As I mentioned in a previous post, I was a very spoilt girl this birthday! My husband and my family pooled their resources and gave me my dream sewing machine!
It’s so pretty and fancy and I never thought I’d own something like this. When Pete not so subtly asked me in the leadup to my birthday what I’d be looking for in a sewing machine, I said one that sews without skipping stitches, eating material, randomly snapping needles and actually does more stitches than just straight stitch.
And he chose the Brother NX-400. This machine has nearly 300 stitch types, it threads itself, you can use it with our without a pedal, it has a whole bunch of different feet, including one for buttonholes, and which lets you actually sew a button on, it cuts the thread when you are finished sewing, you can lift the foot using a lever with your knee so you can leave your hands on the fabric, and you can even design and program your own stitches! I’m a little bit in love.
I’ve been a little addicted to playing with it and have done more sewing projects in the last week than I have in the last year! It’s so much fun to use, and it’s really got my creative juices flowing. I have so much awesome fabric stashed and I’m loving watching the pretty material turn into useful things right before my eyes.
Here are a few of the things I’ve been working on…
A skirt for myself. I haven’t made myself clothes since I was pregnant with Mayana, and I love this one. I used the lovely heavy kind of linen fabric I’ve had stashed for a while. Love it!
And of course I had to make Mayana one too! I absolutely love hers. I accidentally made it more high-waisted than I intended to but I’m glad I made that mistake because I LOVE how it turned out. And I also feel compelled to mention that I did not ask Mayana to pose that way, she came up with that all by herself…
This was a gorgeous quilt panel that was given to me about three years ago. I had no idea what to do with it until I glimpsed a cute alphabet book on Pinterest and felt a flash of inspiration. I’m so happy with it! I love the colours and illustrations of this fabric, and I think this was a good use for it.
And finally this little experiment. My first foray into proper patchwork. Also inspired by Pinterest (don’t you just love that place!). It’s a little bit wonky but I’m pretty proud of my first attempt. I really enjoyed doing this, and learned a lot along the way. I have an idea of what I’m going to do with it but I’m not totally sure just yet… you and I both will just have to wait and see!
So I am LOVING my new machine, and the world of possibilities it has opened up for me. I’m really enjoying creating so many things lately – not just sewing but crochet too. I’ll have to do a post about that sometime soon because I’ve been challenging myself a lot with designing things and making my own patterns and I’m really excited by it.
Do you have a creative outlet? I’m the sort of person who dabbles in just about anything, I’m not happy unless my hands are busy. What projects do you want to tackle next?
Your patchwork looks great! I LOVE Maysi's skirt. It is so wonderful with the high waist - very stylish! And your skirt looks great too! I definitely want to get into some sewing when I get home.
ReplyDeleteI have one big question though - when do you find the time to do it? I feel like I never have enough time for creative things!
Thanks T!!
DeleteI do it.. when I can! Reuben still has two big sleeps a day which is helpful. And for his afternoon sleep I settle Mayana with an independent activity or ask her to have a rest too and I get things done then. Otherwise I do it at night when they are in bed. Pete puts something to watch on the iPad and comes and sits next to me so we still get to spend time together.
If I could I'd do creative things all the time. I guess parenting is a pretty creative thing to be doing though!