Everything Old is New Again (or What Goes Around Comes Around...)

I've sewn off and on since I was in high school (and no, I'm giving out THAT date).  It was more off than on until 1986 when I had my daughter, Meg.  After her birth, I learned how to make her clothes, smock, and do French heirloom sewing.  The child dripped in lace until she was twelve.

And suddenly everything changed.  She didn't want all the dresses and lace.  Target came into our town and suddenly it was cheaper to buy her clothes than make them.  And I was working and in grad school.  I didn't have the time to make hers or her brother's clothes.  I learned to piece and quilt partly because I still wanted to sew and have my hands in fabric.

But for twelve years I made nearly everything she wore.  I thought I would never, ever forget how to make little girls' dresses.

Now fast forward more than a few years and I'm the proud Mimi of a darling granddaughter, Evangeline...

Annnnd now I'm pulling out all my Children's Corner patterns and browsing the Simplicity Children's Patterns section once again. I mean...how hard can it be, right?  What's that old saying?  It's like riding a bike?

Come to think about it, I haven't ridden a bike in years.

I pull the guide sheet out of the pattern, read over it and promptly put it back in the envelope.

Oy-vey.

I had forgotten how much work this is!  Quilting is so much easier!  Good thing this is her Easter dress and not her Christmas dress!

I did discover that my serrated applique scissors are the best in cutting the patternout -- I mean if you can't use a rotary cutter....

My flat head flower pins are great for pinning, but darn, the patterns are more difficult than I remember.  All these lines and dots and notches.

And did I mention part of the bonnet and yoke and hem are hand embroidered?  And a 5/8-inch seam allowance?  Is that even marked anywhere on my New Horizon 7700?  That seems so huge after sewing 1/4-inch seams for 25 years.  And buttonholes?  I have to learn how to do those again -- and that was two sewing machines ago!

I will persevere.  It will be done before Easter.  Maybe the night before, but it will be finished.

I don't think there is any danger in me making all of Evangeline's clothes.  I may make her Christmas dress, her first day of school dress, and her Easter dress, but I think that's all the garment making I can handle.  Give me my quilts!