Make something for yourself

Mena Trott inspired me. I have been following her crafty ventures online for years and a couple of weeks ago we sat down to chat.

Mena has been sewing a wardrobe for herself for about a year. She made the dress she is wearing in the picture above. Her goal is to have a fully handmade wardrobe of her own creation. Her passion is a vintage style and she uses primarily vintage fabrics and patterns. As we talked of sewing, online shopping, and fabric, it was only when she said that she doesn’t care for sewing children’s garments that I really got was she was doing.

By sewing for herself, rather than her little daughter, she is focusing on something she loves and enjoying the fruits of her own creativity. Here’s another dress she made.

(I totally get that this crafty business is not for all of you and if your eyes are glazing over – or rolling with sarcasm – feel free to click over to one of our giveaways, a list of things to do on your maternity leave, or our latest post on Babycenter.com. Interested parties can click through to keep reading.)

Making something for myself is something I stopped doing when the kids came along. Now I make embellished tshirts for them on their birthdays.

I make them comforter covers when they move into their toddler beds. I have even made an easy doll dress.

The other thing Mena said that set off a lightbulb in my head is that it’s hard to find wearable fabric for grown women. I immediately pictured my fabric stash and the bolts of fabric through which I enjoy combing at the fabric store. No wonder I never make anything for myself! My tupperware is full of oversized polkadots and cotton that has zero stretch. Not good for curvy bodies!

This is my daughter’s homemade stocking, made from scraps from my stash. Not wearable for grown women? You don’t say!

So I set out to make something for a grown up, but as I have too much fabric already to justify buying something new, I limited myself to the materials I had on hand. Following a simple tutorial from Prudent Baby, I made this little apron for Heather which I will give her for Hannukah.

And next time I’m in the fabric store, I will look more closely at the materials that are intended for adult apparel, not just quilting. It might not be as much fun to buy, but I bet I’ll get more use out of it!

Want to make something for yourself?

Consider these five projects – not just for sewers:

Clothing: Ruffly shirt refashion from Ruffles and Stuff

Accessory: Braided fabric headband from Prudent Baby

Dinner: Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash from 101Cookbooks

Accessory: Zippered Quilted Laptop Sleeve from Crap I’ve Made

Accessory: Business Card Envelopes from Crafting a Green World

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.