Sewing 101

So I got a sewing machine from my mother-in-law when we first got married and I thought "I'll totally use that. I love crafty projects." Well the machine stayed locked up in its box for a year before I recruited Melissa to show me how to even thread the machine, which is apparently the easiest thing in the world since the directions are RIGHT ON THE MACHINE! I decided to sew some pillows for our couch, which I hate because they don't match at all, weren't the pattern I wanted, and they are so teeny tiny. So I boxed that bad boy up again and thought "I'll try again someday." Then I bought a sewing table on the cheap from DI and started to refinish it last summer. Trouble is I got side-tracked with repainting 2 dressers, an end table, and our massive entertainment center so by the time I was done with all those, I didnt' want to even look at another ounce of paint let alone sand a table. Basically it never got finished.

Now that I'm pregnant, I look through a million websites of cute baby clothes that look SO EASY to make but when you have zero sewing skills it can be quite tricky. Which brings me to today. Amy and I decided that we just HAD TO MAKE these super cute slings to carry out babies around in. Problem is 1) I don't even have a baby to put it into yet and 2) Amy's "baby" Alli hates slings so there's NO FREAKIN WAY she'll ever get into that thing, and 3) neither of us know the slightest about how to sew. We found an online tutorial for our project that was the EASIEST thing in the world to follow and somehow we still couldn't figure it out. We spent 4 hours this morning on it and it's still not even close to done. I pretty sure it was supposed to take like 30 mins total! The most embarrassing part of the whole ordeal was when the bobbin ran out of thread and, no joke, it took us an HOUR to figure out how to rethread it. Just so you know, 2 non-sewers does NOT equal one good sewer (is that spelled right because it can't be the same as the smelly foul water, can it??). Anyhow now I have to spend the rest of the day figuring out what exactly is a top-stitch and how to do it. I hope it turns out okay. So far it's completely hideous.

I probably shouldn't admit that I'm also in the middle of trying to sew my own bumper pads for the crib. I wanted something more original and cute and found ANOTHER tutorial online that looked so easy. I'm starting to realize that you should probably be able to at least thread your machine and bobbin before you attempt bumper pads!! But I love all the materials I choose so that's all that matter, RIGHT?? RIGHT?? Oh man, this is gonna be a long 3 months till the baby gets here. If these projects end up successful, I'm making little boy pants next. If not, I'm shipping all my materials to my mother-in-law to finish for me and putting my machine back in storage....permanently.