A Little Sewing

I decided about a month ago that I should learn to sew.  My logic was that I could make things that are my style for cheaper than I can buy them.  My mom agreed to teach me while I was at home this week.  On Monday, we headed to the fabric store- Mary Jo's in Gastonia (where she shopped when I was little, and which she assures me has not changed one bit since 1975) to pick up all my supplies.  I'm also convinced that about 50% of their fabrics are from the 70's as well.  After 30 minutes of picking out a pattern, and about 2 hours of rummaging through endless colors and patterns of all kinds of materials, I finally settled on black... only because I was so frustrated with all the choices, that it seemed to be the easiest decision I could make.  I mean, what girl doesn't need another black skirt?  Total labor time: about 15 hours (too much, in my opinion).

I went to Walmart on Tuesday to find one more thing I needed for the black skirt, and found some beautiful peachy-pink fabric (Spring skirt?).  Little did I know (and no thanks to my mother who did not warn me), it's some of the worse fabric you can work with.  It's thin and very flimsy.  So I chose a white to layer under it.  But I didn't have any thread or a zipper to match, so I took a little trip back to Mary Jo's today.  Since the first skirt took about 15 hours, I knew this one would probably take longer, so I've put it in a drawer for a later visit home.

There was this one fabric at Mary Jos that I fell in love with on Monday (think: Fall, my favorite).  But I really had no clue what I could do with it, and my imagination was not at its height then, so I left it alone.  After dreaming about it for 3 whole days, I decided I should buy the last 1 3/8 yards of it that was remaining in the store.  And I also bought some thick black elastic.  And NO PATTERN!  My imagination was in full swing today.  I created my own pattern and sewed away.  This one only took me 4 hours!!

So...
My very first skirt: used a pattern, black, good wear-ability, 15 hours labor.  I give it a 5, mainly because it's boring.
My second skirt ever: perfect fabric, great colors, a knockoff from another skirt I used to own, but I made it without a pattern, the pleats are fantastic, it fits like a glove, and it only took 4 hours.  I give it a 9... only because the stitching could be a little straighter :)

Seriously, doesn't it look like a forest of fall leaves?

Oh, those pleats...