Sew On and Sew Forth

I spent a lot of time today on projects for family members. I designed and made my daughter a purse and I solved the problem of my husband’s defective Eddie Bauer jeans with their missing belt loop.

When I was in Boston at my daughter’s graduation, she admired my purse (which I had made). We seldom have the same taste in clothes, so I was delighted when she said she would like one of my purses.

I have spent a lifetime designing and making things, starting when I was turned loose on the sewing machine at 6. I hated playing with dolls, but I did love to sew for them. So my dolls languished in style in smocked dresses and fur capes.

When my son was born, I stupidly thought I could make all of his clothes. This didn’t last long when I realized how unexciting it is to sew for a boy and that I could buy most things cheaper than I could make them.

When my daughter came along, another story. She loved fancy dresses with matching hair bands. I made ballet outfits for her and her friends. I made Halloween costumes. I dressed the cast in the school plays.

I have made things for myself over the years, but lately they have been more in the category of accessories. For some time I have been intrigued by quilted purses and all the possibilities they offer to combine fabrics and ribbons in a unique design with each new creation.

The purse I made for my daughter has a bright green interior. It has two outside pockets and 4 small pockets inside. It should go with lots of things since there are so many colors. (That's an actual picture above.) I’ll ship it off tomorrow and hope she likes it.

My husband recently presented me with a really odd repair project. I could hardly refuse since he is my constant source of technology help. He realized that a new pair of jeans was simply missing a front belt loop, somewhat essential to keeping them up. In looking through all the denim that I possess, I found lighter shades and darker shades, but nothing that would work. I finally woke up today with the idea of cannibalizing some fabric from somewhere inside, like the little piece that sits under the zipper and voila! a new belt loop was born. It looks reasonably like the others and will definitely do its job to keep his pants from falling off.

Sometimes I love an afternoon like this one that is so different from my usual Tuesday afternoon pace at work. It’s fun to be creative for people who are important to you!