Not Sew Daring

Here I am at last.  My mom took a lot of home ec classes in high school and still has/uses the sewing machine she got (used) as a young adult.  She didn't often have time to sew, as she worked full time, but stated she was a "pretty" sewer, meaning she sewed neatly and properly, which is true.  I had an interest in sewing as a child, and would "help" her a bit, then took my one and only home ec class in high school.  I made a few dresses that I wore, on which she would usually have to fix the tricky parts for me.  Since then I have been interested in sewing more, but only have dabbled a little in it, and made an occasional thing or two, but more often just mending or hemming as needed.  This group is great for me to get out of the funk and have motivation to actually do something.  I am still not a "pretty" sewer like my mom, but maybe with more practice... 

I'm finding that sewing with a pattern (i.e. McCalls, Butterick, etc.) is much like learning to read music to play the piano - a lot more work, time, effort and tedium (yet seems like the "proper" way to go).  Whereas, following a simple tutorial or youtube video to make something fun (or remake something) is more like sitting down at a piano and picking out a tune, or for the really gifted, truly learning to "play by ear".  It is instantly rewarding, or nearly so, without all the turmoil of cutting out a pattern and all that.  I've been learning the past couple of years that it is more rewarding to shift from the "pattern" mindset to finding something simple and fun that I want to do, and using cute fabric to do it.  This way, I am breaking the "mental block" I've had about sewing, because it seems like so much less of a chore. 

Sew, with this past month's challenge, I vowed to actually finish something.  Oh, the guilt I carry for projects unfinished, nice fabric unused, and on and on.  Three homes ago, I bought some inexpensive (from Walmart) curtain panels and hung them in our home.  They have a tapestry look about them and I really liked them.  We sold the house to a couple of young male punks and I feared that all my heart and soul that I had poured into the house would get thrown in the trash, so I took all the curtains throughout the house with me, and have lamented it ever since, wondering if I would ever have occasion to use them again.  Not really.  Every "home" (or army quarters) is different, and we've only used one panel on one window since, so I've been kicking myself that we move or store this extra weight without using it.  But alas, we bought a new mattress before coming to Korea, and so had no need for our 4" memory foam mattress topper anymore.  I drug it with us here (it is heavy) and the plan was to cut it into chunks and make big pillows out of the curtain panels to stuff it into, since we couldn't really bring our giant bean bag that hubby and the boys like to wrestle on.  I needed no pattern.  I just cut one of the panels in two, and sewed it up (leaving a hole to stuff, then hand sewed that closed).  It took many hours to cut up the foam, but the sewing really didn't take long.  One is complete, and the next just needs to be stuffed and finished by hand.  I may have enough foam to do a third pillow/bean bag.