Welcome to Straight Eight's!

Backpacking in the Sierra Nevada in college

There are things you do because you feel obligated, and there are things you do because you're feeling selfish, right? This blog is definitely the latter, for me. And selfish isn't bad, it's honest. I could say that "I feel happier" or "I'm fulfilling my dreams" by sewing and writing about it, but I feel happy doing a lot of things, and I certainly never dreamed of starting a blog when we did career day in elementary school. Did blogs even exist the way they do today back then? But it's still a little selfish of me to leave cooking dinner tonight to my dear husband in favor of testing a new pattern I'm working on. I don't do it every night (although he's clearly a better cook than me), and I'm still responsible for helping him clean up. I feel justified.

Wine glass coasters for Christmas!

Now, a little bit about the name... I might seem to be going on some tangents in a minute, but I promise it connects. If not, or if the name really doesn't interest you, go ahead and skip to the next paragraph. I won't judge. Promise. I started sewing when I was in 8th grade (think that's got something to do with the name? Nope. Coincidence). In high school, I was up to making Christmas presents for all our family friends out of cute quilting fabrics, and by the time college came around I was making some pretty nifty clothes in anything from knits to velvet. 

My first "refashion" of a men's shirt. My dad's. He may not know.

DH proposed to me in our second year of college, and the idea struck me to make my own wedding gown. Just fabric, right? Maybe a bit of tricky technique, but I can learn, I've taught myself to sew from the get-go anyway. With that mindset I spent the next year looking for inspiration ('simple, please, I'm not a pro!'), and snooping through every single sewing blog I could get my hands on (figuratively) for help with the techniques I might need. I'd never used boning, never worked with a fully lined garment, and forget about experience with delicate lace! So naturally I ended up basing everything around that time on a bodice pattern I'd found so I could practice. My sizes? Straight 8 (US size 8, I know different countries use different numbers). I'm very lucky I didn't have to learn to grade patterns. I'm still roughly the same size I was then, so I decided to use the name as a sort of head's up if you're following my clothing patterns or instructions to the T. It will fit a straight 8 size, because that's how I'm going to make examples. I'm not tiny, and not very large, but I'll be sure to include tips if you need to adjust, because that's one of the beauties of sewing. Make it yours! PS, the wedding gown turned out lovely, despite moments of sheer terror that I wouldn't make it in time.

Lace pieced by hand and probably 15 layers of tulle...

On cue as I'm typing, DH looks over my shoulder and says, "I thought it was a pun for 'Straight A's'." He knows I was a nerd all through school and only ever got less than A's in math. Seriously, it's still my weakness. Even when I'm making patterns (I swear I'm getting better)!

Whether you've popped by to take a look at my patterns or tutorials, or just stumbled in by happy accident, welcome! I may share more than just my sewing projects here, as I like to try new things and get my hands dirty, but no one's obligated to read those posts. Like I said, this is a selfish project, so be a little selfish, too, and read only what you want!

Please feel free to browse and leave a comment if there's anything you'd like to share with me, I love feedback!

Happy Sewing!
Lea