From Simple Green to African Fabric.

I remember when I was in college, it used to take me a while before I started a research paper, but once I started it flowed quickly. I had the same weird nervousness when doing this sewing project. I was excited to do it, but I was nervous, so I kept putting it off. I can tell also that my tolerance for sewing is low right now, I get antsy and tired, so I did one part at a time over a couple of days. But before I started each day, I was so nervous. It's funny how such a big part of me wants to learn this skill, but when the moment comes to actually practice it, it's like my body and mind want to run away.

Well no. I will not run away!

I will do the hard things, working past the nerves, and I will keep showing up despite the antsiness. I have been trained by my husband who is a personal fitness trainer, long enough to understand that when I am not good at something physical, my body is uncomfortable. Sometimes that discomfort is not dangerous, sometimes it is simply my body groaning at having to learn a new something. A new movement with weights, or in this case a skill that requires focus, thought and practice.

I watched a YouTube by WYNUnlimited where the young man copies one of his jackets and makes another one. I want to eventually try this with some of my tops that fit well, but I thought I would start a bit smaller and simpler. Still, I was ready to start my sewing journey with African cloth.

I like how it turned out but there is definetly room for learning.

I learned that tracing is easier when there is a light colored table underneath. My table is black so I put a large white paper on top of it.

In the comments of the video I mentioned above, someone mentioned that to add the seam allowance to curves they tape two pencils together... well because my husband is also a Math teacher he has these compasses at home, and when I read that suggestion I wondered if this would work. It did! It worked very well!

This was so rewarding. Seeing all the pieces cut! I followed the young man's instructions and it went so well! He did not go into how to actually sew it together and my nerves where starting to rise again, so I put it away to go back to it the next day. I needed to start with fresh energy. One of my problems was that I did not know the order in which to sew everything together. I looked up some more on YouTube and got my answer. I did have to change a few things because my collar was different, because my fabric is different. And still the collar is something I need to learn to do better.

Still I am so happy I worked past the nerves and got it done. I did the hard thing. Thank You God!

What hard things are in your life that you are just doing despite this or that? I would love to read about that.

-Frannia