Monday, September 20, 2010

Crafting A Way To Fill A Need

I miss doing crafts. I miss sewing. I miss being creative with fabric.

I saw this shirt while I was shopping for the Italy trip. It was a western style shirt, very lightweight material and I really liked the little embellishments on the collar and top of the shirt. But I just couldn't pay the price they wanted.

For several reasons:

1. It was 100% cotton, so I knew the minute I washed it, it would no longer fit and I'd essentially be buying my mother another cute shirt.

2. It had long sleeves. I know western shirts aren't typically short sleeved, but long sleeves always give me pause; I have to consider the "hot" factor. Not the "Will I look hot in this shirt with my cleavage peeking out from the top two buttons?" kind of hot, but the "Can I actually wear a long sleeved shirt without passing out from the fact that no cool air will be able to reach me if I'm buttoned up from neck to wrist?" kind. Can I roll them up a bit and still stay cool? Should I buy it and use it as an "overshirt" with a skinny tank underneath? Will the sleeves shrink too, once it's washed?

3. I can make this shirt. OK, maybe not make it make it, but I can certainly add those embellishments on the yoke, the stitching on the collar and the zigzag detail on the seams. And I could do it for less. And make it look better.

Those thoughts resulted in my not even trying it on but leaving it on the hanger and walking away from it. Which brings me back to my missing crafting. I need to do something creative while in the truck and it's going to have to be something small since I don't have a craft room and won't have much storage for materials.

I made a
few pairs of earrings a while back, which was a lot of fun but really, how many earrings can I possibly wear? I've considered knitting, but I can't see really sticking with that. Quilting is out, because I don't have any room for loads of fat quarters and sewing just can't be done because I don't have room for my machine.

I need a creative outlet that I can pull out once in a while and tuck away when I'm done.


Any ideas?


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
The Other White Meat: Tropical Style
2 YEARS AGO:
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3 YEARS AGO:
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5 YEARS AGO:
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1 comment:

MAE said...

Definitely try crochet. I know you know how to do that. Easy to do while you sit with one needle, one ball of yarn. Takes an hour to make a hat and you can give them out to the homeless since you love doing that. Scarf also takes a short time. Yep, fun project and you'll have your craft-thingy going while you sit next to Your Eddie.