It is supposed to rain all day today, which is a novel thing for New Mexico. There are dire warnings of flooding, especially in areas with burn scars, so it isn’t all coziness and fun. My kid and I got caught driving in a rainstorm earlier this week and it was honestly pretty scary — all the flooded streets and of course my windshield wipers weren’t in good shape. So today we plan to hunker down at home. My kid will probably spend most of the day in his room, doing whatever it is he does in there these days. Reading and podcasts, I think. My husband will find a way to workout at home. His usual swimming or bike ride won’t work today, but we’ve got a stationary bike in the sunroom. After that, I assume he’ll be getting ready for his weekly Zoom book club. (I keep arguing that a weekly book club isn’t really a book club. More of a self-run seminar. Not that it matters.)
I plan to spend the day making a dress. Right now my dress is three or so yard of mulberry linen that has been pre-washed but not pressed. So I’ll need to press the linen, cut out my pattern pieces, possibly also press the pattern pieces, pin the pattern pieces to the linen, cut out my linen, and assemble and sew the whole thing step-by-step. I don’t expect to finish today. Maybe tomorrow if I’m lucky. I’m looking forward to it very much.
I haven’t sewn anything in a few weeks. I find myself wanting large chunks of time in which to work on sewing, and I haven’t had those for a few weeks. I’ve been daydreaming about sewing though. Reading about it. Watching videos about it. The anticipation has been immense. This rainy weekend seems like the perfect opportunity to finally transform all that anticipation into action.
One of the things that in interesting about my new sewing hobby is that so far, it is entirely for me. I’ve made clothing for me. I haven’t hemmed other people’s pants, made a shirt for my son or husband, any of that. I’ve transformed the guest room into a guest room/sewing room with two sewing machines and an ironing board. I’ve acquired a whole stash of fabric and countless little sewing notions. I’ve spent hours working on my projects, and it has all been for me. So that I can wear things that I like, that I’ve made. There is a (small) part of me that wants to feel guilty for this. But most of me is simply reveling in it. Maybe eventually I will sew things for other people, but for now, this new endeavor is all for me, and I feel pretty good about that.
This week I got some fun mail. Little tags with my full name on them, intended to be sewn into the clothing that I make. Probably they will be sewn into parts of my garments that only I will see, so they are another little thing just for me. I can’t wait.
