Sew Claire

This week I worked with faux fur.

People have asked me why I sew for others and I’ve been trying to put my thoughts down in a way that makes sense. One of the reasons I sew is to make money so I can go see my family when something fun or important comes up. My kids live near Chicago and near Oklahoma City. This is a picture of my granddaughters at a performance of The Nutcracker. I flew out there just to take them to the ballet two Christmases ago.

How did I learn to sew you ask? I was in the 7th grade and my friends Marian and Teresa told me that they were going to ask their parents if they could go see Sonny and Cher in concert downtown at the Tampa Civic Center. My parents would not let me watch Sonny and Cher on television and I knew better than to ask them to let me go see them downtown, a place even then too dangerous for a 7th grader, to see them in a concert. I was the oldest of five children and their parentin...g rules were not at all relaxed. One day I was talking about the concert to my mother when she said It you will stop asking me about that concert I will teach you to sew. Apparently I had been asking her about that also. I never mentioned the concert again. I had only wanted to go because I thought Marian and Teresa would get to go and of course they didn’t get to go either. It was all talk. #middleschool Mother taught me to sew. I made a blue flowered A line shift with a zipper. She did the zipper. As they were old enough, she taught both of my sisters. We’ve been sewing ever since. I leave you with a song by Sonny and Cher. https://youtu.be/S2kjU0M92TI

I get many requests to shorten pants. Pants are hemmed in a variety of ways. This week I shortened a very nice pair of Under Armour pants that had a double top stitched hem. My favorite tools for this alteration are a seam gauge and an iron.

This Christmas I made some doll clothes for two little girls that I love. Their dolls happen to be 12 inch dolls. The pattern is a newly issued pattern but is modeled after a vintage one ... thus the bonnet. If I ever make the bonnet again I will tie and ribbons together in a bow, sew the bow until it is secure and design a Velcro attachment on one side so that the child can fasten the bonnet herself. These girl’s mom had to tie bonnets for days.

Hi, my name is Claire. I sew. I created a facebook page to share some sewing tips with you and to let you know a little bit about me and my business. Today's tip is on sewing on a button. This video shows you one way to sew on a button. Side note: My grandmother, Big Mama, taught me how to knot thread when I was about nine years old and I think of her every single time I use the skill. https://youtu.be/l4ZhOScaVHs