I Don't Sew

I can sew on a button on a shirt, and I can even make a pillow. Once, many years ago Angel and I made clubbing dress that probably could have passed for lingerie. I think I'm pretty crafty, but when it comes to sewing, I just don't have the patience. I bought a sewing machine when we lived in St. Louis. I don't know what I was trying to make, but I ended up taking it back because the thread just kept getting raveled in the bobbin. Momma gave me her sewing machine a couple of years ago, and I finally used it for the first time just the other day. Mom and I had been talking about making pillow case dresses for Bella. I read about how to make them, and it seemed simple enough. WRONG! Ugh. I wanted to throw the sewing machine in the trash after this happened several times.


I was trying to load the bobbin (I guess that's what you call it), and the thread kept ending up under the bobbin spool. After that was fixed, I practiced sewing straight lines only to have the hem of the dress come out looking like this...

Look at that! It looks horrible. At this point, I wanted to trash the sewing machine and the dress. But... Mom came to the rescue.

We decided to make a ruffle to hide the horrible hem of the dress. Mom showed me how to make a ruffle... finally something was easy to do. After Sewing 101, I was well on my way.


The dress was made out of one of Momma old pillow cases. When I ironed it, it even smelled like her house, the smell I remember as a kid, not the musty smell that has invaded her house. The lace we chose for the ruffle was very pretty. We added some lacy ribbon for the ties, and the dress was complete. The big question was- What would this look like on Bella?


Success! The dress fits perfectly, and Bella looks like a little doll in it. Next project- making tutus!