my first project

A few posts back I commented that I don't usually make clothing out of tablecloths except in one case. Well, my very first apparal project for myself was made out of just that - a tablecloth.

From the time that I was 7, I was sewing. Granted, I was sewing doll clothes and blankets, as well as aprons, potholders and these cute little animal pillows that my grandmother and I designed together (I should post on these later). As my skills and confidence progressed, I was allowed to help make my clothes, but never to complete them from start to finish.

One day when I was 14 (and I surprisingly remember this day vividly) I was going through my mom's stash (she's worse than I'll ever be) and came across this really fun and funky looking fabric. I pulled it out, asked mom if I could have it (which she looked at it with disgust and said "please, take it") and then proceeded to pick out the right pattern. My mom had all of her patterns from when she was a teenager, so I found a pattern for these great hip-hugger bell bottom pants. Not really knowing completely what I was doing, I measured myself and then looked at the pattern. I determined my size and cut those suckers out. I did know enough that I would have to lengthen them by a couple of inches (at 14, I was the same height I am today - 5'10") but I didn't know that the lengthening needed to happen at a point other than the hem - so that's where I added them (making them even MORE bell-bottomy than they already were).

This is the finished product:


I had enough of this tablecloth leftover and I used it to make an A-line mini skirt. I think I made both pants and skirt in a weekend.

Here is the skirt:


Here is an up-close of the fabric:


I wore both the skirt and pants quite a bit until I completely outgrew them. I was a late bloomer - it wasn't until my junior year of high school that I started growing out of my Twiggy look (yes, I'm 28 and I know who Twiggy is).

Until I was a junior in high school all of the apparel sewing I did was random, spur of the moment, pick whatever I felt like using from my mom's "throw away" stash. I never even thought to take the time to match up patterns - and I probably wouldn't have even if I did have the thought. Sadly, the skirt and pants made from the same hippie tablecloth is all I have left from those days (any pictures of me in any of my other strange creations burned up in a fire two years ago).

Those were the days - if only I could get away without having to do any real alterations today and still have something that was cute and wearable (at least in my distorted 14-year old brain)!

My next post will be about my first REAL project that was actually planned and had a purpose - my junior prom dress. I just have to find the picture of 16 year-old me wearing it!