I'm a Fabriphile....

Is that a word? Fabriphile. I think it must be. A person who loves fabric. I like to sew, I'm a kinda good at it, I get by. Along with those old things I like, I like to take old sewing patterns and them update them a bit. Like this little treasure I found in a thrift store a long time ago.... It's a McCall's, from the 70's!

I've been known to buy fabric just because of how it feels, I've also been known to greet people and then ask to feel the fabric of their clothing. I like fabric "with a good hand", there's a fabriphile saying for you. Anyway, a couple weeks ago, before my credit card was used fraudulently and I could shop at will.... I was in my favorite local fabric store, perusing the remnant table. My original purpose was to buy batting for some quillow's I was making, it's near impossible to go into a fabric store and only spend 5 minutes. I glanced upon this green, black, and yellow gem at the bottom of a pile and thought, "Hmm, those are good colors for me. I thought to myself "it's a bad economy and I need to save money and NOT buy more fabric", I purchased the batting and was on my way.

In the back of my mind, I kept thinking, "you should have bought it, it was only $2.98. Remember those green silk pajamas you DID'T buy in New York!" Well, about three days later, I couldn't take it anymore and went back. I prayed as I drove to Yardage Town. Hallelujah! It was buried underneath and the treasure was mine!!!! I still had quillow's to finish, but those stripes kept calling out to me from the sewing room.... "Hey, Catherine, don't you think I'd make a cool jacket to wear to Cardiac Rehab?" The wheels of creativity were spinning. Quillow's mailed to New Jersey, I got sewers block. This is what happens when I know I want to make something that involves doing things I've never done before...for example sewing stretch knits, using less than than adequate fabric for a project, sewing in separating zippers, and that ever present fear.... what if it's ugly, doesn't fit, and it's a total waste of time.

Self Doubt. It will knock you down every time. It's been known to keep me and many others from doing things that could be great. Happily, I worked it through in my head and one night, in a spur of energy, I thought "now or never, just do it, Catherine!"
As I started to put the pattern pieces out, I realized (1) I really didn't have enough fabric (2) look at those stripes and (3) who are you trying to fool? I pushed that doubt guy back, shortened up the arms and the jacket body, I figured if it didn't fit me, it would fit someone else...

I waited before I cut. I waited before I sewed. Fear. I decided to google sewing stretch fabric. Heck, I learned to free motion quilt from a 4 year old on youtube, maybe there's something. Sure enough, there was.

A few days of struggle, a walking foot failure(this is a special foot for stretchy stuff and different types of fabric being sewn together) and my own self doubt.....Voila!!! A cute little jacket to wear to work!!
I ended up adding black Lycra to the arms for added length, the non shiny side. I'm excited to try making another, reversible jacket with some contrasting fabric on the inside. Oh, the possibilities are endless.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"~Albert Einstein

When I learned to sew in junior high, there were a lot of rules. Those rules were important, but somewhere along the way I got lost in the rules and didn't let my imagination take me where it needed to go. Mistakes get made, some projects turn out right, some not so right. More life metaphors.... The good news is that I allowed myself to experiment a little, it turned out well, so I'm gonna go experiment some more. I'm thinking it's good to have some creative challenges. It's a really good release for life stresses.

In the meantime, a shout out to all those youtubers and bloggers that are sharing their how to and explanation video's. There's a lot of stuff to create in the world.

You got any creative challenges in the back of your brain? Ready, set, go! Until next time......