I've been sewing since I was in high school, or maybe junior high. My parents bought me a used Singer machine (we didn't own one, as my mom doesn't sew) and signed me up for a summer class at a local fabric store. I learned the basics of sewing (including the frequent use of Mr. Seam Ripper) and of using and maintaining a machine. After that summer, I went on to sew things from time to time. I loved sitting on those fabric-store stools and flipping through weighty pattern books (mostly avoiding the Vogue ones, since my teacher had said those patterns were more "advanced").
But by the time I'd started college, I wasn't sewing much, finding little in the way of time or inclination. Then I went to work, married, had a couple of kids, and sewed even less. I did figure out how to sew improvisationally (i.e. repurposing), though--once turning a huge thrifted circle skirt into a shoulder bag, hair scrunchy (this was 1996), makeup bag, pillow cover, and applique for a thrifted baby's jumper. That was one enormous skirt.
Actually, I went through a period of several years when I thought it was cheaper and easier to buy thrift store and garage sale items rather than make things myself. While this was probably true for the most part, I missed the satisfaction of wearing and using my own creations. So I started sewing again, a little at a time. After my good old Singer gave up the ghost, my parents even bought me a new machine, a Janome Excel Pro 5124 that came highly recommended. But then we moved to Japan, and I found myself with the great excuse of not having a place to set up my machine. Two years later, we moved to a bigger place, et voila, the excuse was gone. And after buying a couple of stacks of fabric, I broke down and bought a pattern, too. The purchase of a pattern meant I had to sew. And I did, last week--I made an Amy Butler Frenchy Bag, above. I've been an Amy Butler fan for the past four or five years, and I'm so glad I can now purchase not only her patterns (a skirt may be just over the horizon), but her gorgeous fabrics as well. I think my sewing mojo is back, at long last.
By the way, a couple of great online fabric shops are Sew, Mama, Sew and Purl Soho.
