Thursday, March 6, 2014

Our Lil' Sprout

My husband and I have been married for almost 3 years now. Our tulip life together is expanding. In June 2012, I gave birth to our son, let's call him lil' sprout. He is, as any mom would  say about their own child, the best thing in the world. It wasn't until after lil' sprout was born that I really got into anything and everything DIY. It started with lil' sprout's baptism outfit.
At our wedding reception, while we were dancing the night away, my dress kept getting in the way (seriously, I tripped over the damn thing twice). Now, make no mistake, I did love that dress; however, I also love bustin' a move. In the end, the dress had to be sacrificed, and so, I summoned my husband to get the scissors. Yes, we cut off the bottom half of my mermaid style wedding dress that night. I was free at last! It was so liberating.
I kept the dress (both pieces of it). I had an old sewing machine passed down to me. I pulled that beast out one day and, with the distant memories of a home ec class from high school, I starting stitching. I grabbed a onesie of lil' sprouts' and used it as a template. The feeling of being able to upcycle (a portion of) my wedding gown into a baptism outfit for my son was so gratifying. This little white outfit already had some history to it. The day before the baptism, my second hand (or third or even fourth, yes it was that ancient) sewing machine finally kicked the bucket. I still had plenty to do in making the baptism suit.
After my husband calmed me down, we headed out to buy a new machine. I ended up with a fairly basic model but there seemed to be so many functions compared to my ol' hand-me-down. Back to the basement I went. I worked into the wee hours of the morning with my best friend and hubby by my side. This is where things went a little down hill. Lil' sprout was about 3 months old at the time, so I was already running on little to no sleep, staying up late just made things much, much worse.
As we were putting the finishing touches on the suit, I realised that the snaps in the crotch were put on completely wrong, and as a result, they made the legs super skinny. There was no time (and certainly no energy) left to fix it. Lil' sprout would just have to think skinny thoughts while being welcomed into God's community.
The next day, we struggled to get him in that suit but somehow managed to squash him in there. The poor thing. The ceremony went well. Friends and family came by for a small after party. As soon as we got home, we yanked lil' sprout outta that thing and into something much more comfortable.
I put forth a lot of effort (as well as blood, sweat, and tears... lots and lots of tears, as my husband can attest to) and produced something special. As terrible as that outfit turned out, it was still one of my very first projects and holds a little place in my heart. The experience helped me learn from my mistakes and pushed me further. I started making homemade cloth diapers, baby booties, hemming curtains, making pillowcases and now I am a pinterest addict. I love finding new things to sew. It's a great feeling to be able to hold something you made, no matter how pitiful it may turn out.

So tell me, what sort of things do you enjoy making?

3 comments:

  1. LOL @ think skinny thoughts!!! :D

    I love that you upcycled your wedding dress. There is a lot of love in that fabric.

    I like to make diaper soakers! Isla and I are getting into arts and crafts lately. She loves making 'art'. ;)

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    1. Mono lingual linguist I would love to feature one if your diaper soakers on my blog. Let me know if you are interested.

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