Sewing Therapy

Something sort of weird happened yesterday. First a little background, though. I mostly sew on a 100 year old Singer treadle machine left to me by my grandmother and I sew buttonholes and hems and such by hand. At one point I had planned to do a lot of this the easy modern way on my electric machine even on the things I make on the treadle but it turns out my electric machine doesn't have a blind hem stitch (What?!!) and buttonholes are just way more fun and actually way easier (though slower) to do by hand.

So that's the background; here's what happened. For about two weeks I have had a pain in my right hand in the joint where the thumb joins the rest of the hand. You really don't appreciate what a useful thing a thumb is until yours is not functioning properly. But I'm stubborn about these things so I just kept trucking along, mostly still doing what I do, just a little more carefully, so when it came to time to do the buttonholes I did the buttonholes.

And after stitching six buttonholes by hand my hand had stopped hurting almost entirely! There's still a hint of an ache when I move it a certain way and I still feel inclined to do things carefully but wow. The difference is dramatic.

Now let me be clear, this is NOT a recommendation for alternative therapy. I just wanted to share what seems to me a slightly bizarre and puzzling scene from my life.

Another Little Dress

Here's another dress for the granddaughter. McCall's 9227 with the addition of pockets and full sleeves. (The pattern has only cap sleeves.)

So far she has liked everything I have made for her but currently her favorite color is blue so the next thing I make for her will be blue.

The Fine Art of Never Letting Go

I'm sorry I don't have a Before photo. So here's the story. I made a dress ages ago - maybe 20 years, I can't remember - out of this really cute yellow and white check with ladybugs. But it didn't turn out well. I loved it until I put it on and looked in the mirror, then it just didn't work for me. I tried once to fix it by making a complete new bodice for it. Slight improvement but it still didn't work. So for years I tried to think of something else to do to fix it. I considered giving it to Goodwill but it's so hard to let go.

Finally a few weeks ago it hit me. Why not make something for the granddaughter! The pattern is McCall's L9462, plus pockets from another pattern.

Yes it's wrinkled. Don't judge; Her mom honestly doesn't have time for ironing.

You may notice she's holding something very small in her hand.

It was quick and easy to make and she likes it.

But the story doesn't end there. I had a few little scraps left and I had an idea. So I searched for and quickly found some black and white stripe fabric. I used New Look 6963, my current favorite long shirt pattern and here's what I came up with:

And the back:

This is different for me. I don't often wear stripes and never anything as plain as black and white stripes but I love this. Sometimes less really is more. Less of this adorable ladybug check fabric works so much better than more. And best of all, I was able to let go and yet not let go.