafts, but the sewing arts, they elude me. While I have a sewing machine, it doesn’t receive as much love as my Cricut, Glowforge, or other tools of my trade. In honor of Sew Be It Day, however, I have five bucket list sewing projects I’d like to accomplish someday…

SWEATER MITTENS (AGAIN)

It was another time and another business. I made those wonderfully warm sweater mittens by the dozens. I loved the act of scouring thrift shops for wool sweaters, felting them until they were a third of their original size, and then sewing them to give them a new life. I’d like to do that again.

QUILT

Quilting sounds so hard to me. All the measuring and cutting…oy, so much that can go wrong. Enough of you out there have told me it’s not as hard as I have made it in my head, so we’ll see. I did manage to sew a bunch of fabric squares I bought at IKEA together once, so there’s always hope.

A DRESS

I have always wanted to design and sew my own dress. That sounds weird, I know–I am afraid of quilting because it requires a pattern, but here I am saying I want to make my own pattern for something like clothes. For some reason, I think this could be fun!

CURTAINS

Fun fact: I already have the material for this (and have had it for a few years). Of course that was when my kitchen was green and now it’s a greige…this might be the best excuse I have to go do a little fabric shopping (something I shouldn’t do as I look at it more than I’ll ever use it…)!

ECOFRIENDLY ITEMS

I’d really like to sew a silverware roll or a few reusable coffee cup sleeves someday. This might be a good use of that curtain fabric I won’t be using now…or I could shop for more fabric…

What is your favorite sewing crafst?