Trying Something New

So, for our 15th wedding anniversary in April, I bought my wife a sewing machine. She had been wanting to give sewing a try and fell in love with this retro-looking Singer model that was on sale at JoAnn Fabric. We went out to dinner that night, and I surprised her afterward by stopping at JoAnn and picking up the machine. She promptly named it "Motel" after the Tailor Motel Kemzoil from Fiddler on the Roof.

Over the next couple of weeks, she bought some material and made a couple of dresses for our three-year old daughter. I helped her lay out the patterns and pin seams, but steered clear of Motel. Finally, about two weeks ago, I found a pattern for several different types of Men's shirts in my size and went to the clearance rack to pick out some fabric that I thought would make a nice Hawaiian shirt. We got it home, layed out the pattern, and started putting it together. In the beginning, my wife was doing the stitch work on the machine while I pinned the pieces together. Then, she got distracted with the kids, and I decided to give a couple of seams a try. Next thing I knew, I was having a blast. So, I ended up finishing the shirt, including machined buttonholes, by myself and it turned out incredibly well.

 I liked it so much in fact that I went out last night and found some more clearance fabric. I spent this evening after work and dinner laying out the pattern and cutting all the pieces. So, now in addition to crochet, I believe I have found another hobby that might just keep me busy for a while.