Sorry for the Out of Order Pictures

I was cleaning out my closet the other night when I came across this dress. I made it in 1996 to wear to a banquet. (Can't you tell it's 1996 by the white hose and permed hair? That wasn't even the year I permed my hair 5 times in 12 months!) At any rate, I found it in the closet and put it on - gasp! It still fit! I paraded into the bedroom where Dean and the boys were, and Dean says, "Did you just buy that dress?" Shock and awe, people, shock and awe. The dress still fits and apparently looks like something I just bought! So that started my sewing itch again.

Does anybody sew? It's an itch you get to make something, and it's kept me up past midnight sometimes to try and finish something. I took lessons at the sewing store (Miss Brenda, so there Mad Cow!) when I was in the 7th grade and made a fabulous pair of khaki pants with a waistband and zipper, thank you very much. I proudly wore them to school, and unfortunately had to ride home with my good friend Winston from school that day. In 1979, riding home with Winston meant jumping in the back of the pickup truck. Well, as soon as I threw my leg over the tailgate, RRRRIIIIIPPPPP! Goodbye beautiful pants. Apparently the zipper was fabulous but the rear seam was lacking.

At any rate, I've made lots of clothes for myself over the years, all still hanging in my closet collecting dust because you just can't throw away something you made, and nobody at the Goodwill wants your unfinished seam edges. I've also made a shirt for Drew and boxers for Lucas. (Now that left sleeve wasn't REALLY that much longer than the other, he just stretched it out.) So luckily, I still had fabric and notions for a pink skirt that I bought 2 or 3 years ago (when the itch leaves, it's gone for quite a while), but the boys have to be right up under me, you know, so they needed projects too. So I pulled out the books to let them look (I used to belong to a sewing club that sent patterns every month - that's how addicted I was). Lucas settled on a teddy bear and Drew wants gloves for some reason. I'll post pictures of the bear as he comes along and also the gloves ("if it doesn't fit, you must acquit" - also 1996 I think.)

Anyway, I finished the pink skirt in time to wear it to dinner tonight, so that itch was successfully scratched. And in this economy, sewing your own clothes is going to be as valuable as growing your own vegetables. I wonder if Michelle Obama can sew?