It's Beginning To Look Like a Bag

One of my New Years resolutions this year is to learn how to sew. I learn best by having someone show me! Yeah, I tend to be one of those people that skips reading the instructions for real world demonstrations and hands on experience. So I knew I needed to find a sewing friend or register for a beginning sewing class to make any progress. I looked online first by doing a simple search. I found several options.

The first, a beginning sewing class at a hip Seattle fabric store. The second, a beginning sewing class at the local community college. The community college offers continuing education classes and regularly has a whole range of sewing classes to choose from. The Community College class required that I bring my own sewing machine, so I opted out for now. I have my Mom's old sewing machine, which I plan to look at this weekend and determine if it is worth servicing (an estimated cost of $100), since it hasn't been used in quite some time. I know two important things about her sewing machine. First, it is a very heavy sewing machine (unlike the easy to carry machines we used in class). But because her sewing machine is heavy, means it was made with metal and not plastic parts. In other words, it was made to last! I like that. Second, when I look at the sewing machine I think of my Mom. I have a very sentimental reason for keeping it and learning how to use it. I really like that.

I called the hip fabric store and registered for my class. It is a two part five hour course. Yesterday, I went to the first class. I imagined a big room full of sewing machines and lots of people. But it was even better. Our sewing instructor was an older man with tattoos up and down both arms and along his beard line. Like me, two other young women were really eager to sew. That's it. I got my wish, practically one on one demonstration and instruction. We got to work sewing the "inevitable bag", a fun shopping tote. I imagine mine being used to go to the beach.

The best part of the class was when we moved from measuring to pinning our fabric and cutting and then on to practicing sewing on our fabric scraps. We got a complete overview and introduction to the sewing machines and then were let loose. Luckily, none of us sewed our fingers together or stitched in crazy lines. I don't know why a sewing machine has to be intimidating or hard to learn, like I thought. It was easy. We each sewed two spare fabric patches together and were like little kids playing show and tell. We were so proud of what we had just done.

Next week when I go back we will assemble the pieces we stitched this week and sew the actual bag together. I am really excited to show you all the fantastic finish to my first sewing adventure!