Sewing: Excitement, Fears, and its General Awesomeness

    Lately, I have been gathering up courage to sew more.  Sewing is something I truly enjoy, yet I don't do it very often because, well, I am scared of it.  Okay, so I'm not scared of sewing machines chasing after me with a pointy needle; I guess I am scared of failure. That sounds weird.  But it's true; I worry that I will put a lot of work into a project and it will turn out wonky or wrong.  Silly, isn't it? And yet I am that way with many things.  I end something before I start it because I don't think I am capable of doing it right or because I lack motivation.  But, now I am facing the fear of failure and starting new, challenging, sewing projects to make awesome stuff.  Because, let's be honest, making your own clothes is awesome.
    Putting me on the path to garment construction are two Christmas presents:

The Megan Nielsen Darling Ranges Dress and Banskia Top patterns.

   I have been admiring these 2 particular patterns for sooooo long; I finally had the sense to put them on my Christmas list and lo and behold, I own them!  I really love the way Megan Nielsen designed these.  Everything I hate about patterns is fixed: the uber-thin pattern paper, weird directions, and lack of room for customization.  Megan Nielsen patterns are printed on sturdy paper, they have clear instructions, and she includes tips on making different versions.  

   Not to mention how cool the actual designs are! I'm not even sure what makes me like them so much.   

Maybe the Darling Ranges appeals to me because it isn't very girly (I do not like girly very much), yet still pretty.  I think I like the Banskia top because the collar is a playful design yet refrains from looking like a kid's school uniform.  They are also super customizable: sleeveless Darling Ranges, Banskia dress, with collar, without collar,  

there are endless variations.  That's a great feature of a pattern.

So I guess you could call this a pre-creation pattern review, or a just rambling account of how much I love something.  Either way, I will be posting a lot more sewing projects, and maybe even failures to keep it real, in the future.

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