Welcome!

Hello, everyone! My name is Carla and I am a sewer sewist. Yeah, I like that better.

Yes, there are a million sewing blogs out there, but those people are really good at it. I'm just so-so. And they have really nice posed photos made by professional photographers, whereas I have no one in my family that can take a good picture of me. You might see some bad selfies and some pics with bad lighting and my eyes closed. I will try to recruit a friend to take some better shots in the future!

Some sewing backstory: I bought a basic sewing machine in the 2000s to make some window treatments for our new house. I made a roll-up shade with a valance for my son's room and it was a complete disaster. I didn't cut straight, couldn't sew straight, etc. But he was in kindergarten at the time so what did he care.

A few years later one of my friends asked if I wanted to do a sewing class at our local quilt shop that I didn't even know existed. Of course! We did the beginner class and made a travel size Kleenex holder and a pillowcase. Then we decided to go next level with a 3-part beyond basics or something class. We made adorable tote bags and I was hooked.

Over the next few years I just made some little projects I found on Pinterest: dog collars with kerchiefs, headbands, zipper pouches.

Then in 2016 I discovered Row by Row. Basically you get a row pattern at participating quilt shops and make a quilt out of at least 8 rows. Through travel, friends, & family I was able to get 10 rows.

Turns out quilting is fun!

I finished it in January 2018. I am slow, but there was a period of time in there that I didn't work on it at all. After that I did a T-shirt quilt and a couple of mystery quilts plus my favorite so far - my "camping" quilt with retro National Parks postcards. I will show those off in later posts.

 I was moving right along with the quilt-making and signed up for another monthly mystery quilt. While waiting for the next month's clue, I stumbled onto a post online where a woman was sharing some clothing item she'd made, and I was intrigued. The thought of having clothes made to my measurements was appealing. My mom made my clothes in the 70s so I was familiar with paper patterns and the big pattern companies, but now I was diving into the world of independent .pdf patterns for knit fabric. I joined a lot of Facebook groups, bought a lot of patterns, and might have a problem when it comes to fabric buying/hoarding.

My friends are amazed that I can make clothes, but I feel with good instructions and the right tools, I can do anything, just maybe not perfectly. And I need to learn how to stop pointing out mistakes to people! I don't know who said it first, but finished is better than perfect!

So, I will be showing you some things I've made, review some patterns, do some comparisons, talk about some failures even. Hopefully you will come back to check out what's going on!

Have a great day!