All you sewing mavens, I need your help!
As you all know, I have no sewing talents. I tried my hands at a few projects before, but between the machine constantly jamming and one-too-many blood-letting sessions, I gave up.
To give you a sense of my sewing competence, this is one of the last things I did:
Look at it closer and you can see how wonky the brown lines are (ack!). However, a disclaimer on the 2 "defective" pom-pom's on the ends- those are Bryson's handywork. Guess to him they must have resembled some orange bunny's fluffy behind... *sigh*
Anyway, that brings me to my current dilemma. I really can't sew, but seeing all the cute baby stuff out there that cost an arm and a leg, I'm very tempted to explore some DIY options (I'm Chinese through and through).
For example, how cute are these?
But wait, check out the price tag *gag*.
Which brings me to my point- I need to learn how to sew! And here's where I need your help...
(1) How did you learn how to sew? Don't tell me you're all self-taught geniuses, coz that'll rob me of all hope...
(2) Where do you find all the cute fabrics I see on your blogs? I know of a few fabric stores in my hood, they do carry some cute stuff, but I'm not sure how to choose ones that're suitable (in texture and weight) to sew baby stuff. Also seen this place online with a collection I'm drooling over, anything similar in the San Francisco Bay Area?
P.S. Specifically, if you know where I can get that orange/brown birdie fabric above, please please PLEASE let me know... I'm dying to get my hands on some. Even if I just stick a piece up on the wall.
(3) What should I start with that's relatively fool-proof? And where do I get instructions/ patterns for them? I have perused some sewing books/ websites out there, but to me they might as well be written in a foreign language. I'm that challenged *sigh*.
Oh, and I should mention I have some very cute leftover sock monkey fabric (about 1 yard each, pictured below) and tons of dupioni silk (not pictured) I'd like to use. I own a very basic Husqvarna sewing machine, pictured here in my extremely chaotic craft area, sitting in a corner, sadly neglected and gathering dust:
Speaking of chaos, I've just come around to spring cleaning today (technically only 2 days late, right?) Haven't done much, but pretty happy with these IKEA storage boxes (spruced up with some fancy labels) I am finally putting to use.
Also made a run to IKEA and picked up a bunch of these and these and these. Seriously, what do you do without IKEA?
Anyway, I'm rambling now. Gotta go assemble my IKEA goodies. Thanks in advance for all your sewing advices!!