5 Year Anniversary!

FIVE YEARS! I simultaneously cannot believe it's been that long and cannot believe it's ONLY been 5 years. I am completely in awe of the craft, still.

My story, why I sew and how I sew:
I've always been a crafty sort! I used to use my allowance to buy fabric (now I believe I was buying FQs or remnants) to make clothes for Barbie dolls. I'd fit them to the doll and then hand sew them in place.

Once my parents moved south, my mom would make a little money on the side sewing hats and head wraps to the women in the area. On a visit ~2010 she asked if I wanted to learn and I was all, NOPE! No thanks! LOL!

In 2011 or so I learned to crochet and that was my intro into the handmade garment world. Many of the crocheters I found also knit and some sewed garments. I pined for a machine after that and in January 2013, I got my wish!

As they say, the rest is history :)

WHY?
Because it's fun! I still marvel sometimes that I can take a piece of fabric and turn it into an actual, wearable THING!

I also believe everyone needs a hobby of some sort. My hands took me away from crocheting and knitting so I'm glad to have sewing...and to be back into some general crafting since getting my Cricut.

HOW?
I sew fast. I realized this during the 2014 season of Project Runway. There was a contestant named Kini. Kini sewed fast! Everyone would exclaim and wonder and without fail, he created nice garments (design aesthetics aside), sewn well, and in record time. I decided that like Kini, I just sew fast!

Be clear; I do not rush. (pet peeve: the assumption that saying something is quick/fast equates to not enjoying the process.) I don't even sew everyday! And much to Carolyn's surprise (we were chatting one weekend day), I don't spend huge chunks of time in there at once because I get bored.

What I am though is focused and pretty determined. I've mentioned before that before I cut something out I've got the order of construction decided (which is why Burda stupefies me sometimes!! Some of their instructions you need to follow at the precise moment you're working on that step). I know exactly what I'm going to do and I just...do it. I don't do a lot of dawdling and there's rarely indecision; and when there IS it's kind of maddening because I'm not used to it!

IDK...people ask and I assume they think I do nothing but sew in every spare minute but it's so not true. I do SO MANY other things too! One kind :side eye: soul messaged me on PR to tell me I was probably having marriage problems because I sew so much. I kid you not!!!

Also, I have young-adult children -- older teens such that they've been independent for quite awhile e.g., this mama does not do the laundry of giant people. They've both been doing their own since around 11 plus other actual chores!

And trading in 2600 sq ft for less than 1400 sq ft was LIBERATING! I do not miss having several bathrooms and miles of hardwood floors and a ton of windows and blinds and things to clean. clean. clean. Bleh!!! And the more space you have to fill, the more stuff you find to fill it with!!

Lastly, and I think SUPER importantly, I have a dedicated sewing space. It was such a game changer for me. It is amazing what all you can get done snatching little bits of time here and there!

Now for the fun stuff!!

In honor of my 5th anniversary, I have FIVE prizes to giveaway! Yay!!

Unfortunately, I will have to limit it to US entrants as 4 out of 5 are physical items and international shipping can be a landmine. Not to mention the rules around 'sweepstakes' in differing countries.

Rules:

• Please do not share on other social media sites. I try to keep any giveaways I do to blog readers. I know that many readers don't often comment so don't feel badly about that!
• Leave a comment about either a) your favorite pattern b) your favorite garment type to sew and/or c) your favorite fabric type to sew with. (Mine are a) too many to name!! b) pants!! including jeans and c) ponte!!) :) *comments must be left here on the blog*
• Choose a specific prize from A - D; all will be entered into the drawing for prize E but there will be one winner per prize. I will use a random number generator to choose winners.
• Come back on February 1st to see if you won and to claim your prize. I will be mailing everything on February 3rd! There is a 'contact me' option on the home page of my blog and my e-mail is sewcraftychemist --@-- gmail --dot-- com

Prize Pack A:
5 mystery patterns in the lower Big4 size range and 1 bonus all-sizes-included pattern.

Most start at size 6, one starts at size 8 and goes to a 16

Prize Pack B:
5 mystery patterns in the upper Big4 size range and 1 bonus all-sizes-included pattern.

I believe one goes to size 24 and one is L-XXL

These are hand picked and IMO similar styles among the patterns chosen. These are not throwaway patterns! Promise!! And yes, I used my Cricut to make little 'covers' for the bundles :-p

Prize Pack C:
5 (x2!) zippers in varying colors and lengths. Again, picked from the extensive zipper stash!

Prize Pack D:
5 awesome sewing bits and bobs!

• 3 piece set of tailor's chalk
• Vintage sew on snaps
• Wonder Tape (you know I love this stuff)
• Package of pins
• Made for you pin-tray (well at least it's what I use mine for! I keep it on the bed of my sewing machine. I used my Cricut to create the vinyl transfer!)

My pin tray:

I got this in a grab bag from Michael's some time ago and have been using it for pins ever since! 

I love that it's now sewing related even though it's a teapot :)

Prize E:
$20 gift card to Fabric Mart Fabrics (I will order the gift card when the winner is confirmed and provides an e-mail address for the e-card).

You have 5 (ish) days to enter! Through midnight on January 30th. Apparently Blogger is on Pacific time so keep that in mind!  Winners will be announced on February 1st.

Happy Sewing!

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