Making

I was a little melancholy yesterday morning. That probably inspired my blog post for the day. I’m not sure why, maybe just the bad dreams I had all night. Luckily, in the afternoon I had plans. They weren’t leaving the house plans. Instead, I shut myself in the guest room, which is also my sewing room, and participated in a couple sewing circles over Zoom. During the first, I mostly puttered while listening to other people work and chat. I wound my bobbin, threaded my machine, and did some practice sewing. Then I did some hand stitching until the two-hour circle was up. After that, I joined my fellows in the main part of the house for an hour. Then I went back to the guest room, this time for an apron sewing workshop over Zoom. Both were hosted by Muna and Broad, which is my pattern company of choice. I’ve been teaching myself how to sew using their pattern instructions and videos, and I’m also a member of their patreon community. It is nice to have a sewing community for advice, props, and commiseration.

I was looking forward to the workshop, as I’ve been wanting to sew an apron since I first started sewing. Plus size aprons are almost non-existent, as far as I can tell. Most ready made aprons are one-size-fits-all, and that size does not include me. So, once I decided to learn to sew, an apron was one of the first things I thought of. I bought an indy pattern off Etsy, only to realize it too was too small for me. When I joined Muna and Broad’s patreon, I was glad to see they had an apron pattern available there, but I didn’t have the nerve to tackle it, as the instructions were written up as if you knew what you were doing, and I most certainly did not. I made other things instead — two box tops, a dress, a jacket.

So, I was excited last week when Muna and Broad released their apron as a full-fledged pattern, complete with more detailed instructions. Even better, they announced a Zoom sewing workshop for the pattern this weekend. I enjoyed the workshop a lot. I am too much of a beginner to have been able to keep up with the more experienced sewists’ pace. I tried, but found myself sewing too fast for me and making a really dumb mistake which I had to fix with a seam ripper. So at that point, I stopped trying to keep up and just watched and picked up tips. It was a good way to spend the late afternoon, and by the end of it, I did not have a complete apron, but I did have a partially done one and I was pretty sure I could finish the rest in an hour or two of work.

This morning, like usual, my body woke me at 5:00. I’ve been resolving, since I can’t seem to sleep past 5:00, to use those hours for good instead of idling them away on the internet. So this morning, once I’d had my coffee, I finished up my apron. I carefully followed the instructions, and sewed slowly, and in about 90 minutes, I’d finished it with no real mishaps. I put it on just in time to stir up a batch of pumpkin muffins for Sunday breakfast. I’m delighted with the apron. It fits well, protects my clothes from kitchen mess, and is a really kind of wild woven hemp print that just makes me happy. It is good, being able to make things for myself. I don’t feel melancholy today, and at least some of that has to do with making a new thing with my hands.