My Creative Space

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I've been thinking a lot lately about why I sew, partly I guess because I've started to teach my girls to sew and I want them to see the benefits of it, and partly because I like to ask 'why'!!

My mum taught me to sew when I was little, and my granny was also a dressmaker, so it does run in the family !  Mum used to make everything for us - from clothes to bags and toys.  I grew up in a family where you could 'make' just about anything you wanted or needed - with fabric, or wood, or whatever you had handy!  Once I settled down and had my own little family, I began to revisit this philosophy more and more.

I did some hand-sewing when my first daughter was born, but soon my ideas needed a machine - and a visit from Mum and Dad from England soon sorted that out with a gift of a new machine!

The first things I sewed were baby rugs. I'd asked Mum to make me one with her scraps, with lots of different textures.  This turned out to be a fabulous patchwork rug with lots of scraps which had memories for me of things she had made over the years.  I wanted to take this idea one step further and make 'picture' baby rugs, with different textured fabrics.  Here are some I made:

I made these for a few years - for both my daughters, and friends who had babies - sold some, gave more as gifts, and thoroughly enjoyed it!  My girls still have a selection of these rugs - and still play with them - with their teddies, for picnics, covers when they're sick.....  They've been great!

As my girls have grown, so has what I've wanted to sew.

As we started renovating houses, I put my skills to use making roman blinds - I've now done two whole houses - every window!!
I've made a lot of storage solutions for my girls - from bed pockets for their books, to hanging jewellery and hair tie holders.  And I've finally started sewing for myself too - bags, and only this last week I started trying out fabric jewellery.

So why do I sew? and why should my girls learn?

Well, aside from the most important factor, which is that I enjoy it... It's a practical and useful skill.  To be able to mend your own clothes, sew on buttons, adjust hems etc, can save you both time and money.    A local DJ said recently on the radio, that she spent and extra $10 every time she bought a pair of trousers, to get them altered to fit her as she wasn't a standard size!  That's a lot if you add up every pair of pants you buy over the years....

I want to bring my daughters up to be independent and resourceful.  I think in teaching them to sew, I can help them develop those skills.  I can nurture their creativity, and also help their improve their growing skills of physical dexterity,  control, accuracy and spacial awareness.

I love sewing - it's one of my biggest creative outlets.  Discovering blogging over this past year has helped me enjoy it even more as I've found and connected with so many wonderful people worldwide who share my passion for sewing and creativity.  I gain so much from the blogging world, and I hope I put enough back into it, to help, encourage and inspire others. 

My tutorials are one way of doing that.  I've recently revamped them into PDF format, and have made them available for free download - see my tutorials page for the link.

As I've considered this topic over the past few weeks, I have revamped my blog and concentrated it a bit more in the direction I want it to take.

As such I now have my weekly routine, if you like:

Monday - A Round Tuit linky party - where I can showcase some of my favourite projects made by others, and try to inspire and be inspired by all the creative talent out there.  Also as the name of this linky suggests - it encourages people to 'get around to' those jobs and projects you've been planning for a while!

Tuesday - My tutorials and projects.  Never having been a big fan of patterns, I've actually found they are very useful (I know, bit slow on the uptake sometimes!)  so I've started making tutorials for the things I make, so others can have a go too, and to make it easier for me too, when I go back to making another one!!

Wednesday - Each week I'm featuring someone new - with a series of questions about how they are 'Creating their own way to Success'.  I love hearing other people's stories, and again, it's a chance for me to give back to the blogging community, and promote someone else's fabulous talents!

Thursday - This will be all about learning to sew!  Since I'm teaching my girls to sew, I'm going to show their sewing projects each week.  At 5 and 7 years old, they're just starting out, so it will be nice to chart their progress! I'm sure there will be weeks they are too busy to sew, so I'm also going to improve my sewing this year by learning some new skills!

Friday - this year I've decided that I HAVE to start using up my scraps!  So I'm going to make Fridays 'Scrappy day", and try out and discover as many useful, interesting and well - whatever ways I can, to use up my stash!

Phew!! 

Well if you're still reading this LONG post - thanks for sticking with me to the end!  I hope you'll come back and visit my blog again! Sign up to follow if you like (I always love new followers) - or you can even 'like' me on facebook (just started out on there too!). 
Do leave me a comment - and tell me why you sew / craft / blog ?  Like I said, I like to ask 'Why' and love hearing other people's stories!!


I hope you all have a great day!  See you again soon!!

Jill