Sewing

There is something almost magical about sewing. Especially hand-sewing. The thoughts in your mind while you are doing it, the music you are listening to, or the movie you are watching on TV get somehow saved in the fabric of the garment you make. Later, when you pull it out of the dryer, or take it down from the closet to wear, all those memories come flooding back.

I've been sewing since I was maybe 11 or 12. I started designing clothes for Barbie™ dolls. I had been designing with paper dolls for a long time, but, a Barbie and some scraps of fabric, and I was in heaven. It was the Spring of my Junior year when I first made myself a dress. I liked it so much that I made two from the same pattern. I made several during my senior year, including one without a pattern, and my formal for the graduation dance, which I cobbled together from four patterns--one for the skirt, one for the bodice, another for the sleeves and a fourth for the collar.

With all the hundreds of garments I've made over the years, there is still one thing that terrifies me. I shake and my hands sweat right before I put the scissors to the fabric. Especially if it's expensive fabric. Like that $20/yd silk that was Addy's last present to me. Or the red velvet I used to make Amanda's costume for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." I know I can make the garment, and do it well, but still, there's that anxiety about actually cutting the fabric.

It's a commitment, after all. Once it's cut, you have to finish it, or it has gone to waste.