Try, try, try again

I have a confession: I'm not really that good at sewing.

Before I shoot myself in the foot, that isn't to say that I make poor quality things! I know my pouches and tissue holders and all the other things I list on my Etsy are pretty, sturdy and of high quality because I've practiced making them so many times it's very ingrained and I can see every little error and fix them so that they're as good as can be, which is why I feel confident enough to sell them.

But I have no real inborn talent for sewing. It's funny because I have such natural talent in so many other things, like singing and art, all hobbies that I've played around with but never stuck to seriously (granted, I almost went into college for opera, but that's another story for another day...), despite being naturally good at them without working hard at it.

I'll be entirely honest and say that it usually takes me at least a half dozen attempts at a new pattern until I get it right enough that I feel comfortable presenting it on the blog or selling it or even giving it away. Sometimes more! My first time pattern attempts are fairly catastrophic, all lopsided and lumpy. They live in the living room cupboard; I throw them out if I can't cut them up and up-cycle the fabric for other projects, but my parents sneak them out of the garbage and clean them and keep them, because they say they like everything I make. It's kind of cute of them to do, it's a very parent-like thing to do, hehe. :)

I still have my first sewing attempt ever, which was this hideous tote bag that's lop sided, with scary top stitching and is way too small to use. It's kind of a confident boost to look at!

But even now, my first attempts are still pretty poor! I just tried to make my own pattern for a slip-in eyeglass holder and it came out kind of mess. I tried to make a coin purse just before as well, and it was way too small to fit into the frame! Eek! (Though otherwise, it was actually fairly perfect. I'll chalk it up to the expertise of the blog tutorial I'm following, which I will feature later on when I actually make a good enough coin purse to show!)

Perhaps it's the challenge that sewing presents that keeps me hooked to it? It doesn't come naturally so I want to work hard until I can do it just as well as someone who was born to sew? I'm a bit stubborn. :) I'm determined to try and practise as many patterns as I can so that I can become really skilled at many a ton of different things and then start adding them as listings on Etsy when I'm confident they're as good as they can be.

How about you, friends? Are you naturally talented at your choice of crafts or do you think you're on the "mess up a million times until I get it perfect" side of things? Don't be shy/modest! Be honest!

Sewing Station!

You know, friends, I just realized that while I've talked about my sticker covered sewing machine, I've never actually showed any photos of it. :0

This is my first and only sewing machine. Maybe I will upgrade in the future to a sewing machine that has more features on it, but for now, this is my partner in business!

Summer in the city // Shop until you drop!

Being so busy working this summer, I've been neglecting to travel around lately. While I don't live within Manhattan, I live close enough that a train ride in is relatively short and cheap. I used to make many day trips, but I haven't in quite a while.

After having so many of the independent fabric shops in the area close down and being unable to find any other ones nearby, I decided I'd research into really nice indie fabric shops in Manhattan, particularly ones that do import Japanese fabric and vintage buttons and such. Keep on the look out for a blog post in the future with a bunch of shops I've found. I'll go to each one and make a big shopping trip of it all! I'll review all of the shops, for any other New York crafters out there reading.

On the topic of shopping, I've been all over Etsy lately, and I've found a few really enchanting shops that I feel like linking to. Some of these shops are having July sales, so be sure to order anything that catches your eye!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SeaUnicorn 

(Gorgeous photography, sensual jewelry, great prices. Triple win! I've not founder a nicer vintage jewelry Etsy shop yet.)

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/hooraydesignshop 

(I'm a huge lover of paper craft and anything related to stationary & mailing. I love this shop)

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/littleapplecrafts  

(Probably the cutest Etsy shop of all time. Full of kawaii supplies, stationary, stickers, etc. I've bought from them multiple times.)

I'll end this with a request for any links or names of nice fabric stores within Manhattan from the readers. Thanks for any information, loves. :)

Requiem for a Seam

In this economy, it's not at all uncommon to see those "Building For Rent" signs. They seem to spread like a plague, outside of shops and stores that you were just in a few days ago. It's a really sad thing. It's particularly sad when you have an emotional connection to said businesses.

Two businesses related to crafting and sewing were just closed down in my area. One was a tailoring business, run by a sweet talented Persian gentleman, who had a beautiful sewing station full of a rainbow of wooden spools of thread, ones that remind me of my grandmother's vintage wooden spools from her days as a seamstress in Italy.

While I love to sew and I'm always looking for challenges to improve my skills, I hesitate bringing the scissors to a beautiful expensive new maxi dress that needs to be hemmed, especially as I don't have a large enough sewing station to really make large cuts to big pieces of fabric and clothing, so I defer those types of repairs and alterations to the professionals.

(Fun Fact: I'm only 5'0" so tailoring and hemming is practically my middle name, since even petite ranges of clothing can be too long for me)

He always made beautiful alterations to my clothes, so I was very sad to see that horrible "For Rent" sign in the windows of his empty premises.

Another sad blow to the sewing scene in the area was the shut down a wonderful and adorable independent quilting shop. I had a real emotional connection with this shop - it was the first place I had ever went to buy fabric. I went in with my first pattern, clueless and new to the world of sewing, after just receiving my first sewing machine. The owner of the shop was a wonderful and sweet woman, and she helped me out to find the right kind of fabric, determine the proper yardage, and other such things.

Her store was so warm spirited and full of quilters who were working on projects together, waiting for them next class to begin on the hour. They all smiled to see a young girl learning to sew, and gave some advice on what to do with the pattern, all of which utterly confused me at the time as I knew not one thing about sewing.

A few months ago, the store was downsized to help with the costs during the recession, and I could tell it was quite the blow to the owner. Her beautiful bustling shop was cut to a quarter of the size it was, and there was no longer room for classes or people to work on projects together inside. It was upsetting to see.

Just a few weeks ago, while going out for an emergency run for needles, after having broken my last one being careless while sewing a zipper (a bad sewing habit of mine!), I discovered the entire shop was gone. The windows were whited out, and everything was gone. It was just a shell of the former beautiful sewing shop that was my first step into the crafting world, and it really bothered me.

It seems like every independent crafting shop is dissappearing these days. The first time I've seen one in a while was just last week, while I was in England to visit the boyfriend. There was a small one in a shopping arcade in Leicester, and it was delightful to see. They sold all sorts of things, even purse frames, which are impossible for me to find in the US - I always have to buy those online in bulk from Asia.

Instead of sulking though, once I finish this post, I'm going to make a conscious effort to try to find at least o ne independent crafting shops in the area and frequent them. If I can support this shop, even just to buy small purchases from them, instead of always shopping at local JoAnns for everything, I'll feel like I'm contributing to the crafting culture.

This is a challenge I'd recommend to all of my readers. I'll end this blog entry with a question to the commenters: Have you had a similar experience with a beloved independent craft shop?